National Adult League

National Adult Leagues
Country United States
Puerto Rico
Confederation CONCACAF
Founded 2002
Divisions 11
Number of teams 65 (2014)[1]
Level on pyramid 4
Promotion to None
Relegation to None
Domestic cup(s) Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
CFU Club Championship
Current champions Miami Dade FC[2]
(2013)
Website NAL website
2014 NAL season

The National Adult League (NAL) is an American soccer league commonly recognized by the United States Soccer Federation and FIFA as being a fourth tier league.

Although the league is officially affiliated with the US Club Soccer (US Club Soccer), and qualifies for the U.S. Open Cup through US Club Soccer channels, the league is generally considered to be at the fourth tier of competition in the United States soccer pyramid, behind Major League Soccer (MLS), the North American Soccer League (NASL), the United Soccer Leagues Professional Division (USL Pro), and roughly equal with the USL Premier Development League (PDL).[3]

Competition format

The National Adult Leagues is divided into conferences (Northeast, South, Midwest and West). Each Region contains between three or four conferences with varying number of teams per conference. The four regions generally correspond with the four US Soccer association, Northeast (Region I), Midwest (Region II), South (Region III) and West (Region IV). The regular season runs from May through July.[4] Most conferences play between ten and twelve games against teams within the conference. When possible, each conference follows a double round robin format allowing for a balanced schedule. However, Larger conferences have had unbalanced schedules, given the constraints around scheduling games within its short window. The schedule is designed to allow college students to compete during their summer break. For the playoffs, the formats vary by region and conference with the four region champions facing each other in the National Semifinals and Championship games.

Organization

The NAL is organized in a mostly decentralized structure and is managed as a team-run league. Each year the member clubs help elect a Commissioner, Treasurer and Secretary and a Board of Directors. Each team is individually owned and operated, and is responsible for maintaining league minimum standards. New teams seeking membership into the NAL are subject to approval from an executive committee of existing team owners. Member clubs have the right to make localized decisions for their respective markets, conferences and regions based on what they believe is best for their particular region.

The current Commissioner is Mark Shearer. Each conference is managed by the individual member clubs and elect a conference commission each year.

Teams

Team City Stadium Founded First Season Head Coach
Florida Region
South Florida Conference
A.C. Brickell Miami, FL Tropical Park 2014 2014 Italy Simone Ghirlanda
Miami Dade FC Miami, FL St. Thomas University (Florida) 2014 2014 Brazil Joao Garcia
Miami Nacional S.C. Miami, FL 2014
Santos USA Miami, FL North Miami Athletic Stadium 2014 Brazil Robson Manente
South Florida FC Pembroke Pines, FL Broward College 2014

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Adult League". National Adult League. Retrieved 2014-02-13.
  2. ↑ Champions NAL, retrieved 2014-02-13
  3. ↑ "The Unruly Soccer Pyramids of America by Mike Firpo". SoccerNewsday.com. 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
  4. ↑ http://www.nalne.com/schedules/2013/58259651.html

External links