|
The United States soccer league system, sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, is a series of professional and amateur association football leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. For practical and historical reasons, some teams from Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Canada, and Puerto Rico (considered a separate country by FIFA) also compete in these leagues, although they are not eligible for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which is open only to teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer, and cannot represent the United States in the CONCACAF Champions League; only USSF-affiliated teams can represent the U.S. in the continental tournament. Teams and leagues in the United States are not linked by a system of promotion and relegation, just as none of the major professional sports leagues in the United States are; however, U.S. Soccer (USSF) does officially define and sanction leagues into three divisions. The other leagues listed are not based on standards set by the USSF. == Structure == In the United States, no professional soccer league, and indeed no professional league in any of the major pro sports leagues in the US or Canada currently uses promotion and relegation to allow teams to move between divisions. The country's governing body for the sport, the United States Soccer Federation (also known as the USSF or U.S. Soccer), oversees the league system and is responsible for sanctioning professional leagues. The leagues themselves are responsible for admitting and administering individual teams. Amateur soccer in the United States is regulated by the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA), the only amateur soccer organization sanctioned by the USSF. Limited forms of promotion and relegation have existed in the past; for example, the United Soccer Leagues previously ran multiple sanctioned leagues, between which teams could voluntarily move, although this was largely unused. Several franchises had been voluntarily relegated from the First Division to the Second, and occasionally from the professional ranks to the PDL, usually to reduce operating costs or to re-structure the organization of the franchise in question. Similarly, some franchises have been given the opportunity to move up to a higher level having found success in the lower divisions—most recently USL2 champions Cleveland City Stars moving to USL1 in 2009—but this was not a regular occurrence. Automatic relegation between the two leagues, as exists in many other national league systems, was considered by the USL, but was never implemented. Some amateur leagues sanctioned by the USASA also use promotion and relegation systems within multiple levels of their leagues. However, there has never been a merit-based promotion system offered to the USASA's "national" leagues, the NPSL and the PDL. College soccer in the United States is sanctioned by bodies outside the direct control of the USSF, the most important of which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). See NCAA Division I men's soccer programs, and NCAA Division II men's soccer programs for a list of college soccer programs in the United States. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States soccer league system」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|