Rose City Cup

The Rose City Cup is a Region 13 single-elimination tournament held at the end of our fall core season. All of our fall 10U-14U teams with sufficient referee points are invited to attend.

2025 Schedule & Location

When: The Rose City Cup will be played on Saturday, December 6, and Sunday, December 7

Where: Area H at the Rose Bowl. We will use the same field layout from the Thanksgiving Tournament.

You can view the schedule in this Google Sheet to see the entire tournament. Note that the schedule is provided in four views:

  1. Schedule with games listed by seed
  2. Schedule with games listed with team IDs
  3. Schedule with referee responsibilities
  4. Via inLeague

You can view the final season standings here. You can view team seeds and flights here.

You can also view your bracket visually via the inLeague Scheduler. However, a note of caution, inLeague does not support bracket consolation (3rd place / 4th place) games, and these do not appear:

  1. B10-A
  2. B10-B
  3. B10-C
  4. B12-A
  5. B12-B
  6. B14-A
  7. B14-B
  8. G10-A
  9. G10-B
  10. G12-A
  11. G12-B
  12. G14-A

If you win, you will have the opportunity to play again. If you lose, you may not play again, unless you are participating in the consolation game within your flight (bracket).

If your team is winning, your referees will have responsibilities. Referee responsibilities are listed in the game scheduler and referee scheduler. Referees should sign up in the game scheduler for their current known assignments.

To find the games you would play if you win, look for the game ID in a future game. Game IDs are the numbers before the colon in each cell. For example, in the G10-A bracket, the winners of games 6 and game 7 will play each other in game 22:

Games will be created in inLeague before the start of the tournament. Results will be posted to inLeague. Check inLeague for updates throughout the tournament.

How Standings and Seeds Work

Please see the standings page for information on how we calculate the standings at the end of the regular Fall Core Season. A team’s regular-season performance dictates its seeding into the Rose City Cup. 

Most divisions will be split into two flights (“A” and “B”), with some divisions also competing in a third flight (“C”). Each flight will participate in a multi-round tournament to determine a champion. 

“A Flight” winners will proceed to the Area 1C League Playoffs.

What to expect

  • Everyone plays at least one match on the first day. Winners may play a second game on the first day.
  • As long as you keep winning, your team will continue to train together and play games.
  • Brackets are of different sizes: Winning teams may up to four games over two days; others will only play two.
  • Teams are seeded according to the league standings, subject to tiebreaker rules (see Standings)
  • The champions of the A Flight will continue to the Area 1C League Playoffs 
  • The regular season champions (again, see Standings) will also go to the Area 1C League Playoffs
  • If the regular season and Rose City Cup champions are the same team, then the second-place team from the tournament will also go to the playoffs.
  • If you win that, you get to go to the SoCal Section 1 League Championship,
  • Team referees will have responsibilities throughout the playoffs: if your team wins, you will continue refereeing.

Tournament rules

  • Game Length
    • Games will run on tournament timing:
      • 10U – 22-minute halves
      • 12U – 22-minute halves
      • 14U – 30-minute halves
    • Bracket Play will require wins:
      • All games go immediately to PKs in case of a tie
    • Championship (1/2) and Consolation (3/4) games in each bracket will be full-length:
      • 10U – 25-minute halves
      • 12U – 30-minute halves
      • 14U – 35-minute halves
    • Championship (1/2) and Consolation (3/4) games in each bracket will have overtime:
      • If tied at the end of regulation, there will be 2×5-minute OT periods (no golden goal)
      • If tied at the end of OT: PKs
  • Playing time
    • As in the fall league, every player present (who is uninjured and who wants to play) plays for 3 of the 4 periods.
    • A goalkeeper may play that position for the entire match, provided that everyone plays in the game for 3 of the 4 periods.
    • If a player arrives late, they must play for the remainder of the game, unless it would be mathematically impossible for all the other players to be in the game for 3 of the 4 periods.
    • There are no restrictions on playing time during overtime (in the 1-2 and 3-4 final games).
    • Players must have participated in at least half (5) games of the core season to be eligible for the Area 1C League Playoffs, unless they were unable to play due to an injury, as documented on the game cards for those weeks. If you did not meet this number, you may still play in the Rose City Cup, but not advance to the League Playoffs, or in other AYSO tournaments.
  • Tournament advancement
    • If a team withdraws, has insufficient players to start the game, or is otherwise unable to continue, that team will forfeit the match by a score of 1-0. A five-minute grace period is allowed at the start of game time, by which time both teams must have the minimum required number of players present and prepared to play.
    • Every match must have a winner.
    • For pool games (including all games on Day 1), if the score is tied after regulation time, the game proceeds directly to a penalty shoot-out.
    • The 1st- and 2nd-place championship matches will be handled differently in the event of a tie: These games will first proceed to overtime, consisting of two 5-minute periods. If there’s still a tie, the winner will then be decided by a penalty shoot-out.
    • Consolation games go directly to penalty kicks.
  • Coaches
    • Coaches and substitutes must be in the Technical Area.
    • Spectators must be positioned behind the touchline, between the penalty areas, on their own side of the field.
    • The decision of the Referee on the field is final.
    • Players, coaches, or spectators who are sent off (red card) will miss the following game, unless the send off is for Violent Conduct, in which case the offending person will miss the rest of the tournament. Decisions are subject to review by the Tournament Director and the Regional Commissioner.
    • If all trained coaches from one team are sent off, that team forfeits the match.
    • In the event of unforeseen circumstances, the Tournament Director’s decision is final.
  • Referees
    • Teams will be required to provide referees to matches according to a published schedule. Unlike in the fall season, referees will not work their own team’s game. If a team continues to advance, its referees should be prepared to continue refereeing games.