AFC Cleveland has been awarded the privilege to host the 2017 Hank Steinbrecher U.S. Soccer National Championship, taking place in June 3 & 4th

This year’s tournament will feature AFC Cleveland (NPSL Champion), Michigan Bucks (PDL Champion), Christos FC (USASA Open Cup and Amateur Cup Champion) and FC United (formerly associated with Chicago Fire PDL, Steinbrecher Cup holders). The tournament is held by the USASA to crown the best amateur soccer team in America.

“The USASA is delighted to confirm that AFC Cleveland will be hosting the 2017 Steinbrecher Cup,” said USASA Executive Director Duncan Riddle, “the fantastic job the club did last season when staging the NPSL Final made them the natural choice.”

Each of the four teams were able to submit a bid to the USASA to host the tournament, and the AFC Cleveland bid “showed their enthusiasm to promote amateur soccer, and the strong fan base means we will witness another successful competition. We’re excited to be coming to an area with such a strong soccer culture,” said Riddle.

The tournament will be held at Independence High School, with the two semifinal matches taking place on Friday, June 2, and the 3rd Place Game and Final taking place this Friday an on Saturday, June 3..

“We’re thrilled to host this tournament for our fans,” said AFC Cleveland President/CEO Terry Lawriw, “we worked very hard on putting together a competitive bid so that we can bring another chance to win silverware to our fans at home.”

To secure your place in the stands for all the Steinbrecher Cup action, as well as every AFC Cleveland home match, purchase season tickets by going to https://www.afccleveland.com/tickets/

The namesake of the tournament, Hank Steinbrecher, served as US Soccer’s General Secretary from 1990 through 2000. Hank took a lead role through direct day-to-day involvement in marketing the sport of soccer to potential sponsors, helping U.S. Soccer’s corporate family grow throughout the 1990’s. Part of his success in this area translated into strong funding of soccer’s national teams at all levels. By the end of the 1990’s, the U.S. Women had won two Women’s World Cup crowns and had built a record unrivaled in sport. The U.S. Men during that period appeared in three World Cups, won a Gold Cup and finished third at two Confederation Cups.

Game schedule 
6/2/17 – 6:30pm FC United vs Michigan Bucks
6/2/17 – 8:30pm AFC Cleveland vs Christos FC

6/3/17 – 5:00pm 3rd place game
6/3/17 – 7:00pm Championship game

For media inquires please contact Sam Seibert  
sam.seibert@afccleveland.com / 440.499.4225