The Club Champions League (CCL) is the first club-to-club youth soccer league in the United States.  Our mission is to help clubs develop from within by providing competitive league play, top events and showcases, international travel, camps, coaching education, and gold standard strategic partnerships helping players, families, coaches, and clubs save money.  The CCL is based on the philosophy that the player is a member of the club as well as a member of the team and that successful clubs develop players and teams from within.

The organization was founded on a simple concept that includes three main features:

1.  Superior Competition
2.  A Model for Player Development and
3.  A Governing Board made up of Professional Soccer Directors from each club (click here).

The CCL offers a holistic club-based development model with a primary focus on the development of top youth soccer players while offering a level of play for all players ages eight to over twenty-three.  As the first youth soccer league to implement the club versus club model in 1997, the CCL is a leader in the youth soccer landscape.  

The club-to-club matchday offers a unified league schedule where all teams from one club, host or travel to another club, boys and girls, and play all matches at one location.  The matchday schedules are strategically managed to offer Technical Directors/Directors of Coaching (TD’s and DOC’s) and Full-Time Club Coaching Staff the opportunity to oversee, evaluate, assess, collaborate, and participate with many, if not all, of their club’s teams and players on a matchday.  Most importantly, TD’s/DOC’s are able to de-conflict double coaches (coaches who coach more than one team), so that every player is intimately connected to their Head Coach for each match.  The club versus club matchday presents a club-based, community feel as well as offers great flexibility for families with multiple players and the opportunity to carpool.  The CCL and its member clubs have over 25 years of experience presenting club versus club matchdays.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:  The CCL Board of Directors is made up of Directors from each club.  The Board structure is set with voting members, provisional members, and/or non-voting members.  The Board holds multiple meetings per year to manage and measure its strategic imperatives, and discuss competition structures and strategic partnerships, while also receiving important reports from the full-time staff.  Every decision made by the CCL Board has the best interests of players and club development in mind.  

FULL-TIME STAFF:  The league consists of (3) three full-time staff members; Brian Kuk, CCL Executive to oversee and manage the day-to-day operations, full-time staff, and strategic imperatives of the league; Darryl Gee, CCL Technical Advisor to oversee club relationships and matchday compliance; Mayowa Owolabi, CCL Conferences Director to oversee league expansion, communications, marketing, social media, CCL United, and NextGen. Brian, Darryl, and Mayowa are former TD’s/DOCs of CCL member clubs, hold US Soccer National ‘A’ Licenses and United Soccer Coaches 'Premier' Diplomas while also successfully starting and managing businesses, and have over 75 years combined youth soccer experience.  

CCL HISTORY:  Founded in 1997, the league operated under the Virginia Club Champions League (VCCL) name until 2012.  To best reflect the future growth and evolution of the league, the Board of Directors agreed to re-brand in 2013 to the Club Champions League (CCL) while expanding to Northern Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.  A complete league club development structure was then put in place with NextGen 8-10s, 11-12s Super League, DMV Premier League 13-19s, Premier League East 9-19s, Premier League West 11-19s, and PRO23 (U23 amateur program).  Within the youth structure of the organization, there are multiple tiers of play so Club Directors can match the ability of the team,  The league also offer top-class events for Boys & Girls, ages 8-23+.  See the Competition/Division/Event structures below.

COMPETITION/DIVISIONS: 

PRO23
South Atlantic Region, Age 16-23+, Men and Women
Team v Team Format, Geographically close matches

USYS National League South Atlantic Conference managed by EDP
South Atlantic Region, Ages U13-U19, Boys and Girls
Club v Club, Team v Team, and Club v Team Formats

U13-U19 DMV Premier League
Northern Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and West Virginia Regions
Boys and Girls, Team v Team Format

U11-U19 Premier League West
Central, West, and Southwest Regions
Boys and Girls, Club v Club and Team v Team Formats

U9-U19 Premier League East
Central, East, and Southeast Regions
Boys and Girls, Team v Team Format

U11-U12 Super League
Northern Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and West Virginia Regions
Boys and Girls, Club v Club, Boys only, Girls only, Individual Teams

U8-U10 NextGen
Northern Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and West Virginia Regions
Boys and Girls, Club v Club, Boys only, Girls only, Individual Teams

COMPETITION/EVENTS: 

Kwik Goal ScrimmageFests
U8-U12, Boys and Girls
August and May, annually, Northern Virginia

Adidas Fall Festival
U9-U19, Boys and Girls
September annually, Richmond, Virginia

Adidas College Showcase
U15-U19, Boys and Girls
December annually, Richmond, Virginia

USYS EDP CCL College Showcase (collaboration)
U15-U19, Boys and Girls
February annually, Richmond, Virginia

The Soccer.com Top 250 College Combine
U15-U19, Boys and Girls, 8th graders to undeclared Seniors
February annually, Richmond, Virginia

The Adidas National Cup
U11-U19, Boys and Girls
February (President's Day weekend) annually, Richmond, Virginia

CHAMPIONS:  Annually, Age Group winners are declared at the end of each seasonal year. Standings are determined by weekly competition for 13-19s: three points for wins, one point for ties, and no points for losses.  Unique to club v club division, and keeping to the importance of club and community, each team 12-18s secures “Championship Points” for their club based on age group placement.  “Championship Points” is then calculated to determine an Overall Club Champion, Overall Boys Champion, and Overall Girls Champion for each division, separately.  The Overall Club Champion trophy stays with the Champion at their Club Office until the next seasonal year Overall Champion is determined.  NextGen U8-U10s are purely developmental with no standings kept or “Championship Points” accumulated.  U11-U12 Super League, DMV Premier League, Premier League East, and Premier League West have their own Age Group winners declared seasonally and annually; all team v team divisions have their own Age Group winners declared annually.  Click here for a history of CCL Champions.  Click here to see our National, Regional, and State Cup Champions!

CCL UNITED TEAMS:  The Preeminent All-Star Teams in the Region!  In September 2015, CCL UNITED Boys and Girls (formerly known as CCL Select) were invited to compete in the coveted Gothia Cup Tipselit Trophy (link) played in Sweden, in July 2016.  The CCL UNITED Boys became the first US-based youth boys soccer team to be invited to play for the Tipselit Trophy.  The league has created a professional youth soccer immersion experience where players are scouted, attend tryouts, are selected to a Training Centers, and then ultimately selected to a final roster.  Teams typically train once per month leading up to a special team camp prior to participating in top events.  CCL UNITED teams travel to Denmark for a team training camp playing two friendly matches versus professional youth academy teams prior to attending events.  CCL UNITED team delegations include 17 or 18 Players, Head Coach, Associate Head Coach, Certified Athletic Trainer, and additional CCL full-time staff.   CCL United is currently available for 17s, 15s, 13s boys and girls.  In 2019, the league expanded CCL United to include (2) CCL United teams per birthyear to compete in events.  The 17s play in Sweden at the Gothia Cup, 15s in Demark at the Vildbjerg Cup, and the 13s in Minnesota at the Target USA Cup.

ONE-OF-A-KIND, GROUND-BREAKING PARTNERSHIPS AND SPONSORSHIPS:  In 2015, the CCL signed a 10-year strategic partnership and sponsorship agreement with adidas North America, and a four-year agreement with soccer.com.  Both agreements, including the pairing of these agreements, provide members clubs, and their members (players, families, coaches, teams), unprecedented benefits never seen within the youth soccer landscape.  In 2019, the CCL renewed these partnerships for an additional eight (8) years!  Also in 2015, the CCL signed a 10-year partnership agreement with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), now known as the United Soccer Coaches.  The United Soccer Coaches partnership will positively impact the American youth player by providing coaches with exclusive coaching education discounts, professional development opportunities, and education.  In 2017, mobile phone service provider, Sprint, became an exclusive sponsor of the league.  In 2018, the CCL and Kwik Goal, the gold standard of soccer goals and training equipment, entered into a 3-year strategic partnership.  In 2020, the CCL renewed the partnership for another three (3) years!  And during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the CCL was able to secure additional strategic partnerships with SportsEngine / Sports Next, NCSA (Next College Student Athlete), Trace, NextPro Video, Fundraise4U.net, and CoachFX.

The CCL actively seeks partners and sponsors to help member clubs receive one-of-a-kind and unique benefits to help the player/family, coach, team, and clubs.  By doing so, we are able to help clubs eliminate budget line items and/or reallocate monies to other club infrastructures such as staff, facilities, scholarships, and more!   Click here to see our Sponsors & Partners.

NATIONAL CLUBS ALLIANCE (click here):  In April 2019, US Youth Soccer announced that the CCL would be one of four leagues to pioneer the US Youth Soccer League Championship which offers a direct pathway to the Eastern Regional Championship (link).  At the same time, the National Clubs Alliance was launched to unite clubs and leagues across the United States.  The Alliance was created to bring like-minded soccer professionals (regardless of national registration platform) together who want to positively affect change in the youth soccer landscape.  Under the Alliance, clubs will share best practices, and programs, offer exclusive college showcase opportunities and share strategic partnerships to help players/families, coaches, teams, and clubs.  If interested in joining the Alliance please contact CCL’s Executive Director (email here).

The CCL is affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation, United States Youth Soccer Association, Virginia Youth Soccer Association, Maryland State Youth Soccer Association, EDP, and Metro DC-Virginia Soccer Association.