GotSoccer Hosts its 10th Annual Conference this Weekend in Neptune Beach
The 10th Annual GotSoccer/GotPro convention is in Neptune Beach, Florida and brings together influential leaders in the soccer world for a weekend of briefings and the launch of GotSoccer 2.0.
Got Soccer is a tournament and online-registration software that is used by millions of players around the world. Reporting on youth soccer teams standings is highly controversial but logical in the evolution of our highly competitive world.
Soccer News: Today, more than 150 leaders in the soccer world are gathered in Florida for a series of interesting briefings on the future of the business of the game. This is the GotSoccer 10th Annual Conference this weekend in Neptune Beach and what makes this special — besides the fact that the company has just announced the launch of GotSoccer 2.0 and the ramping up of their Rankings software to now include the U.S. Soccer Development Academy — is that this is event is attended by a highly international crowd.
Years ago, GotSoccer started as a soccer forum exclusive of software. Today, GotSoccer offers software solutions for the soccer world that “all revolve around a single database.”
What does this mean in English?
Well, all the software easily connects to each other and shares the same information.
Why is this important?
It allows reporting the information in different ways easy. For example, when a youth soccer tournament uses Got Soccer’s Tournament software, the information on who is playing in the tournament is easily shared with the other GotSoccer platforms such as the Team Rankings.
This year, the highlight of the GotSoccer Conference will be a live debate of the candidates for the President of the US Soccer Federation elections to be held in February.
The US Soccer Federation debate will be streamed live nationwide.
The Convention will be attended by over 75 Executive Directors and Presidents of US Youth Soccer state associations and the Executive Directors of some of the largest clubs in the USA.
The GotSoccer Candidates Forum for Presidency of USSF
Streaming Live exclusively on GotSoccer at 2:45pm EST on Saturday 11th November, the forum promises to be an intriguing event with five of the seven candidates that have confirmed their intention to run for President of U.S. Soccer in attendance.
The USMNT team will not be participating at the World Cup next year for the first time since 1986, after a 2-1 defeat away to Trinidad and Tobago a month ago.
After the resignation of head coach Bruce Arena there has been pressure on Sunil Gulati to follow suit.
With Gulati’s third term in charge of U.S. Soccer due to expire in February, challengers have already emerged to his leadership, and for the first time ever he will face a contested election should he choose to stand.
Seven candidates have already announced their intention to stand for election in February, and of those seven, five – Paul Caligiuri, Steve Gans, Paul Lapointe, Mike Winograd and Eric Wynalda – will present their case for why they should be the President of U.S. Soccer at the GotSoccer/GotPro annual Winter Convention.
Here is a preview of what the candidates’ have said:
Paul Caligiuri wants to see U.S. Soccer “do everything we possibly can to help the men’s national team. The proper selection process, the proper development, the proper opportunities, the proper coaching staff.”
“My goal is to win the World Cup in 2022,” said Caligiuri.
Paul Laponte, post MNT failure to qualify for the World Cup, “We fell short of the very thing that supports soccer in this country and that’s the youth system.”
Lapointe feels that “we have to go back to youth system, we have to go back to the amateur system and we have to fix that and invest in that.”
According to Eric Wynalda, the way forward is “an open system that doesn’t disallow some of these (lower division) teams, who have gotten their act together, who have put a great product on the field, an opportunity to have a light at the end of the tunnel, and that is to play top flight soccer.”
As one example of where things need to improve, Steve Gans points to the Development Academy system, saying it “is producing joyless players, adding, “you cannot be a great player if you don’t play with joy.”
Mike Winograd believes youth soccer in the U.S. has become, “increasingly fractured.”
“We need everyone,” Winograd told GotSoccer, “to be included in a conversation, to sit down and clearly define who serves what purpose and make sure they are integrated in…”
The forum will begin at 2:45pm EST and will be streamed live exclusively on GotSoccer.
In addition to the live debate at the conference, representatives of LaLiga, FC Barcelona, the Premier League, the SPFL, and the premier leagues of Brazil, Costa Rica, the J-League, Australia and Poland will also be in attendance.
Arsenal will be making a presentation, as will the New England Revolution and MLS among others.
Photo Credit: GotSoccer
