Technical Standards
General
Ages:
Rosters
Roster Minimum:
Staff
Staff Requirements:
Competition
Match Timeframe:
Standings
Discipline
Red Cards:
Facilities & Training
Field Standards for Matches:
Match Locations:
Concussion Protocol
A player who is suspected to have suffered a head injury may be substituted while being evaluated. The substitution for the evaluation of the concussion/head injury will not count against the team's total number of substitution moments in the half.
Ages:
- U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U19
- U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U19
- High school soccer is permitted by Primary Players
Rosters
Roster Minimum:
- 14 Players per Team
- Maximum of 28 players per National Academy League team
- 18 players per Team
- All Ages: Recommend that all Primary Players start in 25% of official matches
- U13, U14 & U15: Recommend that all players participate in 50% of minutes per week
- Field players are eligible to play in an older age group while being rostered in their younger birth year age group, so long as they meet competition standards and play only 90 minutes per day across a maximum of 2 matches.
- A goalkeeper is allowed to play in more than one game per day and exceed the 90 minute rule applied to field players.
- For any club that has two designations (or branches), a player can only play for one designation during the 2024-2025 season.
- The only exception to this rule is movement of players between the end of the Fall season and start of the Spring season with approval from the NAL Manager.
- The deadline to make any additional adds is Friday, May 2, 2025
Staff
Staff Requirements:
- Academy Director must have USSF Academy Director Course, EFCL Certificate or USSF/CSA A license or equivalent
- Academy Head Coach must have C License or equivalent (exceptions must be approved by NAL Director)
- Recommended best practice of Head Coaches operating 1-2 teams at the club with additional Assistant Coaches, especially if coaching more than one team
- Recommended best practice: A coach shouldn't be Head coach of 2 teams, but can be a Head coach on one
team and an assistant on other teams
- Maximum of 5 coaching staff members permitted in technical area and must be listed on the Match Day Card (Not including Qualified Medical Professional or ATC)
- There must be at least (1) registered staff member in the technical area for each match, and the NAL recommends at least (2).
- Any Staff members that will be working with NAL players or will be in the technical area during NAL matches will be required to complete the registration process, including the risk management requirements
Competition
Match Timeframe:
- Players can only play in 90 minutes per day across a maximum of 2 matches
- Players should not appear in more than 2 consecutive match days
- Size 5 Official match ball must be used for all NAL matches
- Home club must provide adequate hydration for both teams
- Home club must provide adequate seating (benches) for both teams
- It is recommended that the Home club provide a Qualified Medical Professional (QMP) for all venues
- It is recommended that the Home Club Video U15-U19 matches and upload match footage for U15-U19 age groups to the Veo Video League Exchange platform.
- Home club must ensure there are no spectators/parents in the technical area or that sideline.
- Each club is responsible for the behavior of their spectators
- U13 = 2x35 minute halves, 10 minutes HT
- U14 & U15 = 2x40 minute halves, 15 minutes HT
- U16, U17, U19 = 2x45 minute halves, 15 minutes HT
- Teams must be provided with an appropriate warm up area 30 minutes prior to kick off
- Recommended that older age groups play first to accommodate younger players "playing up"
- No more than 2 matches played simultaneously between two clubs
- No earlier than 9:00 AM without permission from NAL League Manager
- Minimum of 18 hours between matches if playing on consecutive days
- Maximum of 18 players and minimum of 14 players on match day rosters
- U13-U19 = Unlimited over 3 moments per half, plus HT. Re-entry is allowed.
- Exceptions according to Concussion Protocol (see below)
- NAL League Manager must approve any request for schedule changes
- Any requests for substantial changes in time or location received within two weeks of the match will result in a fine
Standings
- Regular season standings are based on PPG
- Win = 3 Points; Tie = 1 Point; Loss = 0 Points
- If two or more clubs finish the NAL regular season with an equal number of PPG the following procedure (in order of priority) will be used to break the tie and determine the final standings:
- Head-to-Head (only applicable if two teams involved)
- # of Wins per match
- Goal differential per match
- Goals against per match
- Goals for per match
- Coin Toss
- **In the event of a 3 team tie, once one team is eliminated by the process above, the tie breaker moves back to tiebreaker point number 1 and moves through till a winner is determined.
Discipline
Red Cards:
- A red card will follow a player and staff member across all age groups. A player/coach must sit out all remaining games in the same day's fixture where red card was received, and must sit out the next game day fixture. Once a player/coach sits out the subsequent game day fixture, they will be able eligible to compete.
- In the event a player or staff member receives 2 yellow cards in the same match resulting in a red card, the player/staff member must follow the same rules established for a red card.
- When two clubs play against each other across multiple age groups over one weekend, then all
matches between the two clubs are considered part of the fixture.
Facilities & Training
Field Standards for Matches:
- Expectations for NAL clubs to provide appropriate, high quality fields to host NAL matches
- Minimum Field Sizes:
- U13 & U14 = Minimum of 64x105
- U15 & Older = Minimum of 70x110
- Any fields outside of these standards, must be approved by NAL League Manager before the season
Match Locations:
- Clubs can use multiple locations for NAL Regular Season matches, subject to NAL League Manager approval
- U13-U19 must train a minimum of 3 times per week
- Individual players must be given at least one day off per week
Concussion Protocol
A player who is suspected to have suffered a head injury may be substituted while being evaluated. The substitution for the evaluation of the concussion/head injury will not count against the team's total number of substitution moments in the half.
- If the players is deemed by a QMP to have not suffered a concussion, the player may re-enter the match at any stoppage of play and must replace the original substitute; this head injury evaluation will not count as a substitute moment.
- If the player is not cleared to return to play by a QMP, the replacement player will no longer be considered a temporary substitute.