2021 Outdoor Cup FAQs

• National Championship Series (NCS): $325
• Presidents Cup: $300
• Challenge Cup: $275

*Referee fees are NOT included in the registration fee. Referee fees are split between opponents in accordance with the current Referee Fee Schedule that can be found within each Cup Competition Rules.

*Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer is responsible for all Outdoor Cup Finals Referee Fees

• The NCS State Cup (12U-17U) and Presidents Cup (12U-18/19U) will take place between March and May, with the finals being played on May 22, 2021 at United Sports Training Center in Downingtown, PA.

• The Challenge Cup (all ages) will take place between March and June, with the Finals scheduled for the weekend of June 12/13, 2021 at Classics Soccer Park in Manheim, PA.

• The NCS State Cup (18U-19/20U) will take place in May and June with the Finals scheduled for the weekend of June 12/13, 2021 at Classics Soccer Park in Manheim, PA.

*For more information on Schedules and Important Dates please visit each Cup Competition website.

• Use of secondary, guest and club pass players in cup competitions is strictly forbidden. The novelty of the Cups is the fact that all rosters are ‘pure’. All non-primary players should be removed from Cup Rosters and all lineups. Rosters can be printed from your Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer account.

• There is one exception: NCS State Cup and Presidents Cup teams advancing to Regional Competitions may add club pass players to their Regional Rosters subject to the rules of the US Youth Soccer East Region Championships and East Region Presidents Cup.

• The roster freeze for the NCS State Cup (12U-17U) is February 26, 2021

• The roster freeze for the NCS State Cup (18U-19/20U) is April 9, 2021

• The roster freeze for the Presidents Cup (all ages) is February 19, 2021

• The roster freeze for the Challenge Cup (all ages) is February 19, 2021

• 13U to 18U teams may play up. Teams 12U and younger may not play up and must have at least nine (9) age group pure players on the original league-approved roster.

• In order to participate in any Outdoor Cup Competition, a team must participate in an Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Cup Qualifying League. The following is a current list of Cup Qualifying Leagues. For specific information about Cup Qualifying League requirements please visit the Rules section for the National Championship Series, Presidents Cup and Challenge Cup. Eligibility rules apply to all three Outdoor Cup competitions.
  • Atlantic Premier League/Pennsylvania Area Girls Soccer League
  • Central League
  • Central Pennsylvania Youth Soccer League
  • EDP-EPYSA
  • EDP-Mid Atlantic & South Atlantic Conferences
  • Inter County Soccer League
  • Lanco Soccer League
  • Lehigh Valley Youth Soccer League
  • NorCenPenn Soccer League
  • Reading Berks Juniors Soccer League
  • Rock Soccer League
  • York USA

• The NCS State Cup is a single elimination tournament. Age group champions will advance to the US Youth Soccer East Region Championships to be held June 25-July 1 in Hammonton, NJ. Teams that elect not to participate in US Youth Soccer East Region Championships or the US Youth Soccer National Championships are subject to a fine. The US Youth Soccer East Region Championships may select Wildcard teams to participate. This is at the sole discretion of the East Region Committee and have yet to be determined for 2021.

• The Presidents Cup is a world-cup style tournament for all age groups. The competition includes a group stage followed by a knockout round to determine a champion. Games are played at home/away fields. An age group requires four (4) teams for competition to be offered. If less than four (4) teams enter, (1) combined age groups may be created at the discretion of the cup commissioner, (2) teams may enter a different cup competition, or (3) teams may have their registration fee returned. Age group champions and wild cards, if any, will advance to the East Region Presidents Cup to be held June 19-23 in Charleston, WV. Teams that elect not to participate in regionals or US Youth Soccer Presidents Cup are subject to be fined.

• The Challenge Cup is a world-cup style tournament for all age groups. The competition includes a group stage followed by a knockout round to determine a champion. Games will be played at home/away fields. An age group requires four (4) teams for competition to be offered. If less than four (4) teams enter, (1) combined age groups may be created at the discretion of the cup commissioner, (2) teams may enter a different cup competition, or (3) teams may have their registration fee returned. There is no competition beyond the state-level. Teams are not guaranteed three games, but most teams will play at least three games.

• NCS State Cup, Presidents Cup and Challenge Cup games are scheduled on weekend play days scheduled by the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer state office.

• All teams participating in Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Cup Competitions are expected to play their games on (or before) the weekend they are scheduled by Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer. Teams can request permission from the Cup Commissioner (Dave Ash) and Director of Soccer Operations (Brent Jacquette). The request must be made in writing (via email) one week in advance of the scheduled match stipulating that the teams agree to play their game on a non-weekend date. Any match not played before the next scheduled match may result in a double forfeit.

• For the 2020-2021 NCS State Cup, Presidents Cup and Challenge Cup any potential bye scenarios and home team determinations will be made by blind draw.

• NCS State Cup home team determinations are made based on the following;
  • In first round, the top team in the bracket will play at home.
  • If Team A played home in the previous game and Team B played away, Team A will be away.
  • If both teams played home/away, a coin flip will be conducted by the Cup Committee to determine home field.
  • Please note that weather-related scenarios or playoffs, etc., could alter the above.
• Presidents Cup and Challenge Cup home team determinations are made by blind draw.
  
  *All Cup Finals will be scheduled by Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer and may not follow the procedures above. Please plan accordingly, as Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer cannot honor schedule requests for the finals. Playoff games may be scheduled on Saturday or Sunday.

• 9U and 10U – 12 players can play on game day.
• 11U and 12U – 16 players can play on game day.
• 13U and above – 18 players can play on game day.

*Teams (13U-19U) may roster 22 players for the Cup Competition but only 18 are eligible to participate on game day. Only the 18 players eligible for the game are to appear on your lineup that you present to the referee and opponent. Players designated as 'not playing' cannot dress in their team uniform. They must dress in street clothes or a different colored jersey. The players designated as 'not playing' may sit with their team in the team area, bench or technical area. Once made ineligible from the lineup, a player may not participate in that game. However, ineligible players are still subject to the Laws of the Game and can receive yellow/red cards for indiscretions.

• All referees are assigned through Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer's certified assignors.

• After the match is entered and confirmed in the GotSport online system, the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Cup Committee will assign referees to the match.

• Each team will pay HALF of the total referee fees for each match, except for the Finals.

*For all referee scenarios and referee payment information, reference the Referee Section of the specific Cup Competition Rules your team is participating in.

• For the 2020-2021 NCS State Cup, 2-4 teams may be awarded a bye, however no seeding will occur based on prior year’s accomplishments. Any bye scenarios for the 2020-2021 NCS State Cup will be determined by blind draw. The number of teams given a bye is based on the number of entrants. If there are 10 or fewer teams included in the draw, 2 teams may be seeded. If there are more than 10 teams included in the draw, then 4 teams may be seeded.

• The Presidents Cup and Challenge Cup groups will be determined by a blind draw.

• The coach or team official of the WINNING TEAM (or in the case of a tie, the home team) inputs the score for the cup match by 11:00 PM the day of the game. You must be logged into your team GotSport account to input scores.

• If you report the score incorrectly or cannot fix an incorrect score, please reach out to Director of Soccer Operations, Brent Jacquette at bjacquette@epysa.org

• NCS State Cup (12U-17U) - May 22, 2021 at United Sports Training Center in Downingtown, PA

• NCS State Cup (18U-19U/20) - June 12/13, 2021 at Classics Soccer Park in Manheim, PA

• Presidents Cup (all ages) - May 22, 2021 at United Sports Training Center in Downingtown, PA

• Challenge Cup (all ages) - June 12/13, 2021 at Classics Soccer Park in Manheim, PA

• See the top section of each Cup Competition Rules for information on eligibility. Eligibility rules apply to all three Outdoor Cup competitions.

• Contact Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Director of Soccer Operations with any questions related to the NCS State Cup, Presidents Cup, or Challenge Cup.
• Brent Jacquette - Director of Soccer Operations (bjacquette@epysa.org)

• Contact any of the following with referee questions related to The NCS State Cup, Presidents Cup, or Challenge Cup.
• Tim Snyder – Cup Referee Assignor (timsnydersoccerassigning@comcast.net)
• Brent Jacquette - Director of Soccer Operations  (bjacquette@epysa.org)
• Dave Ash – Cup Committee Chair (epysacupchair@aol.com​)