UNITED STATES ADULT SOCCER ASSOCIATION

NATIONAL TOURNAMENT 2009

for

U20 MEN and U20 WOMEN

U20 NATIONAL CUP TOURNAMENT
This competition is a tournament organized under the auspices of the Region 1 National Cups Committee and is being hosted by the New Jersey Soccer Association.
This competition is not part of the USASA National Cups Program but is organized by Region 1 for the benefit of those Adult State Associations and Adult members that wish to participate.
This competition is open to all USASA affiliated members including members from all other Regions in the USASA.
This Tournament is recognized by the USASA as a National Tournament.

TEAMS AFFILIATION REQUIREMENTS
All participating players must be born ON or AFTER Aug. 1, 1988
Both ADULT and YOUTH TEAMS are allowed to enter this competition.
An Adult team must be registered (affiliated) with an ADULT state association or a Regional/National League that is also a member of the USASA.
All players on such team must be registered with such Adult team thru the Adult State Association Registrar or thru the Regional/National Affiliated League Registrar.
A Youth team must be composed entirely of youth players registered for the team participating in the tournament. NO adult player can be carded for a youth team.
All player passes (both Youth and Adult) must show on all the passes ONLY the team name of the team that is entering the tournament.
(No guest players are allowed)

In case of a Youth team entering this competition, in order to be allowed to play in this Adult tournament, a YOUTH team must present EITHER of the following:

1)      a signed medical insurance waiver (signed by their parents if such player is under the age of 18) for each individual youth player.

2)      a blanket waiver from the Youth State Association or Youth organization, declaring that the Youth player is covered by the Medical insurance of the Youth State Association or Organization while playing in this Adult tournament .

GAMES LOCATION

All games will be played at the Manalapan Recreation Soccer Complex located on Rte 522, in Manalapan Twp., NJ
For directions and other information see the Tournament’s website at: http://www.matiota.com/RegionI.
The tournament will be played on July 18 and July 19, 2009
Rain date will be July 25 and July 26.

DEADLINE  and FEES
All entries must be received by JUNE 20th, 2009
No refunds after JUNE 30th, 2009
A maximum of 24 Men teams and a maximum of 16 Women teams will be accepted in the Tournament.
Teams will be accepted on a first-come – first-served basis based on the receipt of the entry form.

Entries forms may be submitted by e-mail to: njsa_office@yahoo.com
or mailed directly to: NJSA, P.O. BOX 9765, TRENTON, NJ 08650

The Tournament Entry Fee to participate is $150 as stated on the Application.
Each State association MAY add an additional fees to the entry fee.
Teams must pay their entry fee to the State Association or Regional/National League of which they are members.
Each State or Regional/National league will send the entry fee(s) for all the teams affiliated with them directly to the NJSA at the address above.
In addition to the entry fee, each team shall be responsible to pay a fee of $200 to cover the referee fees for the whole tournament.

This additional fee MUST be paid at the time of checking in the team on the first day of the tournament BEFORE the first game is played.

Upon consultation with the Manalapan Parks and Recreation department, the tournament may be cancelled in case of inclement weather. In this case the tournament will be rescheduled for the following weekend of July 25th and 26th, 2009

Teams that do not want to participate in the rain date tournament games, will not be refunded their entry fee.

COMPETITION FORMAT
There will be one tournament for Men and one tournament for Women.
A maximum of 24 Men teams and a maximum of 16 Women teams will be accepted in the Tournament.
Teams will be accepted on a first-come – first-served basis based on the receipt of the entry form.
Depending on the number of entries received, teams will be combined in groups of teams up to a maximum of 6 groups for Men and a maximum of 4 groups for the Women.
The number of groups and the number of teams within each group will depend on the total number of entries.
Every attempt will be made to separate entries from the same State Association or Member League when preparing the Groups.
Each group will play a qualification round played in a Round Robin format, whereby teams in each group shall accumulate points by playing against ALL of the opposing participating teams in the same group.

A forfeit shall be ruled with a 1 – 0 score.

Standings will be kept during the qualification rounds using the following criteria in the order given:
1) Most point accumulated (3 for a Win, 1 for a Tie and 0 for a Loss)
2) Head-to-head result
3) Best Goal Difference
4) Most goals in favor
5) Most Wins
6) Coin Toss

Depending on the number of groups in each tournament, as a minimum, the 1st place team of each group shall return the following day to play in the playoff finals.
Depending on the number of teams participating, in addition to the first place team of each group, the best 2nd place team(s) may be invited to return for Sunday’s playoff finals.
This will be done to round up the number of teams in the playoffs to either 4 or 8 teams.
The best 2nd place team(s) shall be determined based on the standings in their group in relations to the other groups, by looking at he above criteria (except Head-to-Head).
If a group has less than 4 teams, in order to equalize the weight of each group, each team in the shorthanded group shall receive a win of 1 – 0 for the game that otherwise would have been played is a 4th team was included in the group.
The Organizing Committee reserves the right to formulate other criteria to make a fair and equitable selection. These criteria will be announced before the start of the tournament.

All playoffs finals (QUARTERFINALS, SEMIFINALS and CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL) shall be played in a DIRECT ELIMINATION format: A winner must be declared.

During the Playoff finals games, if, after 60 minutes of play, the two teams are tied in the score, then the two teams shall play 2 overtimes of 10 minutes each. There shall be NO GOLDEN GOAL: BOTH OVERTIMES MUST BE PLAYED IN THEIR ENTIRETY. In case of tied score after the 2 overtimes, then Penalties shall be taken according to FIFA rules to determine a winner.

SCHEDULE and DURATION OF GAMES

Qualification round games shall be played on Saturday July 18, 2009.
Playoff Finals (Quarterfinals if necessary, Semifinals and Finals shall be played on Sunday July 19, 2009.
ALL games, in the QUALIFICATION ROUND or the PLAYOFF FINALS shall last 30 minutes per half (total of 1 hour of regular time).

COMPETITION RULES
Unless otherwise disclosed in this document, the FIFA Laws of the game and the USASA National Cups Rules shall apply.

TOURNAMENT RULES

1) Unlimited Substitutions: players will be allowed to go in and out of the games
2) Substitutions will be made according to FIFA rules: they can be made at ANY stoppage of the game, by either team, provided they receive the consent of the referee.
3) All players playing for a participating team must be registered for a team that is affiliated with an Adult State Association, or a USASA affiliated Regional/National League or with a Youth State Association member of the USYSA.
4) All participating players MUST have International Clearance to play as required by FIFA. Your State Association or Regional/National League Registrar will be able to give you more details on this matter.
5) Each team must submit a TOURNAMENT ROSTER of up to 22 players NOT LATER THAN JUNE 30th, 2009, certified by the State Association or Regional/National League Registrar. This roster must be SUBMITTED by e-mail directly with the Region 1 Cups commissioner (6) ALL TEAMS MUST PRESENT COPY OF THE TEAM ROSTER TOGETHER WITH ALL THE PLAYER PASSES TO THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR at least ONE HOUR BEFORE their first game.
7) Only USASA or USYS currently validated passes will be accepted.
8) Only those players that were listed on the Tournament Roster are eligible to play in any game.
9) Each team must supply the referee with a GAME ROSTER indicating the names of the 18 players that are going to be used during EACH game.
10) In order to be allowed to play in this Adult tournament, a YOUTH carded players must present EITHER an individual signed medical insurance waiver (signed by their parents if such player is under the age of 18), OR a blanket waiver from the Youth State Association or Youth organization, declaring that the Youth player is covered by the Medical insurance of the Youth State Association while playing in this Adult tournament.
11) All participating players must be born ON or AFTER Aug. 1, 1988
12) All ejections from a Tournament game shall carry a 1 game suspension. This suspension shall be effective in the next Tournament game.
13) Ejection for assault on the referees will carry an immediate suspension from the remainder of the tournament and the players’ card will be sent to the organization that registered the player, for a final decision.
14) In addition to the entry fee, each team shall be responsible to pay a fee of $200 to cover the referee fees for the whole tournament. This additional fee MUST be paid at the time of checking in the team on the first day of the tournament BEFORE the first game is played.
15) Referees fees will be paid by the Organizing Committee
16) Depending on the number of entries, the organizing committee reserves the right to format the tournament into groups so that each team is guaranteed a minimum of 3 mini games.

PLEASE KEEP YOUR BENCH AREA CLEAN OF DEBRIS. CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF:

WE ARE GUESTS OF THE MANALAPAN RECREATION DEPARTMENT AND WE WANT TO SHOW THEM OUR APPRECIATION FOR ALLOWING US TO USE THEIR FACILITIES.