By Paul Nicholson
May 30 – The Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) and US Club Soccer have combined to launch a new national competition platform for boys that will challenge the national US Academy competition that the US Soccer Federation has been promoting to clubs across the country.
March 28 – Sonia Bien-Aime has been appointed to head a Women’s Football Leadership Group in the CONCACAF region, aimed at promoting the game to women and stimulating growth of the women’s game.
February 24 – In a welcome break from news on reform and political manouevring issues, CONCACAF has announced that it is using the quarter finals of its club showcase championship, the Scotiabank Champions League, “to promote social well-being through soccer”.
January 15 – The first official Futsal coaching badge in north America has been announced at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) conference in Baltimore this week. The NSCAA Diploma for futsal will be created with the co-operation of U.S. Futsal.
By Ben Nicholson
November 12 – In response to a pending lawsuit regarding concussion protection amongst youth ‘soccer’ players, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has changed its practices so as to improve concussion awareness and education, and ban heading altogether for U10s.
October 26 – US Club Soccer has named Fit for 90 as its Official Player Monitoring System, integrating it into its Players First platform that is designed to give players an improved club experience.
By Ben Nicholson
October 13 – The MLS has revealed plans to trial video refereeing for penalty and goal awards and red cards. The trial will take place in October 2016 and cover ten to 15 friendly fixtures.
September 16 – US Club Soccer, the 500,000 member organisation supporting grassroots clubs in the US, has backed the recent US Soccer federation proposals for a revamp of youth soccer in the country and unveiled the pathway to change for its clubs.
April 13 – CONCACAF has launched its first Women’s Football Day as a celebration of women’s football across the region. Planned as an annual event, the first will be held on Saturday, May 23.
April 8 – CONCACAF continued with the development of their coaching courses, holding their first Goalkeeping course at the end of last month in St Kitts & Nevis.
March 20 – CONCACAF is holding referee development symposium for its international referees drawn from across the confederation. The four-day Florida event, presented by Comex/Futline, is hosting 50 officials from the FIFA international list.
October 27 – CONCACAF completed its first Women’s football development summit yesterday with 39 of its 41 member associations present in Philadelphia, coinciding with the finals of the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship at PPL Park in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania.
October 10 – CONCACAF has announced it will host a two-day women’s football seminar October 25-26, in Philadelphia, coinciding with the semi-finals and final of the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
September 4 – A Female Coaches Advocacy Group has been launched in the US to encourage and promote women into coaching the game. The group is to start at the state level in Colorado and in Southern California with Cal South to create a state network of women in coaching to start dialogue with mentor college women to get involved in coaching.
By Ben Nicholson
July 29 – The noise is increasing for change in the USA’s college soccer system from a three-month stint to a year-long calendar season. The proposal recommends splitting the season between the fall and spring semesters. The proposal is for a 25-game season with conference championships being played in May, and the NCAA College Cup happening in June.