A lottery will once again select teams to participate in the 2015 NIRSA National Soccer Championships Open Division!

By Alyssa Whitney

Are you feeling lucky? On September 29, fate will decide if your team is going to be part of the action at the highly-anticipated 22nd Annual NIRSA National Soccer Championships! The tournament will be held at the Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix, Arizona from November 19–21.

As part of NIRSA’s commitment to providing inclusive opportunities for participation, the 2015 Championships will include 96 teams—24 teams will compete in each of the following divisions: Men’s Championship, Men’s Open, Women’s Championship, and Women’s Open.

NIRSA will continue to use a lottery-style selection process—which was first implemented last year—for Open-Division registration. On September 29 at 11:00am EST, a three-hour window for registration will open. All teams who wish to participate must register by 2:00pm EST. At 4:00pm EST there will be a live lottery draw on the NIRSA website where the lucky teams will be selected to play in this year’s tournament.

To ensure a quick and easy registration process, you should have the team representative’s contact information and the sport club director’s email address ready. Teams accepted in the lottery will have 24 hours to pay the entry fee and complete the registration process. Roster information does not have to be final at that time; teams will be allowed to modify their rosters through October 29.

Championship Division bids will start getting sent out the week of October 26, and the at-large bids will be sent out on November 2. Contact your NIRSA Championship Series Soccer Regional Coordinator to learn how to qualify for the Championship Division. Regional Coordinators will also serve as the primary contact for reporting scores during the season. To find the latest tournament details—as well as to read the complete 2015 registration guidelines—please visit the NIRSA National Soccer Championships page on the NIRSA website.

For more information about the 2015 NIRSA National Soccer Championships, please contact NIRSA Director of National Sports Programs Valerie McCutchan.