Soccer (or Football as it is known to most of the world) is still a fledgling sport in the United States, but already organization’s and division’s are becoming coherent.  Many do not understand how soccer is organized in the US so this page is an attempt to explain the system.  This site will only cover the years 1995-2005. It is currently undergoing significant reworking to update it for 2005.  note- agg. or ag. means aggregate goals.

Table of Contents

• Introduction & Table of Contents
  • Club vs. National
  • Related & Similar sports
• International
  • FIFA
  • the World Cup (National)
  • CONCACAF
    • Gold Cup (National)
    • Champions Cup (Club)
  • Olympic Soccer (National)
• National - USSF
• Club
  • Men's Soccer
    • MLS
    • USL
  • Women's Soccer
  • College Soccer
  • Amateur Soccer
    • Semi-Pro
      • PDL
      • NPSL
    • USASA & State Associations
    • Youth
• Calendar
• Cup
• Links

Club vs. National

The first thing that confuses many American’s is the difference between Club and National.  The Club is the team that a player usually play’s for and these clubs compete domestically and sometimes internationally.  Professional Player’s, and sometimes Amateur’s, sign contract’s with their Club team’s.  College teams are usually considered Club teams as well.  National teams such as the US Men’s National Team (MNT), the US Women’s National team (WNT), and the various youth squads (U-## for Under such and such age) are made up of players who usually compete for various club teams during the regular season’s and the roster’s of the national teams are re-selected for every event that the national team participate’s in.  Some players may never be ‘called up’ for national (for whatever nation they are a national of) team service, but for those that are, the club’s are always required by international law to release the player (within specific international limits).  Player’s do not sign any sort of ‘contract’ with National teams.  Many place’s that are not nation’s have ‘National’ teams (for example Puerto Rico , Guam , American Samoa , & the US Virgin Islands each have ‘National’ program’s)

Related & Similar sports-

There are also numerous soccer-similar sports such as Futsal, Beach Soccer, & Indoor Soccer, which I will not cover on this page except to mention that Indoor Soccer has long been present in the US and there are league structures for it (such as the MISL), and second, Futsal is basically a 5 a side version of soccer.  Soccer (or Football/Futball) and all these variations are under the category of Association Football (as opposed to say American Football, or Union/Rugby Football, Gaelic Football, etc.), again usually referred to simply as Football or Futball, except in America where we have that pesky American Football claiming the nickname which it does not deserve (after all, how often does the ball actually come in contact with the players feet in a game of American Football?  Hmm?  So then why is it called ‘Foot’ball???)

The USA in the International Structure:

The world governing organization of soccer is the Federation Internationale de Football Association or FIFA.  Website. Every 4 years FIFA holds the World Cup and the Women's World Cup (not in the same year).  Current US qualification for the 2006 Men’s World Cup in Germany : Currently in the 3rd stage (final round) of CONCACAF (see below) qualifying, a League system refered to as the CONCACAF Hexagonal (Website), from which the top 3 qualify and the 4^th place team will enter a playoff with the 5^th placed Asian team to qualify.

Team	P	W	D	L	Pts	GD	GF:GA
Mexico	5	4	1	0	13	+6	9:3
USA	5	4	0	1	12	+8	11:3
Costa Rica	5	2	1	2	7	-2	6:8
	qualify
Guatemala	5	1	1	3	4	-1	7:8
	playoff
Trinidad & Tobago	5	1	1	3	4	-5	4:9
Panama	5	0	2	3	2	-6	2:8

The United States is in “the Football Confederation” – the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), one of the 6 geographical confederations of FIFA.  Website.  These 6 geographical confederations are usually refered to as "continental confederations" though they don't match up with anyone's normal deliniation of the continents. Also included in the CONCACAF is 37 other ‘national’ associations including the US Virgin Islands , Puerto Rico , & Canada , which I mention because many of their club teams, in the lower division’s, compete in the same leagues and divisions mentioned below.  Guam is part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and American Samoa is part of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) so their ‘national’ teams compete in their respective confederations but most of their lower division club teams are part of the US structure at some level. 

Other 2006 qualification’s: Guam withdrew, Puerto Rico did not enter the World Cup qualification, and the US Virgin Islands were eliminated in Stage 1a by St. Kitts & Nevis on a 0-11 aggregate.  American Samoa were winless in Group 2 of the 1^st Round of the 2004 Oceania Nations Cup which counts, in part, as the Oceania qualification.  In summary the current (as of May 2005) 2006 World Cup qualifying totals are:

World Cup Qualification	MP	W	L	T	GF:GA	GD	notes
United States	12	8	1	3	27:8	+19	In CONCACAF Hexagonal
American Samoa	4	0	4	0	1:34	-33	Eliminated
US Virgin Islands	2	0	2	0	0:11	–11
Guam	Withdrew
Puerto Rico	Did not enter

CONCACAF (and the other confederations) also run's a 'continental' competition every year or every second year. CONCACAF's such competition is the Gold Cup (which the US is hosting this July) and usually has a guest team or two from another confederation (This year South Africa and Colombia are the guests). Often the Gold Cup (and the other confederation's versions) are used to determine each continent's entrant to FIFA's Confederations Cup in years when it is held.

The Women's 2006 Gold Cup will also double as the CONCACAF qualifyer for the 2007 Women's World Cup in China.

The 2010 World Cup will be held in South Africa.

While CONCACAF is mostly concerned with National teams, they do host a club competition officially called the Champions’ Cup but usually referred to as the Confederation’s Cup.  The US entrants to this have been determined in different fashions over the years, some years it was based on the US Open (see bottom of this page), and others based on the results of the MLS (See below), though lately it has been the winner and runner up from the MLS Cup.  CONCACAF will also soon be launching the Giant’s Series which consist of the most popular club team from each country based on attendance.  The Winners and Runner’s up of the Confederations Cup and the Giants’ Series will then meet in the FC Clubs’ Cup to determine the CONCACAF entrant in the revived biennial FIFA Club World Championship slated to (re-)start in 2005. -UPDATE- It appears plans for the Giants' Series have been dropped, now the winner of the Champions cup will play in the FIFA Club World Championship.

2005 Confederation’s Cup: 

Quarterfinals in March: DC United beat Harbour View of Jamaica 4-2agg. while Kansas City Wizards lost to Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica 1-2agg.. In the Semifinals in April DC were knocked out by Pumas UNAM of Mexico on a 1-6agg. In the final in May, Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica won 3-2agg. over Pumas UNAM of Mexico.

2004 final: LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica 5-1agg over Deportivo Saprissa, also of Costa Rica.

American History in the Confederation’s cup- Los Angeles Galaxy won in 2000 beating Olimpia of Honduras 3-2, DC United won in 1998 beating Toluca of Mexico 1-0, LA were finalists in 1997 losing to Cruz Azul of Mexcio 3-5.

Additional note, 1998 was one of the years that had the Copa Interamericana where the winner of the CONCACAF cup and CONMEBOL (FIFA’s South American conference) was held with the DC United winning 2-1agg over Vasco da Gama (of Brazil).

Olympic Soccer

Less watched and less followed than either the national or club soccer is the Olympic soccer situation. For the Olympics the U-23 compete's for the Men while the full Women's team compete for the Women.

In the qualifying for the 2004 Greece Summer Olympics, the top 2 teams (top 2 Men and Women both) from CONCACAF qualify for the competition.  The US Men beat St. Kitts & Nevis 10-0 agg., won group B (against Honduras, Panama, & Canada) undefeated in 3 games (10-6 agg.) only to be knocked out by Mexico 4-0 in the Semis and then to loose their 3^rd place match 3-4 on PKs after a 1-1 tie to Honduras, the second place team from their group.  The Women meanwhile won Group B undefeated in three games (17-0), and went on to win their semifinal match 4-0 over Costa Rica and the Final match 3-2 over Mexico.  The US Women and the Mexico Women qualified from CONCACAF and the USA went on to win Gold in Athens.

In other qualification The US Virgin Islands Men were eliminated by Canada 0-24agg while Puerto Rico Withdrew.  American Samoa were winless in their 4 game’s in Group B vs. New Zealand, Vanuatu, Tonga, & Cook Islands and were eliminated.  Apearently Guam did not compete. 
In the Women’s qualification the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, & American Samoa all withdrew.  Guam was knocked out of Group B of the Asian qualification after being goal-less in it's three games of Group B Asian qualification against South Korea (0-7), China (0-9), & Myanmar (0-2).

	Olympic Qualification	GP	W	L	GF:GA	GD	note’s
	Men’s:
	United States	7	5	2	21:11	+10	Eliminated
	American Samoa	4	0	4	2:25	–23
	US Virgin Islands	2	0	2	0:24	–24
	Puerto Rico	Withdrew
	Guam	Did not contest
	Women’s:
	United States	5	5	0	24:2	+22	Qualified
	Guam	3	0	3	0:20	-20	Eliminated
	American Samoa	Withdrew
	Puerto Rico
	US Virgin Islands

in the actual tournament, the USA won Gold by winning Group G with 2 wins (vs. Brazil and Greece) and a tie (with Australia) (6-1agg.), beating Japan in the Quarterfinals (2-1), Germany in the semi's (2-1 aet), and Brazil in the Gold Medal Match (2-1 aet).

Where would ODP information best fit? Here or under Youth?

National Level Soccer

The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) is the official national soccer organization (the only one recognized internationally and by FIFA, the International Football body).  Website.  The USSF run’s the various national teams, and it authorizes the MLS to run the Division I program and the USL to run the division II & III program’s. 

Unlike in basically every other country in the world, there is no promotion or relegation between Division I & II and only rarely is their any such between Division II & III () .  While the details vary from country to country, In most countries the top few teams in a division at the end of a season start the next season in the next higher division (if not already in Div I) and the bottom few in each division at the end of the season get relegated to the next lower division at the start of the next season (if not already in the lowest division) or even eliminated.  In the US the only way into Division I (the MLS) is to establish a new club team in a new market and buy-into the single-entity structure of MLS in the pre-season (in all a very expensive and risky proposition for sponsor’s) and the only way out of the Division I is financial bankruptcy.

The USSF’s premier event is the Open Cup (see at bottom of this page).

Major League Soccer (MLS) is rather unique, both within the soccer world and within american sports, given it's single entity structure where in all player contracts and all teams are owned and operated by the MLS under owner-operators. This tends to (over the course of a few season's) equalise the various teams as the structure leans itself towards keeping all the teams competitavely balanced.

United Soccer League’s (USL) (Website) is affiliated with the USSF, the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA), the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and the Puerto Rican Football Federation (PRFF) and run’s the only recognized Division II & III Men’s programs. 

Professional Men’s soccer in the US:

Division I- Major League Soccer (MLS): Professional.

Division II- USL 1st Division (formerly the A-League):  Professional, part of the USL.

Division III- USL 2nd Division (formerly the USL Pro Soccer League or PSL): Professional, part of the USL, but has been reduced to an east coast only league for the 2005 season.

Some Canadian teams participate in the USL 1st division though there are also Canadian Division II & III League’s.

Major League Soccer (MLS)

The Division I – Professional Men’s league.  Website.

Each of the twelve teams (6 teams in each conference- West and East) will play 32 regular-season games, home-and-away twice against each of their confrence opponents, once against each of their cross-conference foes. The top four from each Conference will enter the Conference Playoffs, and the two Conference Playoff champions will face off for the MLS Cup.

Teams: West- CD Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas 96, Los Angeles Galaxy, Réal Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes. East- Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, Kansas City Wizards, New England Revolution, New York MetroStars.

CD Chivas USA and Réal Salt Lake are new expansion teams For 2005, and the Dallas Burn have been renamed FC Dallas. The Chivas team is owned by the same owner as Club Deportivo Chivas Guadalajara in Mexico, Deportivo Saprissa in Costa Rica, and others.

2004 Season: The Columbus Crew and the Kansas City Wizards were the regular season conference champions, but D.C. United and Kansas City went on to become Conference Champions, downing New England (4-3) and Los Angeles (2-0) respectively. In the Final D.C. United triumphed.

MLS Cup History:

2004 D.C. United 3-2 over Kansas City

2003 San Jose Earthquakes 4-2 over Chicago Fire

2002 Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 over New England Revolution

2001 San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 over Los Angeles Galaxy

2000 Kansas City Wizards 1-0 over Chicago Fire

1999 D.C. United 2-0 over Los Angeles Galaxy

1998 Chicago Fire 2-0 over D.C. United

1997 D.C. United 2-1 over Colorado Rapids

1996 D.C. United 1-0 over Los Angeles Galaxy

The MLS has also started a "reserve league" but this appears more an attempt to get the "bench" players some play time and is not a "reserve league" in the traditional sense.

USL 1^st Division

The Division II Men’s Professional league, run by the USL.

2005 Season: They have gone to a single table and eliminated the Conferences. Each team will play each other home and away once, plus 6 additional regional rivalry games (28 game season). The top 6 will enter the playoffs, with the top two having a first round bye. Teams- Atlanta Silverbacks, Charleston Battery, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, Portland Timbers, Puerto Rico Islanders, Richmond Kickers, Rochester Raging Rhinos, Seattle Sounders, Toronto Lynx, Vancouver Whitecaps, Virginia Beach Mariners.

History:

2004 Season: The Montreal Impact and the Portland Timbers were the respective regular season winners for the Eastern and Western Conference's. Portland ended up loosing in the Quarterfinals to eventual Western Conference Champions Seattle Sounders, who in turn lost in the final to Montreal.

Finals:

2004 (A-League)- Montreal Impact 2-0 over Seattle Sounders

2003 (A-League)- Charleston Battery 3-0 over Minnesota Thunder

2002 (A-League)- Milwaukee Rampage 2-1 over Richmond Kickers

2001 (A-League)- Rochester Raging Rhinos 2-0 over Hershey Wildcats

2000 (A-League)- Rochester Raging Rhinos 3-1 over Minnesota Thunder

1999 (A-League)- Minnesota Thunder 2-1 over Rochester Rhinos

1998 (A-League)- Rochester Ragin' Rhinos 3-1 over Minnesota Thunder

1997 (USL A-League)- Milwaukee Rampage 2-1 over Carolina Dynamo?

1996 (A-League)- Seattle Sounders over Rochester Rhinos 2-0
1996 (USISL Select League)- California Jaguars 2-1 in a shootout over Richmond Kickers

1995 (A-League)- Seattle Sounders over Atlanta Ruckus 1-2, 3-0, 2-1

USL 2^nd Division

The USL’s Division III Men’s Professional soccer league, though currently an east coast only operation, run by the USL.

2005 Season: 9 teams playing a 20 game season with the top 4 entering the playoffs. Teams- Charlotte Eagles, Cincinnati Kings, Harrisburg City Islanders, Long Island Rough Riders, New Hampshire Phantoms, Northern Virginia Royals, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Western Mass Pioneers, Wilmington Hammerheads

History:

2004 season: The Pittsburgh Riverhounds, New Hampshire Phantoms, Charlotte Eagles, & Utah Blitzz were the respective winners of their divisions, both in terms of regular season and in Division Playoffs. Pittsburgh were the overall regular season winners with 52 points. The playoff final was finally decided on Penalty Kick's 5-4 after Utah and Charlotte were tied.

Finals:

2004 (when it was the Pro Soccer League or PSL)- Utah Blitzz 2-2 (5-4 PKs) over Charlotte Eagles.

2003 (when it was the Pro Select League or PSL)- Wilmington Hammerheads 2-1 over the Westchester Flames

2002 (when it was the D3Pro League)- Long Island Rough Riders 2-1 over Wilmington Hammerheads

2001 (when it was the D-3 Pro League)- Utah Blitzz 1-0 over Greenville Lions

2000 (when it was the D-3 Pro League)- Charlotte Eagles 5-0 over New Jersey Stallions

1999 (when it was the D3-Pro League)- Western Massachusetts Pioneers 2-1 over South Jersey Barons

1998 (when it was the USISL D-3 Pro League)- Chicago Stingers 3-2 in OT over New Hampshire Phantoms

1997 (when it was the USISL D-3 Pro League)- Albuquerque Geckos 3-1 over Charlotte Eagles

1996 (when it was the USISL Pro League)- Charleston Battery 3-2 over Charlotte Eagles

1995 (when it was the USISL-Professional League)- Long Island Rough Riders 2-1 over Minnesota Thunder

Professional Women’s soccer in the US:

In the US the Women’s program is generally stronger than the men’s, though the men are catching up and the women seem to be faltering with the collapse of the WUSA.  The USA Women's national team has had great success in the various Women's World Cups.

The Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world’s first recognized, Division I, Women’s league but unfortunately it has folded.  Now the three hot spots for Women’s soccer are the W-League of the USL, The Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) of the USASA, and the various college teams (especially in the Carolinas).  The W-1 & W-2 had reconsolidated back into one league (the W-League) following the creation of the WUSA and it appeared that the W-League would become the second tier but since the collapse the WPSL has received much attention from the former WUSA player’s and I am unsure if either the W-League or the WPSL are considered Professional (and if so of what division) or Amateur (and if so is one considered stronger than the other?). Until recently, the WPSL was a West coast only league.

Champions:
2004: W-League- Vancouver Whitecaps Women, WPSL-California Storm
2003: WUSA- Washington Freedom, W-League- Hampton Roads Piranhas, WPSL-Utah Spiders
2002: WUSA- Carolina Courage, W-League- Boston Renegades, WPSL-California Storm
2001: WUSA- Bay Area CyberRays, W-1- Boston Renegades, W-2- Charlotte Lady Eagles, WPSL-Southern California Ajax
2000: W-1- Chicago Cobras, W-2- Springfield Sirens, WPSL- San Diego W.F.C.
1999: W-1- Raleigh Flyers, W-2- North Texas Heat, WPSL- Ajax Southern California
1998: W-1- Raleigh Wings, W-2- Ft. Collins Force, WPSL- California Storm
1997: W-League- Long Island Lady Riders
1996: W-League- Maryland Pride
1995: W-League- Long Island Lady Riders

College Soccer

College Soccer, and for that matter high school soccer, is definitely alive in the US.  Sometime in the future perhaps I will include a section on it, if I can find a good source to help myself understand the division’s and numerous conference’s it is divided into.  In the meantime, here’s some note’s towards that end:

NCAA soccer starts in August.

NCAA Division’s refer to the number of different sports a school has teams for and the levels of financial aid to athlete’s.  While this may result in a fair breakdown for the traditional American Sports Trinity (American Football, Basketball, & Baseball) it does not neccessarily reflect the level of soccer competition.

NCAA Division I Soccer, for the men there are 23 (or more) conference’s, for the women??

NCAA Division II Soccer, divided into 8 regions.

NCAA Division III Soccer. 8 regions for the men, 7 for the women.

NAIA includes Soccer, 8 regions some with some conference’s within the regions but also independent teams.

NCCAA / Jr. College’s Soccer

High School Soccer???

 ‘Amateur’ Soccer

I put Amateur in quotes because some of this would better to be called Semi-pro in the american sports terms, especially the PDL and NPSL.

USL Premier Development League (PDL): Men’s, Amateur (semi-pro) though often referred to as “Division 4”, part of the USL.

National Premier Soccer League (NPSL): Men's Amateur (semi-pro). Is it run by, or just associated with the USASA?

U.S. Adult Soccer Association, Inc. (USASA): Men, Women, & Coed Amateur & Recreational. (Website)

There are also smaller regional organization’s including-

US Club Soccer: Amateur.  A new organization attempting to found standing club teams to produce professional’s.  It appears to be organized into 7 regions and also has three youth division’s.

PDL - Profesional Development League

The PDL is unofficially the Div IV of the U.S. and is run by the USL.
2005 season: 4 conference's, each subdivided into 2 division's. Each team will play 16 games against other PDL teams. Teams will not play match's against PSL teams like in the past. In all but the Western Conference the top two teams per division enter the Conference playoff (in the West the very competitive Southwest Division sends 3 teams and the small 4 team Northwest Division only sends it's top team) with the Conference champions playing in the league semifinals.

Teams:
Central Conference, Heartland Division: Boulder Rapids Reserve, Colorado Springs Blizzard, Des Moines Menace , Kansas City Brass, Sioux Falls SpitFire, Springfield Storm (expansion), Thunder Bay Chill.
Central Conference, Great Lakes Division: Chicago Fire Premier , Cleveland Internationals, Fort Wayne Fever, Indiana Invaders, Kalamazoo Kingdom, Michigan Bucks, Toledo Slayers, West Michigan Edge.
Eastern Conference, Northeast Division: Albany Blackwatch Highlanders, Brooklyn Knights, Cape Cod Crusaders , Ocean City Barons , Ottawa Fury (expanison), Reading Rage, Rhode Island Stingrays, Vermont Voltage, Westchester Flames.
Eastern Conference, Mid Atlantic Division: Carolina Dynamo , Raleigh CASL Elite, Richmond Kickers Future , West Virginia Chaos, Williamsburg Legacy.
Southern Conference, Mid South Division: Austin Lightning, DFW Tornados, El Paso Patriots, Laredo Heat, Memphis Express, Nashville Metros, New Orleans Shell Shockers.
Southern Conference, Southeast Division: Ajax Orlando Prospects, Bradenton Academics, Central Florida Kraze, Cocoa Expos , Palm Beach Pumas.
Western Conference, The Southwest Division: Bakersfield Brigade (a new expansion team), BYU (Brigham Young University) Cougars, California Gold (formerly of the PSL), Fresno Fuego , Nevada Wonders, Orange County Blue Star , San Diego Gauchos (formerly of the PSL) & Southern California Seahorses.
Western Conference, Northwest Division: Abbotsford Rangers, Cascade Surge , Spokane Shadow , Yakima Reds.

History:
2004 Season: Boulder Rapids Reserves (Central), Carolina Dynamo (Eastern), Central Florida Kraze (Southern), Fresno Fuego (Western) were the respective Conference champions, with the Kraze going on to win the league playoffs over Boulder.

Past Championships:
2004: Central Florida Kraze 1-0 over Boulder Rapids Reserves
2003: Cape Cod Crusaders 2-0 over Chicago Fire Reserves
2002: Cape Cod Crusaders 2-1 over Boulder Rapids Reserves
2001: Westchester Flames 3-1 over Calgary Storm
2000: Chicago Sockers 1-0 over Mid-Michigan Bucks
1999: Chicago Sockers 3-1 over Spokane Shadow
1998 (When it was the Premier Development Soccer League-PDSL): San Gabriel Valley Highlanders 3-2 over Jackson Chargers
1997 (PDSL): Central Coast Roadrunners 2-1 over Cocoa Expos
1996 (USISL Premier League): San Luis Obispo Central Coast Road Runners 1-0 over San Francisco Bay Seals
1995 (Premier League): Richmond Kickers 3-1 over Cocoa Expos

NPSL- National Premier Soccer League

The USASA's Men's Premier Soccer League (MPSL) was spawned off of the WPSL and originally run on the West Coast. As of the 2005 season it has been renamed and now has both a West and Mid-West division. (Website). I am unsure as to whether it is still run by the USASA now that it is the NPSL.

not to be confused with a previous National Professional Soccer League (1991-2001), a indoor league which was the precursor to the current MISL

Past Champions:
2004: Utah Salt Ratz
2003: Arizona Suaharos

USASA- U.S. Adult Soccer Association, Inc.

Consists of 55 'State' Associations (CA, NY, OH, PA, & TX have 2 'State' Associations each, and VA also serves DC) in 4 Geographic region’s (I-East, II-Midwest, III-South, & IV-West). Each of the State Associations in turn have various competitive and recreational League's, run various tournaments, as well as have cup copetitions in 3 categories each with subdivision’s: Coed (Open & Over 30), Veteran’s (Men’s Over 40, 45, 50, 55, & Women’s Over 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55), & ‘National’ (Men’s & Women’s version each of Open, Amateur, Over 30, & Under 23.) note that ‘National’ in this use has no connection to the ‘National’ teams as this is a Club team league, and the National Open is also the entry route to the US Open Cup.

One comparison I like to think of, is if the USASA were likened to FIFA, then the State Association's would be akin to the national Associaton's and the Regions would be the continental confederations. Thus the Select teams would be the 'national pools'.

The USASA also run’s the WPSL - Womens Premier Soccer League (a top division for Women), and US Youth Soccer (USYS).

In Region I (East Coast) there is also the Champion's League, which appears to be a New York Metropolitan area League, and the MASSL, a Youth and Young adult regional club league, both of which cross state associations boundries.

Youth Soccer

Youth Soccer in America consists of several organizations, often overlapping in area and scope.  The largest of which are listed below.  I am unsure if these have standing club teams or if the teams are randomized each year (as is the case in AYSO).

Super-Y League:  the USL's youth league.  Several division’s and conference’s based on Geographic region, gender, and age group.

US Youth Soccer (USYS): Youth (age’s 5-19), part of the USASA and associated directly with USSF, consisting of the same 55 ‘State’ Associations within 4 regions as the USASA.  Within that they have 12 divisions based on gender and age combinations with State, Regional, & National championship series’ with the 12 Division National winners competing against each other in the National Champions tournament. 

American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), Amateur, Youth (age’s 4½-19).  Made up of community league’s called Region’s, grouped into Area’s with the country divided into 14 sections plus ‘Section 99’ for programs outside the United States.  They are subdivided into 10? Divisions based on Age and gender.  AYSO players are placed on new team’s each year, thus there are no standing teams.

Soccer Association for Youth (SAY): "Kids Having FUN!" Seems very similar to AYSO.

Soccer in the Streets (SITS). "No Drugs, No Crime... Just Soccer!" A community service type program to bring soccer into America's Urban area's as an alternative to keep kids out of gangs and away from drugs.

US Club Soccer (Amateur, see above) also has 3 youth division’s.

US Open Cup

The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup is the national competition of the USSF, and thus of the United States.  Usually when refering to "the Cup" of a country, it is the countries national open cup which is being refered to, though there are also others (ie the league cup won in the playoff's, regional cup's or derby's, etc.). While ideally a national open cup is open to any professional or amateur team, to enter the US cup an amateur club must be part of either the PDL or the USASA (including, apparently, the NPSL and Champions League). 

2005 US Open Cup

The 2005 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will consist of 42 men’s teams- 26 professional and 16 amateur. 

The 16 amateur teams will be the 4 USASA regional champions, the 4 USASA regional runner’s up, and 8 PDL teams.

All 12 MLS teams will participate.
Entering in the third round (16^th Finals):
Entering in the fourth round (the Eigth-finals):

USL 1^st Division: All 8 American (not the Canadian teams nor the Puerto Rico Islanders) clubs will participate.
Entering in the Second Round (32^nd Finals):
Entering in the Third Round (16^th Finals):

USL 2^nd Division: 6 of the 9 teams will enter, 4 in the second round, 2 in the First Round.
Entering in the second Round (32^nd Finals):
Entering in the first Round (64^th Finals):

PDL: Two teams per conference qualify, runners up from Southern and Western are in the qualifying round, all others in the 1^st round.
Central Conference: Des Moines Menace and Chicacgo Fire Premier .
Eastern Conference: Richmond Kickers Future and Ocean City Barons .
Southern Conference: El Paso Patriots and Cocoa Expos .
Western Conference: Orange County Blue Star and Cascade Surge .

Two teams from each of the USASA's four regions will participate, with the runner's up from Regions III & IV entering in the qualifying round and all others in the 1^st round.
Region I: Baltimore Colts FC(MD) and Greek American Atlas(E. NY).
Region II: AAC Eagles and Polonia Mielec both of IL.
Region III: Azzurri and Roma both of the North Texas Premier Soccer League (TX N.).
Region IV: Sonoma County Sol and Salinas Valley Samba, both of the NPSL.

Qualifying runs through May and the competition begins June 8^th.

2004 US Open Cup

The Sacramento Knights (MPSL) were the only USASA team to make it out of the 1st Round (64th finals), but they lost in the 2nd round (32nd finals) 0-3 to Utah Blitzz (PSL). Four PDL teams made it as far as the 3rd Round (16th finals) - Chicago Fire Reserves (lost 0-1 to Rochester Raging Rhinos of the A-League), Cape Cod Crusaders (lost 0-1 in sudden death overtime to Richmond Kickers of the A-League), Boulder Rapids Reserves (lost 1-2 in sudden death overtime to Minnesota Thunder of the A-League), & Carolina Dynamo (lost 2-3 in sudden death overtime to Atlanta Silverbacks of the A-League). Wilmington Hammerheads (PSL) & Utah Blitzz (PSL) also made it as far as the 3rd round (16th finals) before being knocked out by Charleston Battery (A-League) 0-2 & Portland Timbers (A-League) 1-2. The Charleston Battery (A-League) went on as far as the semi-finals where they were knocked out 0-1 in sudden death overtime by Chicago Fire (MLS). In the other semi-final Kansas City (MLS) beat San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) 1-0. Kansas City Wizards (MLS) went on to win the final 1-0 over Chicago Fire (MLS) in sudden death overtime.

The Last 10 Open cup finals winners:

2004- Kansas City Wizards (MLS) 1-0 (aet) over Chicago Fire (MLS)

2003- Chicago Fire (MLS) 1-0 over New York MetroStars (MLS)

2002- Columbus Crew (MLS) 1-0 over the Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)

2001- Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) 2-1 over the New England Revolution (MLS)

2000- Chicago Fire (MLS) 2-1 over the Miami Fusion (MLS)

1999- Rochester Raging Rhinos (A-League) 2-0 over the Colorado Rapids (MLS)

1998-Chicago Fire (MLS) 2-1 over the Columbus Crew (MLS)

1997-Dallas Burn (MLS) 0-0 over Washington DC United (MLS), 5-3 on PK’s

1996- DC United (MLS) 3-0 over the Rochester Rhinos (A-League)

1995-Richmond Kickers (USISL) 1-1 over the El Paso Patriots (USISL) 4-2 on PK’s

there is also a Women’s Open Cup, though I can not find much in the way of details, possibly not run by USSF.

2002- California Blues 5-0 over Peninsula (NJ) Aztecs

2001- Detroit Rocker Hawks 1-0 over Southern California Blues

2000- Ajax Fram (Manhattan Beach, CA) 2-1 over the Detroit Rocker Hawks

1999- San Diego Auto Trader 14-0 over Patrick Real Wyckoff (NJ)

1998- Los Angeles Ajax 5-0 over Dallas Lightning

1997- Sacramento Storm 3-2 over Dallas Lightning

1996- Dallas Lightning 2-1 over Sacramento Storm