USL News Release
Friday, November 30, 2007
TAMPA, FL – The third annual USL SoccerFest featuring the United Soccer Leagues Annual General Meeting in downtown Tampa and the USL Super Y-League North American Finals concluded November 20 with 10 Championship matches at the Ed Radice Sports Complex in north Tampa. The title games concluded a six-day summit of games and meetings featuring approximately 10,000 soccer players, coaches and executives as well as families and friends that attended.
“Each year, the USL SoccerFest becomes a bigger success,” said USL Director of Business Development James Ward. “Being members of the community since the headquarters of USL moved to Tampa in 1996, we are proud of what this event has contributed to the greater Tampa area over the past three years.”
Prior to 2005, the USL AGM was held in numerous locations along the Gulf Coast of the greater Tampa Bay region and the Super Y-League Finals were hosted in different locations throughout the country. The event now brings top soccer executives and teams throughout North America as well as around the globe to Tampa. Among those attending in 2007 were executives from West Ham United of the English Premier League and a team from Ecuador that participated in the Five-A-Side Frenzy.
“We are thrilled to have this dynamic partnership with United Soccer Leagues,” said TBSC Executive Director Rob Higgins. “Each year’s event proves to have a tremendous economic and social impact on our incredible soccer community.”
Each day featured a unique event of its own with the opening day Thursday November 15 serving as the Arrival Day for 140 boys and girls youth teams from throughout the United States and Canada as well as over 300 soccer executives from USL’s franchises in its senior professional and amateur leagues.
Friday November 16 was the official Opening Day of the USL SoccerFest as the USL AGM kicked off with its first meetings at the Tampa Hyatt Regency and the Super Y-League Finals opened the first day of group play in each of the 10 championship brackets at the Ed Radice Sports Complex and Land O’Lakes Recreation Center.
As meetings and group play continued in the two events Saturday November 17, the USL SoccerFest was highlighted with the traditional prime time SYL Finals Showcase Match featuring one of the U17 Boys group play games. The 2007 match-up featured local side RSL Florida playing New Jersey-based Parsippany SC, a game with a thrilling finish in favor of the home club. Parsippany, however, would win their group before elimination in the semifinals.
Saturday also marked the opening day of the USL SoccerFest Five-A-Side Frenzy, a local futsal tournament that ran in conjunction with the SYL Finals at Ed Radice Sports Complex in Northwest Tampa. The Frenzy, which concluded Sunday, brought together more than 50 teams (450 players) primarily from the local Tampa soccer community to mingle with the influx of USL’s 140 Super Y-League teams and more than 100 senior franchises attending the organization’s Annual General Meeting.
“I would like to thank local sponsors Bright House Networks, United Soccer Association, the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Bay’s Mix 100.7 as well as our national sponsors Umbro, Sprinturf and Fox Soccer Channel for helping to make this event a reality,” said Five-A-Side Frenzy Coordinator Brandon Morris. “Everyone involved was pleased with the level of competition and the center-stage mentality of the Sprinturf Futsal field. It added an exciting presence to the USL SoccerFest and most matches were attended by numerous spectators.”
The sponsors for the Frenzy also helped children of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa participate in the event free of charge.
While group play concluded Sunday November 18 at the two sites for the SYL Finals, the USL SoccerFest feature event of the day was the annual USL Hall of Fame and Awards Dinner presented by Fox Soccer Channel. Held at the Hyatt Regency, the dinner featured the induction of three individuals and six clubs into the USL Hall of Fame as well as the honoring of teams and executives throughout USL for their excellent performances on and off the field during the 2007 season. Over 400 soccer executives and families were present at the awards presentations that evening. During the day Sunday, Thadeu Goncalves, director of BFUT, led coaching symposium sessions about the Brazilian methodology of play.
As the AGM wound down on Monday November 19 with teams working on playing schedules for the 2008 season, the SYL North American Finals advanced into the Semifinal Round for its 10 championship brackets. While the clubs eliminated from contention during the group stage played consolation matches, 40 teams were competing for the right to spend one more day in Tampa to take part in the one of the 10 finals on Championship Tuesday.
November 20 served as Championship Tuesday as 20 teams went head-to-head for the 10 coveted championships in the boys and girls brackets for U13, U14, U15, U16 and U17. Teams from Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, New Jersey, Seattle, Miami, Ohio, Rhode Island and New York represented clubs ranging from the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer to clubs that play in the USL senior leagues in the USL First Division, USL Second Division, Premier Development League and W-League. The championship games proved to be thrilling affairs with only three matches decided by a two goal margin as three went to penalty kicks and one to overtime.
Click on the following for more on individual USL SoccerFest Events
SYL North American Finals (11/16-20) [+]
SYL All-League Teams [+]
USL Annual General Meeting (11/15-19) [+]
USL SoccerFest Showcase Match (11/17) [+]
USL Hall of Fame & Awards Dinner (11/18) [+]
USL SoccerFest Five-A-Side Frenzy (11/17-18) [+]
SYL North American Finals – Championship Tuesday (11/20) [+]
USL SoccerFest from a fan’s perspective [+]
