How do tournaments and cups work?

A tournament (or cup) is a weekend event outside the league season. Teams sign up, are put into flights by level, play a few group games, and the best teams play on to a final.

Flights

Each age group is split into flights so that teams play others at their level. The names change from cup to cup, but they run strongest first, like this:

• Best of the Best, then Super Black, then Super White — at Surf Cup
• Premier, Gold or Elite, then Silver or Classic, then Bronze
• At some local cups the top flight is Red

Clubs ask for a flight, and the cup places each team — often by its league.

A cup weekend

• Group games. Often three, against the other teams in your group.
• The table. Points for a win and a draw decide the group. Each cup has its own tiebreakers, so we show the cup's own table when we have it.
• The final. The best teams from the groups play on, to semi-finals or straight to a final.

How strong is a cup?

We sort the cups our teams play into five levels:

1. National — Surf Cup San Diego, Premier SuperCopa, Club América Cup
2. Strong regional — Surf Cup NW, Eastside FC Cup, Rainier Challenge
3. Premier — the other regional cups
4. Select — local cups, like Starfire's
5. Rec — Candy Cane, King Juan Cup

A game in a stronger cup, and a stronger flight, counts more in our rankings.

League events

Some weekends are run by a league, not a club: Pre-ECNL cups, MLS NEXT Cup qualifiers and Elite Academy national qualifiers. Mostly that league's teams play.

Finding a cup

Every cup we follow is under Events with its schedule and tables. Follow your team and its cup games show up with the rest.