State Associations helped shape the decision, and will play and even larger role in creating new opportunities to strengthen soccer in communities across the country.
This past Saturday, Iowa Soccer joined State Associations across the country in supporting a historic step to make US Youth Soccer (USYS) part of U.S. Soccer, bringing the organizations closer together to invest more in local soccer and create better experiences for players and families. creating greater alignment across the game and new opportunities to strengthen soccer locally.
USYS State Associations overwhelmingly voted to approve the change during their Annual General Meeting, which will begin a two-year integration process on September 1. The decision brings USYS’s decades of experience and reach across youth soccer closer together with U.S. Soccer’s resources and national scale.
“This is an exciting moment for soccer in Iowa and across the country,” said Dan Cataldi, CEO of Iowa Soccer. “We strongly supported this decision because we believe we can accomplish more for the game by working together. Our clubs, leagues and communities have built an incredible foundation for soccer in Iowa. Now, U.S. Soccer has made a real commitment to investing more in the game locally, which gives us an opportunity to build on what we’ve created with greater resources, stronger connections and the full weight of U.S. Soccer behind our shared goal of growing and improving the game.”
What This Means for Soccer in Iowa
The integration begins a two-year process in which State Associations will work closely with U.S. Soccer and USYS to help shape the future of soccer in communities around the country.
The goal is to create a stronger and more connected soccer system that can:
- Bring more resources and investment to soccer locally.
- Strengthen Iowa Soccer and our ability to support and grow the game in our communities.
- Create more opportunities for people to play and stay in the game.
- Better support clubs, leagues, coaches and referees serving players every day.
- Make soccer easier for families to understand and navigate.
- Connect local communities more directly to U.S. Soccer and the resources, expertise and opportunities available nationally.
The integration is part of U.S. Soccer’s broader Pathways Strategy, which brings together members and stakeholders from across American soccer to create a more connected future for the game. For Iowa Soccer, that future starts locally building on the work already happening in our communities and creating the support, investment and opportunities to help soccer reach even more people across Iowa.