2013 NPL Champions Cup to be held July 18-22 in suburban Denver
US Club Soccer has announced that the 2013 NPL Champions Cup, the national championship event for the National Premier Leagues (NPL) season, will take place July 18-22 at Aurora Sports Park in suburban Denver.
At the event, champions from NPLs throughout the country will compete against one another to be crowned NPL national champions in the U-13, U-14, U-15, U-16 and U-17/18 boys and girls age groups. The NPL Champions Cup is the culminating event of year-long, league-based competition and one of the most prestigious championships in the country.
“Teams compete in their respective NPL all year to have the opportunity to qualify for the NPL Champions Cup,” said NPL General Manager Chris Baer. “League-based competition is the best and most accurate way to determine the best teams in the country and when they all come together at the NPL Champions Cup, it is a special event.”
The Aurora Sports Park is no stranger to national championship events, having hosted the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) National Championships in 2011.
“We are excited to be in Colorado next summer to build off the success of the inaugural NPL Champions Cup,” said Baer. “We’ve added new NPLs in several key markets for the 2012-13 season, including the Mountain Developmental League (Ariz., Colo., N.M.), Pacific Developmental League (Calif.), South Atlantic Premier League and Washington State Premier League, and we are looking forward to crowning the first girls NPL national titlists at the 2013 NPL Champions Cup.”
The inaugural NPL Champions Cup was held July 27-31, 2012, at Waukegan Sports Park in Waukegan, Ill., where five boys teams were crowned NPL national champions. Both the Texas Pre-Academy League and the Midwest Developmental League boasted a pair of championship-winning teams at the event, which featured league champions from across the nation in the U-13 through U-17/18 boys age groups.
For the second straight year, the NPL Champions Cup will be held alongside the National Cup Finals.
Providing a unified, league-based national development platform, the NPL now includes 17 leagues, nearly doubling the number of leagues in competition since September 2011.
