Competitive Program

---

The Real Salt Lake AZ competitive program includes each age group beginning with U7 through U19, boys and girls. 

*Due to the available talent and demand of the program, there may be multiple teams in each age & gender group.  

Our emphasis in the RSL-AZ competitive soccer program is on player development and the development of the whole team. While winning is important, our main focus is on development. Through development, we've been able to build one of the strongest, deepest, and largest clubs in Arizona. At the top level, we consistently have at least one team in every one of the top 24 divisions in the U7-U19 boys and girls age groups.   

Players are introduced to a high level of play and coaching with training two times a week for U7-U12, training three times per week for our U13-19 teams with the top teams also having a speed & conditioning session. 

Real Salt Lake AZ U7-U10 teams play in the Soccer Association of Arizona (SAAZ) formatted league. The ASA Academy league consists of teams from other soccer clubs throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. These teams also play in tournaments.  

Real Salt Lake AZ U11-U19 teams play in the competitive NPL (National Premier League) or depending on the teams level the AZDL (Arizona Developmental League). These leagues have scheduled games with opposing teams from other soccer clubs throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area as well as Flagstaff, Tucson, Yuma, Kingman, Yavapai and other Arizona locations. 

In addition, these teams also play in a number of tournaments throughout the state and may go out of state as well. At the end of the year (April-May), many of these teams participate in the State Cup or the Presidents Cup Tournament and have a chance to play in the Far West Regionals and the National Championships.

There have been a lot of questions and concerns about leagues for the upcoming season. We hope to shed more light on how things are going to work moving forward from what we have been told.

As we move into the 2024/25 Season most if not all teams from SAAZ will move back to ASA and create a much larger pool of teams. Many teams that are currently publicizing they were ASL1, ASL 2, NPL 1 or NPL 2 last season will likely end up in The Open League or pushed down a level. This is not a bad thing but instead a true read of the competition levels available and should be great for teams to play at the level where they will develop.

Likely scenario if all teams apply for league play:

With only 6-8 positions available in APL you have both NPL Champions (6-8 teams) & APL (6-8 teams) applying for the top spots. ASA has said that teams will be qualified and accepted to these spots based on data driven analysis involving the past season.

This will push at least 6-8 teams to the ASL1 division where they will have the NPL div 1 (6-8 more teams) and ASL 1 (6-8 more teams) join them in the application process where they will all be run through the same process of  based on data driven analysis to see who belongs.

This will push 12-16 teams to ASL2 where they will apply with the NPL 2 (6-8 more teams) & ASL 2 (6-8 more teams) for a total of 24-32 teams applying for ASL 2 which only 6-8 can remain.

So with the leagues coming back together there will be a lot of movement and most likely a lot of upset players, coaches and parents if they were not made aware of the possibilities early on. We have advised our coaches to make sure they give a clear picture of what the future looks like for league play and the level they expect to play at.

Parents & Players should be asking questions if Advanced Leagues are being promised form a coach or organization as we do not know until ASA makes their final determinations. You can usually check head to head records and are able to look at last season's placement. Keep in mind tournament and season final cups play as well.

We hope this helps to navigate the coming season!

RSL-AZ WV Staff