If you know anything about the staff at Protagonist Soccer, you know we love some local cup competitions. They are such a net positive for a variety of reasons, including localized travel, playoff atmosphere, club and player exposure, and more soccer (always a plus). Honestly, it’s shocking that we don’t see more cup competitions across the soccer landscape. It’s a net positive for the soccer community as a whole.

Which makes me incredibly happy to see that the UPSL just announced the UPSL California Cup. The new cup competition is open to all amateur men’s teams in the state, with a $500 buy-in. Winner will take home $10,000. According to the press release, “the format will feature two divisions—NorCal and SoCal—each consisting of 16 teams. Every team is guaranteed at least three group-stage matches before advancing to knockout rounds.” Those tournament group matches kick off January 17-18. After group play, the NorCal and SoCal champions will face off in a California State Championship Final on the weekend of February 21-22.

The UPSL has quietly grown into the largest amateur soccer league in the country, focusing on lower costs of entry and a well-populated map (which reduces travel costs). The press release quotes UPSL Vice President of Growth, Yan Skwara, on the importance of the competition. “We’re proud to create a platform that unites teams from every region of the state and expands our past regional cups into a true statewide championship.” If a California team is interested in participating in Northern California, please contact yan@upsl.com. If the team is in Southern California, please contact jose.lopez@upsl.com.

I absolutely love the idea of teams facing each other from different leagues, parts of the state, etc. It’s such a net positive for the sport. So glad to see the UPSL doing this sort of thing and would love to see more of this from more states. State cup competitions are where it’s at!

- Dan Vaughn