California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

California State University East Bay

The Pioneer

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Give California HS Soccer a Champions League

If you follow California state high school soccer, it’s no secret to you there is something missing: a “hail to the king” type of championship soccer match.
Between northern and southern California, the rivalry is so great they can’t even agree on when to play the game throughout the year.

The solution is simple, if you think about it.

Take a look at Union of European Football Association (UEFA)  soccer in Europe and Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL) in South America, two champion leagues to determine the king of soccer.

The state of California has no high school championship for soccer and it’s ridiculous.

In a place with so much Latin-American support and influence for the world’s most popular sport, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) still hasn’t gotten the right formula.

Because there are no state championships, California is satisfied with only sectional championships.

The “reason” behind this blasphemy is because of the difference in weather between Northern and Southern California.

The northern sections play their leagues in the fall because of the winter precipitation, and Southern California plays in the winter.

In total, there are ten section champions when the seasons are over.

Why don’t they try something: get together and form a California State Champion’s soccer league.  Everyone can play their respective leagues during the fall, and the winter can be reserved for the champion’s league.  Since there are 10 sections, you could break the north/south sections into two divisions: North and South.  In the end, you would retain the Northern and Southern California rivalries and put to bed once and for all who is the best team in the state.  We can take a look at the world leagues and see how they work to give us an idea of what it could look like.
The UEFA and CONMEBOL are two great examples California high schools should follow.  These organizations are partnerships from participating countries that take the individual top teams and place them into separate divisions.  After deciding seeds, the teams are broken up into their divisions to play their tournament to decide which soccer club is the best of the best in Europe and South America.
Looking at these two examples could bring great prosper and attention to the high school soccer scene in California.  From an American point-of-view, the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry in baseball can probably be the closest rivalry compared to any soccer rivalry.  In some places there are many teams that are rivales such as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United clubs in England.  It doesn’t have to form just one rivalry.
In a lot of sports writers and fans opinions, the World Cup of soccer is one of the most prestigious sporting trophies in the world, because of the many teams involved, only the strong can survive.  Give California that chance to allow these athletes to play for something more prestigious than a sectional state championship.
While doing so, you create a bond for Californians, exposure,   a few jobs, something for soccer athletes to get jazzed about, prestige;  A bond only known to soccer or “fu tbol” players will ever know.  Get it done CIF, the players deserve it.

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Give California HS Soccer a Champions League