Richmond will host 2013 National Finals

• by Soccer America , Dec 20, 2012

[ECNL] The 2013 ECNL National Finals will be held July 10-15 in Richmond, Va., home of the league's national offices. The 2012-13 season marks the first time the ECNL will hold a two-stage post-season event. The first stage of the postseason -- the National Playoffs -- will take place June 21-23, in Aurora, Colo., to determine the qualifiers for the ECNL Finals ...

Here's how the 2013 ECNL Finals will work ...

U-14: The top two U-14 teams from each conference automatically qualify for the ECNL Finals in Richmond. These sixteen teams will be placed into a single-elimination bracket with consolation games. Each team will play four games at the ECNL National Finals to determine the national champion.

U-15-U-17: In the U-15 through U-17 age groups, the top eight teams from the “Champions League” division and the top teams from the “North American League” division in each age group will advance from the ECNL Playoffs in Aurora to the ECNL Finals in Richmond. In each division, the teams will be seeded into two groups of four. Teams will play four games over five days to crown a Champions League national champion and a North American League champion.

U-18: The U-18 ECNL national champion will be crowned during the ECNL Playoffs in Aurora, where 16 teams will participate.

The majority of the matches will take place at the Strikers’ West Creek facility, and one nationally televised match to be played at Striker Park in Henrico County.

“We are tremendously excited that our existing relationship with the Richmond Strikers has led to working cooperatively to host the ECNL in 2013,” said Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau Director of Sports Development Corey Peterson. “The continual impact in the community of showcasing our destination to elite athletes at a national championship-caliber level is immeasurable.”