As with many aspects of the U.S. Soccer presidential election, the nomination process is clearly spelled out, except where it’s not.
The Election Procedures say this:
(Note that this does NOT include the deadline to rescind a nomination, which is Nov. 27. That’s today. Or yesterday, depending on when you read this.)
We’re looking at 1.2 here to see who can nominate a candidate. The “Athlete members of the Board of Directors” category is simple: It’s Chris Ahrens, Carlos Bocanegra and Angela Hucles.
Who’s an Organization Member? Let’s hit the bylaws …
So Life Members and Individual Sustaining Members aren’t named as potential nominators. Also scratch (C) Indoor Professional League — the Major Arena Soccer League isn’t affiliated.
Let’s check the rest against the definitions in the bylaws and then see if we can figure out who qualifies under which category. All in alphabetical order.
This is where I’m going to ask for some crowd-sourcing help. A lot of the sites are unclear. The USSF site mentions “Affiliates” without a precise breakdown.
(A) Associate: “an organization formed to advance a particular aspect of soccer, but not responsible for recruiting, training, fielding and funding of soccer players.”
- United Soccer Coaches? (Formerly NSCAA)
- U.S. Soccer Foundation?
(B) Disabled Service Organization: “an organization formed with the primary goal of advancing and improving soccer for disabled individuals.” I’m completely guessing that the following affiliates are in this category:
- American Amputee Soccer Association
- U.S. Power Soccer
- U.S. Deaf Soccer
(D) National Affiliate: “an amateur sports organization that conducts soccer programs in which players compete in at least 26 states of the United States.”
- SAY Soccer (100,000 youth players) is on the Youth Council.
(E) National Association: Basically, a BIG National Affiliate (1,000 players in each of at least 26 states, 200,000 players total) and member of the Youth or Adult Council.
- U.S. Adult Soccer
- U.S. Youth Soccer (3 million players)
- U.S. Club Soccer (verified National Association)
- AYSO (500,000 players)
(F) Other Affiliate. Amateur, competes in at least four states but not 26 (because that would be “National”) and not a member of the Youth or Adult Council.
- U.S. Armed Forces Sports Council?
- U.S. Futsal? (There was some back-and-forth in the Board minutes over the course of a couple of years about this.)
- U.S. Specialty Sports Association?
(G) Professional League. That one’s easy. Four.
- MLS
- NASL
- NWSL
- USL
(H) State Association: “the administrative body within a territory determined by the National Council to carry out the Federation’s programs for amateur youth or amateur adult players, or both.” There are at least 95 of these. I’m hedging because I didn’t find sites for a lot of the adult associations.
Here’s a quick spreadsheet attempt:
WisconsinState – Youthhttp://www.wiyouthsoccer.com/
| ORG/STATE | ORG TYPE | SITE |
| U.S. Soccer Foundation | Associate? | http://www.ussoccerfoundation.org/ |
| United Soccer Coaches | Associate? | https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/ |
| American Amputee SA | Disabled Service | http://www.ampsoccer.org/ |
| U.S. Deaf Soccer | Disabled Service | http://www.usdeafsoccer.com/ |
| U.S. Power Soccer | Disabled Service | http://www.powersoccerusa.net/ |
| SAY | National Affiliate | http://www.saysoccer.org/ |
| AYSO | National Association | http://www.ayso.org/ |
| US Club Soccer | National Association | http://www.usclubsoccer.org/ |
| US Youth Soccer | National Association | http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/ |
| USASA | National Association | http://www.usasa.com/ |
| U.S. Futsal | Other Affiliate? | http://www.futsal.com/index.php/home |
| U.S. Specialty Sports | Other Affiliate? | http://usssasoccer.com/ |
| US Armed Forces SC | Other Affiliate? | http://armedforcessports.com/ |
| MLS | Pro | https://www.mlssoccer.com/ |
| NASL | Pro | http://www.nasl.com/ |
| NWSL | Pro | http://www.nwslsoccer.com/ |
| USL | Pro | http://www.uslsoccer.com/ |
| Alaska | State – Adult | http://www.aasa-alaska.com/ |
| Arizona | State – Adult | Site? |
| California – North | State – Adult | http://www.csan.net/ |
| Colorado | State – Adult | http://www.wearecoloradosoccer.com/ |
| Connecticut | State – Adult | http://www.cssasoccer.com/ |
| Delaware | State – Adult | Site? |
| Florida | State – Adult | http://www.floridastatesoccer.com/ |
| Hawaii | State – Adult | http://www.hawaiisoccerassociation.com/ |
| Idaho | State – Adult | http://www.idahostatesoccer.com/ |
| Illinois | State – Adult | http://www.illinoissoccer.org/ |
| Kansas | State – Adult | http://www.kansassoccer.com/ |
| Kentucky | State – Adult | Site? |
| Maine | State – Adult | Not sure this one exists – joint association? |
| Maryland | State – Adult | http://marylandsoccer.com/ |
| Massachusetts | State – Adult | http://www.mass-soccer.org/ |
| Michigan | State – Adult | http://www.misoccer.net/ |
| Minnesota | State – Adult | http://www.mnsoccer.org/ |
| Mississippi | State – Adult | http://www.mississippisoccer.org/ |
| Missouri | State – Adult | Site? |
| Montana | State – Adult | Site? |
| Nebraska | State – Adult | http://www.nebraskastatesoccer.org/ |
| Nevada | State – Adult | Site? |
| New Jersey | State – Adult | http://www.soccernjsa.com/ |
| New Mexico | State – Adult | http://www.nmssa.com/ |
| New York – East | State – Adult | http://www.enyssa.com/ |
| New York – West | State – Adult | http://www.wnysasoccer.org/ |
| North Carolina | State – Adult | http://www.ncasasoccer.org/ |
| Ohio – North | State – Adult | Site? |
| Ohio – South | State – Adult | http://www.soasa.com/ |
| Oregon | State – Adult | http://www.oregonadultsoccer.com/ |
| Pennsylvania – East | State – Adult | http://www.eastpasa.wix.com/eastpasa |
| Rhode Island | State – Adult | http://www.risa.org/ |
| South Carolina | State – Adult | http://www.scamateursoccer.org/ |
| South Dakota | State – Adult | http://www.sdadultsoccer.com/ |
| Tennessee | State – Adult | http://www.tnsoccer.org/ |
| Texas – South | State – Adult | http://www.tssas.com/ |
| Utah | State – Adult | http://www.utahsoccer.org/ |
| Vermont | State – Adult | http://www.vermontamateursoccer.com/vssa |
| Virginia (DC) | State – Adult | http://www.mdcvsasoccer.org/ |
| Washington | State – Adult | http://www.wssa.org/ |
| Wisconsin | State – Adult | http://www.wisoccerleagues.com/ |
| Wyoming | State – Adult | Site? |
| Alabama (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.alsoccer.org/ |
| Arkansas (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.arkansassoccer.org/?q=leagues/adult |
| Cal – South (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.calsouth.com/ |
| Georgia (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.georgiasoccer.org/ |
| Indiana (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.soccerindiana.org/ |
| Iowa (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.iowasoccer.org/ |
| Louisiana (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.playlouisianasoccer.org/ |
| New Hamp (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.soccernh.org/ |
| North Dakota (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.northdakotasoccer.org/ |
| Oklahoma (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.oksoccer.com/ |
| Penn – West (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.pawest-soccer.org/ |
| Texas – North (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.ntxsoccer.org/ |
| West Virginia (combined) | State – Joint | http://www.wvsoccer.net/ |
| Alaska | State – Youth | http://www.alaskayouthsoccer.org/home.php |
| Arizona | State – Youth | http://www.azyouthsoccer.org/default.aspx |
| California – North | State – Youth | http://www.calnorth.org/ |
| Colorado | State – Youth | http://www.coloradosoccer.org/ |
| Connecticut | State – Youth | http://www.cjsa.org/ |
| Delaware | State – Youth | http://www.dysa.org/ |
| Florida | State – Youth | http://www.fysa.com/ |
| Hawaii | State – Youth | http://www.hawaiisoccer.com/ |
| Idaho | State – Youth | http://www.idahoyouthsoccer.org/default.aspx |
| Illinois | State – Youth | http://illinoisyouthsoccer.org/ |
| Kansas | State – Youth | http://www.kansasyouthsoccer.org/ |
| Kentucky | State – Youth | http://www.kysoccer.net/ |
| Maine | State – Youth | http://www.soccermaine.com/ |
| Maryland | State – Youth | http://www.msysa.org/ |
| Massachusetts | State – Youth | http://www.mayouthsoccer.org/ |
| Michigan | State – Youth | http://www.michiganyouthsoccer.org/ |
| Minnesota | State – Youth | http://www.mnyouthsoccer.org/ |
| Mississippi | State – Youth | http://www.mississippisoccer.org/ |
| Missouri | State – Youth | http://www.moyouthsoccer.org/ |
| Montana | State – Youth | http://www.montanayouthsoccer.com/ |
| Nebraska | State – Youth | http://www.nebraskastatesoccer.org/ |
| Nevada | State – Youth | http://www.nevadayouthsoccer.org/ |
| New Jersey | State – Youth | http://www.njyouthsoccer.com/ |
| New Mexico | State – Youth | http://www.nmysa.net/ |
| New York – East | State – Youth | http://www.enysoccer.com/ |
| New York – West | State – Youth | http://www.nyswysa.org/ |
| North Carolina | State – Youth | http://www.ncsoccer.org/ |
| Ohio – North | State – Youth | http://www.ohionorthsoccer.org/ |
| Ohio – South | State – Youth | http://www.osysa.com/ |
| Oregon | State – Youth | http://www.oregonyouthsoccer.org/index.html |
| Pennsylvania – East | State – Youth | http://www.epysa.org/ |
| Rhode Island | State – Youth | http://www.soccer-ri.com/ |
| South Carolina | State – Youth | http://www.scysa.org/ |
| South Dakota | State – Youth | http://www.southdakotasoccer.com/ |
| Tennessee | State – Youth | http://www.tnsoccer.org/ |
| Texas – South | State – Youth | http://www.stxsoccer.org/ |
| Utah | State – Youth | http://www.utahyouthsoccer.net/default.aspx |
| Vermont | State – Youth | http://www.vermontsoccer.org/ |
| Virginia (DC) | State – Youth | http://www.vysa.com/ |
| Washington | State – Youth | http://www.washingtonyouthsoccer.org/ |
| Wyoming | State – Youth | http://www.wyomingsoccer.com/ |
Again — if I’ve misclassified any organization, please speak now. If any of these organizations have no nominating power, please let me know. If you know something I don’t, I need to be in touch with you. It’s my job. Sort of.
Ranting Soccer Dad 