Setting Up a Soccer Tournament

Pick a suitable venue for your tournament. The venue's pitches and goals should reflect the age group or number of players competing on each team. Select a smaller pitch with smaller goals if you are setting up a tournament for youngsters below the age of 10, for example. Contact pitch proprietors at least two weeks in advance to ask about bookings and to work out a date for your tournament.

Design and print promotional flyers for your event to post around your local community, including local soccer clubs. Be sure to target the relevant age group when posting your flyers. Also contact local soccer club coaches to ask if they would be interested in participating in your tournament. Include any criteria governing team entry, such as participation fees you require teams to pay. You should also include the time and date of your tournament when making up your flyers.

Enter team information into a spreadsheet as you receive tournament entries. Keep a clear record of teams that have paid the tournament entry fee so that you have a firm handle on money matters. Continue receiving tournament entries until your tournament has a sufficient number of teams. This number depends on the quantity of pitches, the amount of equipment and the number of referees you have available.

Organize your tournament equipment, including balls and pumps, corner flags, nets for the goals (if applicable) and colored bibs (in case any of the competing teams have the same color jerseys). Gather an emergency supply of referee equipment just in case your officials don't have equipment of their own. These supplies might include a pair of referee's assistant flags, a whistle, a wrist or stopwatch and an extra referee's shirt.

Contact local soccer organizations and leagues and ask the administrators if they have contacts for local referees. Hire local referees and ensure that you have enough officials to cover the matches in your tournament. Hire three referees, for example, if your tournament has two pitches where matches will run concurrently. Keep in mind that each match requires a referee and your referees require a rest during the day's play.

Arrange the format for your soccer tournament. Decide between a straight knockout competition if you need your tournament to conclude quickly or a round robin-knockout format if you have more time. Use a knockout during a tournament with eight teams, for example. In this case, the first round is a quarterfinal, the second round the semifinal with four teams and the third round is the final with the two teams that have already won twice before.

Make sure all of the necessary preparations are complete ahead of the tournament's opening. For example, all equipment should be in place and accessible. By this point, referees should be aware of your tournament guidelines, including the length of matches. Finally, all of the teams should be present before officially starting the tournament.