Are you feeling lucky? On October 4, fate will decide if your team is going to be part of the action at the highly-anticipated 23rd Annual NIRSA National Soccer Championships! The tournament will be held at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Alabama from November 17–19.

As part of NIRSA’s commitment to providing inclusive opportunities for participation, the 2016 Championships will include 96 teams. Twenty-four 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 in 2014 —for Open-Division registration. On October 4 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 28.

Championship Division bids will start getting sent out the week of October 24, and the at-large bids will be sent out on October 31. 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 2016 registration guidelines—please visit the NIRSA website.

  • For more information about the 2016 NIRSA National Soccer Championships, please contact NIRSA Director of National Sports Programs Valerie McCutchan.
National Sport Programs Coordinator at  | NIRSA Profile

Keeley Naughton is the NIRSA National Sport Programs Coordinator