Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer’s State Cup registration is open for 2024 with new and exciting changes!
Among the changes will be a third tier being added to the Challenge Cup at the younger age groups, seeding at all levels instead of a blind draw and an effort to have less travel for teams in the earlier rounds of the competition, which will kick off in early March.
“We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from the clubs and coaches that have participated in the past and have implemented changes based on that feedback, said DJ Jones, Eastern PA Youth Soccer’s State Cup Manager. “We’ve also implemented changes that are consistent with the direction of where US Youth Soccer is heading.”
While teams will still be able to request which cup they’d like to compete in, teams will ultimately be placed in the different cup levels based on a seeding process similar to how weekend tournaments are typically handled. A streamlined registration process will allow teams to register with one form regardless of the level of competition they are ultimately placed.
Winners in the two highest level state cups in the U12-U19 age ranges will qualify for the US Youth Soccer regional championships in West Virginia and U13-U19 age groups have an opportunity to qualify at regionals for national championships in Wichita, Kansas and Orlando, Florida. Challenge Cup will continue to be a state-only competition. The Challenge Cup will be expanded from two flights to a Gold, Silver and Bronze division at the U9, U10 and U11 age divisions.
This will give more teams and more clubs a chance to celebrate state cup winners at the three different tiers of competition. It will also allow for more competitive games at the three levels throughout the tournament.
The state cup finals will be played in a new location in 2024. Finals will be held on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, June 2, at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex in Chester. The new facility opened earlier this year next to Subaru Park and is the training site of the Philadelphia Union.