Michael Lewis - Soccer for Dummies

United States Soccer Federation, Inc.: Based in Chicago, IL., the United States Soccer Federation is the sports national governing body (NGB) in the United States. In addition to a U.S. National Teams Program, which includes 11 teams ranging from the Under-16 age level to the full mens and womens teams, the Federation is also responsible for the administration and development of coaches, referees, youth soccer, and amateur soccer throughout the nation.

U.S. Soccers mission statement is very simple and very clear: to make soccer, in all its forms, a pre-eminent sport in the United States. As for the goals of its national teams, U.S. Soccer has developed separate initiatives for the mens and womens team for the new millennium. For the men, the goal is to be in position to challenge for the FIFA World Cup by the year 2010 and is appropriately named Project 2010. For the women, Project Gold is built on the womens national team goal to win forever.

Founded in 1913, U.S. Soccer became one of the worlds first organizations to be affiliated with FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, soccers world governing body. U.S. Soccer has continued to grow in the 87 years since, and now has the largest membership among U.S. Olympic Committee national governing bodies.

In the last 15 years, U.S. Soccer served as the host federation for two Olympic soccer tournaments (Los Angeles 1984 and Atlanta 1996) and the two most successful World Cup tournaments ever: World Cup USA 1994 (mens) and the FIFA Womens World Cup USA 99.

Currently, more than 100 U.S. Soccer employees work to administer and service the membership located in all 50 states. Known originally as the U.S. Football Association, U.S. Soccers name was changed to the United States Soccer Football Association in 1945 and then to its present name in 1974.

U.S. Soccer is a nonprofit, largely volunteer organization with much of its business administered by a national council of elected officials representing three administrative arms: Youth (with approximately 3 million players 19 years of age and under); Amateur (with over 300,000 senior players over the age of 19; and Professional (with affiliated pro leagues at three different levels).

In addition to developing the game at a grassroots level through the U.S. Amateur Soccer Association and the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, U.S. Soccer also manages nine full national teams. Beginning with the full Mens National Team, the mens programs include the Under-23 (Olympic) team, the Under-20 team, the Under-18 team, the Under-17 team, and the Futsal (Five- A-Side) team. On the womens side, the teams include the full Womens National Team, the newly renamed Under-21 team, and the Under-18 team. Two developmental national team programs include the mens and womens Under-16 teams.

The national teams program has achieved tremendous success in recent years, highlighted by two Womens World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. Women, the U.S. Men continuing to improve their place on the world stage, and virtually every youth level producing very promising results in international competitions.

U.S. Soccers umbrella also covers the sports coaching and referee divisions, which are among the most active and fastest-growing in the world. Coaching schools are held regularly throughout the U.S. where participants can gain certification at six progressive levels. U.S. Soccer has more than 80,000 coaches, including almost 10,000 that are nationally licensed. The referee program makes up an integral part of the United States soccer scene, with more than 100,000 referees currently registered.

Michael Lewis: One of the pre-eminent soccer writers in the United States, Michael has covered every level of the game since 1975 from 4-year-olds playing their first game, to the World Cup, to 50-year-olds running around at the Metropolitan Oval in Queens, New York. The author of three books, Michael is the soccer columnist with the New York Daily News and soccer columnist for www.CNNSI.com, among other ventures. Michael, former editor of