2024 NIRSA National Soccer Championship

The 2024 NIRSA national soccer championship will be the 30th NIRSA National Soccer Championships, the annual national championships for United States-based, collegiate club soccer teams organized by NIRSA. It will take place at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex, in Round Rock, Texas from Thursday, November 21 to Saturday, November 23, 2024.

2024 NIRSA National Soccer Championship
League	NIRSA
Sport	Soccer
Site	Round Rock Multipurpose Complex Round Rock, Texas
Duration	November 21–23, 2024
Number of teams	96 total (24 per division)
Results	Official Results
Men's Championship Division
Women's Championship Division
Men's Open Division
Women's Open Division

Format

Main article: NIRSA National Soccer Championships § Rules of play

The competition will consist of 96 teams partitioned into 48 men's teams and 48 women's teams. Each of these partitions will be further divided into two 24-team divisions, an invite-only championship division and an open division. These divisions will finally be divided into groups, eight groups of three teams each in championship divisions and six groups of four teams each in the open divisions. All four divisions will engage in a round-robin tournament where they play each team in their group and utilize the three points for a win system to determine teams able to advance to a single elimination, knockout stage. In the championship division, the two highest ranked teams from each group advance to their knockout stage, with the third placed team advancing to a consolation bracket. In the open division, the top team from each group as well as the two best second placed teams advanced to their knockout stage. The primary criteria for determining the best team will be points followed by the following criteria.

Tie-breaking criteria for group play

The ranking of teams in each group was based on the following criteria in order: Highest number of points Winner of head-to-head competition Greatest goal difference Maximum ± 5 goal difference per match Most goals scored Most shutouts In a tie breaking scenario involving more than 2 teams, the tiebreaker procedure would begin. If one team is identified as different and both remaining teams are still tied, the tie breaker procedure is restarted. If a tie still remained after the first 5 criteria, the following was used to break a tie: NCAA kicks from the mark If there was a three-way tie, a coin-flip would be conducted. The two teams that chose the same outcome would compete in kicks from the mark between each other. The winner would compete with the last remaining team in kicks from the mark If there's a four-way tie, a drawing of lots would be conducted (only could occur in open division)

Pool play games will be two 40-minute halves, separated by a seven-minute halftime. Knockout stage games will also consist of two 40-minute halves. The round of 16 and quarterfinals will be separated by a seven-minute halftime while the semifinals and finals will have a ten-minute halftime. Knockout stage games need to declare a winner. If a knockout-stage game is tied at the end of regulation, overtime would begin. Overtime consists of one, 15-minute, golden-goal period. If still tied after overtime, kicks from the mark would determine the winner.

Seeding

In the championship division, teams coming out of the same group are placed on opposite ends of the bracket and 1st placed teams against 2nd placed teams in the first round. In the first round, group A is matched against group D, group H matched against group E, group G matched against group F, and group B matched against group C. The winner of the A vs D matchup would face the winner of the H vs E matchup and the winner of the G vs F matchup would face the winner of the B vs C matchup in the quarterfinals.

In the championship division's consolation bracket, the third placed team from group A played the third placed team from group E, the third placed team from group F played the third placed team from group B, the third placed team from group C played the third placed team from group G, and the third placed team from group H played the third placed team from group D with the winner of the A vs E matchup facing the winner of the F vs B matchup and the winner of the C vs G matchup facing the winner of the H vs D matchup.

In the open division, the bracket was numbered top to bottom from 1–8. First, the highest ranked wildcard team was placed in position 4 with the other wildcard team being placed in position 8. Then, the pool winner from the group with the wildcard team in position 4 was placed in position 5 and the pool winner from the group with the wildcard team in position 8 was placed in position 1. Finally, using the tiebreaking procedures, the highest ranked remaining group winning team was placed in position 3, the second highest was placed in position 7, the third highest placed in position 2, and the final being placed in position 6.

Qualification and selections

Main article: NIRSA National Soccer Championships § Qualification and selections

Each of the six regions received three automatic bids for both the men's and women's championship that they awarded to its members. The final six bids were considered "at-large", and were given out by NIRSA to teams, typically based on the regional tournament results and RPI.

The 48 remaining teams participated in the open division and were selected via a lottery draw that aired on October 9, 2024, at 12pm EST. Any team with membership in a NIRSA-affiliated league or with a minimum of four games played prior to the tournament was able to enter their name into the lottery. If a selected team qualified for the championship division, an alternate took their spot.

Men's championship

Automatic qualifiers

Region	Method	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
I	Tournament Co-champ	Rutgers	3rd	2023
I	Tournament Co-champ	Delaware	15th	2022
I	Highest RPI of remaining teams	Tufts	6th	2021
II	Tournament Champion	UCF	5th	2021
II	Tournament Runner-up	Georgia Tech	5th	2023
II	Highest RPI of remaining teams	Virginia Tech	12th	2023
III	Tournament Co-champ	Ohio State	17th	2023
III	Tournament Co-champ	Indiana	8th	2023
III	Highest RPI of remaining teams	Michigan	19th	2023
IV	North Tournament Champion	Saint Louis	2nd	2016
IV	South Tournament Bid Game 1 Winner	Tulsa	1st	Never
IV	South Tournament Bid Game 2 Winner	Texas	23rd	2023
V	Bid Game 1 Winner	Nebraska	1st	Never
V	Bid Game 2 Winner	Grand Canyon	1st	Never
V	Bid Game 3 Winner	Colorado	22nd	2023
VI	North Tournament Champion	Oregon	9th	2023
VI	South Tournament Co-Champion	UC-San Diego	4th	2017
VI	South Tournament Co-Champion	Cal Poly	12th	2021

At-large bids

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
I	Boston U.	1st	Never
II	North Carolina	19th	2023
III	Miami (OH)	6th	2004
III	Illinois	18th	2023
IV	Texas A&M	22nd	2022
VI	BYU	14th	2023

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Women's championship

Automatic qualifiers

Region	Method	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
I	Tournament Co-champ	Harvard	2nd	2021
I	Tournament Co-champ	Boston College	8th	2023
I	Highest RPI of remaining teams	Northeastern	4th	2023
II	Tournament Champion	Georgia	4th	2017
II	Tournament Runner-up	Auburn	1st	Never
II	Highest RPI of remaining teams	North Carolina	19	2023
III	Tournament Co-champ	Michigan	22nd	2023
III	Tournament Co-champ	Purdue	11th	2023
III	Highest RPI of remaining teams	Michigan State	16th	2023
IV	North Tournament Champion	Missouri	3rd	2013
IV	South Tournament Bid Game 1 Winner	LSU	1st	Never
IV	South Tournament Bid Game 2 Winner	Texas A&M	22nd	2022
V	Bid Game 1 Winner	Colorado	29th	2023
V	Bid Game 2 Winner	Colorado State	27th	2023
V	Bid Game 3 Winner	Kansas	12th	2023
VI	North Tournament Champion	Oregon	3rd	2022
VI	South Tournament Co-Champion	UCLA	10th	2023
VI	South Tournament Co-Champion	UC-Santa Barbara	22nd	2022

At-large bids

Region	Team	Appearance	Last Bid
I	UMass	1st	Never
II	Virginia	14th	2023
IV	Texas	23rd	2023
IV	Wash U	6th	2022
V	Minnesota	5th	2023
VI	Cal Poly/Arizona State

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