Updated May 2024

RANKINGS

Q: How often are rankings updated?

A: Rankings update daily. 

Q: How are the team rankings calculated?

A: We pull from over 400 official sources in order to provide the most comprehensive results. We look at the goal difference in every game played in the last 12 months, including games against older teams. There is a line below the last result that counts towards your ranking. More recent games and games against a similar team are given higher weight. To improve your rating, you have to do better than predicted. Your rating will go down if you do worse than predicted. 

We don't make any assumptions about the quality of leagues or even the age of teams. Instead, we look at the results of all teams and calculate how good every team is (this is their rating). We then use the ratings to determine age and gender rankings (as well as club rankings). As you would expect, higher quality leagues such as MLS and ECNL rise to the top of the rankings, but that is purely driven by the results of those teams in inter-league play and tournaments.

Q: Why do the rankings change?

A: It’s normal for a team to have beaten higher ranked teams and lose to lower ranked teams. Your ranking is an average of your performances, not your best or your worst. You may move up or down in the rankings if someone you play moves up or down.  Our ranking algorithm becomes more accurate the more results you feed it, so we want to have a complete and accurate result history for not only your team but the teams you play. To make the rankings better we rely on the community to review and cleanse the teams. All PRO members can fix anything they see so long as they are 100% sure of the changes.  

Q: How do I find different ranking lists?

A: Use the drop down menu on the “Team Ranking” page to view Team Ranking, Unranked Teams, Offense Ranking, Defense Ranking, Schedule Ranking, and Favorite Teams. Choose which one you want to view.

Q: We play in a developmental league. Why are those results included in the rankings?

A: Our policy is to include all results we can obtain in the rankings. We reject the notion that results at some future older age group are more important than results at younger age groups. We also reject the notion that the kids on the field are not trying their hardest to win in every game. No player thinks, “oh this is developmental, I won’t try as hard”. Soccer is a sport with winners and losers. Everyone needs to embrace that. Coaches that don’t develop the technical ability of their players or don’t give them game time are simply bad coaches. It has nothing to do with rankings. Pep Guardiola tries “new things” all the time!

We created these rankings to ensure fairer flighting when teams play in tournaments. It is no fun for parents, players or coaches to pay a whole lot of money for a weekend of mismatched games. Soccer is about having fun. Providing a fun experience for the millions of kids out there playing every week is what matters.

We understand that sometimes a team cannot or chooses not to play their strongest 11. There is no way to adjust for this in the rankings. The most accurate rankings require as many results as possible. We measure the actual quality of your team, as demonstrated every week.

Please don’t remove poor results from your team. That would be interpreted as manipulating your ranking in contravention of our usage policy.

Q: How are club rankings calculated?

A: We use the average of the ratings of the top teams. This is equivalent to two (2) clubs playing their top teams against each other and then aggregating the scores to see who is best. We include the core competitive age groups of U11 - U17. A club must have teams in five (5) age groups to be ranked. 

Q: How are offense and defense rankings calculated?

A: Imagine 3 teams: A, B and C. They play the following games: 

A 2 - 0 C

B 4 - 2 C 

From these we would infer a ratings of: A = 30, B = 30 and C = 28 (the baseline is irrelevant). We can also determine that B has a better offense than A and a correspondingly worse defense. Their ratings would be: 

Team	Offense	Defense
A	30	30
B	32	28
C	29	27	(here you see averaging across the 2 games)

Q: What are schedule rankings?

A: A team’s schedule rating is the average of the ratings of their opponents in the last year. Team’s with the highest schedule rating play the toughest schedule. 

Q: Do you rank co-ed teams?

A: No. we exclude co-ed teams. If you want them to be included in the rankings you’ll have to list them as a boys team. 

Q: Why is my 2017 or 2016 team unranked?

A: We find that teams just starting out tend to play in a closed system (i.e., groups of teams playing each other but not playing many games outside of this group). Until teams play outside of these closed circuits we can't accurately assess where they stand in the national rankings. When teams play tournaments, you'll see them all appear. 

Q: Can a team be removed from rankings if they have disbanded?

A: Disbanded teams move to the unranked list after a period of time of no recent results. We only remove teams that are never going to play again. Teams are removed automatically from rankings after 7 months of inactivity. You can disband a team by clicking Edit then Remove From Rankings. Please only take this action if you are 100% certain that the team will never play again. Disbanding teams carelessly will result in losing editing privileges.

RATINGS

Q: What are ratings and how do they impact the rankings?

A: The rating is a measure of the quality of the team, measured in goals. Rankings are determined by comparing ratings.  

PREDICTIONS

Q: How do predictions work?

Step 1: Find the opponent first and go into their team details. 

Step 2: Click ‘PREDICT RESULTS’

Step 3: Click ‘ADD FAVORITE’ and choose your team. You will see predictions. 

Moving forward, no matter what opponent you look at, your team will be remembered. If we predict you will win by 2 goals, and you win by more than 2 goals, your rating will improve. If you win by less than 2 goals, tie or lose then your rating will go down. 

Q: How do I delete a team from my predictions screen?

A: Swipe left to remove teams you no longer want to see on your prediction screen.

MAKING EDITS

Q: How can I correct my team’s name?

A: Team names come from your last competition entry via an official website. Team names are not manually edited by users or USA Sport Statistics.  If a team recently changed its name, it might take a week for us to merge the update. The club name root is always placed in front of the team name on the app. 

Q: Can users correct / add a coach or manager's name?

A: Coach and manager names come from your team's last competition entry. Look at the most recent source we have for your team. If you click on that source it will link you to the website where the coach and manager names you see on the app were picked up. To change this you'll have to update names on the website and it will take us about a week to load and merge the updates. 

Alternatively, the next competition your team registers for, make sure they update the coach's name and you'll see that reflected on the app when those new results are loaded. Keep in mind that the app will only pick up the first name (if there are multiple) of each coach and manager listed.

Q: How do I correct the club, state, year and/or gender for my team?

Step 1: Click ‘EDIT’ in the top right corner

Step 2: Use the drop down menu to correct club names, gender, year, and state

Step 3: Click ‘DONE’ when your corrections are finalized or else your changes will not stick. Alternatively, click ‘Cancel’ if you have made a mistake and want to leave the team stats as is.  

Q: What about bad actors?

A: We have found that the vast majority of users are well intentioned. Occurrences of bad behavior are rare. However, every now and then we do find a bad actor. We are able to remove editing rights and lock out from anyone who is making changes that are inaccurate or not aligned with our policies.  If you feel a result is controversial (i.e., a team playing in the wrong age group or players left but the coach is keeping the same name, etc.), email support@usasportstatistics.net and let us know. Do not get looped into a battle of changing scores again and again for the same team unless you are prepared to lose editing rights. 

Q: How do I add results? (Missing games/tournaments)

Step 1: Locate your team

Step 2: Click ‘EDIT’ in the top right corner 

Step 3: If necessary, scroll down until you see ‘ADD MISSING SOURCES’

Step 4: Click ‘ADD MISSING SOURCES’ and choose the missing result you need.

Step 5: Click on the missing result you are adding. This will turn light green, indicating your choice. If there are other results you would like to add, continue to click on each source.

Step 6: If you are happy with the edit and it’s correct, click ‘ADD’ in the top right corner. Alternatively, if you have made a mistake and want to start over, click ‘CANCEL’. 

Q: I couldn’t find the results following the steps above.

A: Please send links (not screenshots) to the web pages showing your team's results in the missing competition and we will take a look at this. While we pull results for hundreds of websites, we don’t get every website out there and some sites take longer to upload than others.

Q: How do I delete results that don’t belong to my team? (Missing games / tournaments)

Step 1: Locate your team. 

Step 2: Click ‘EDIT’ in the top right corner and, if necessary, scroll down to ‘SOURCES’.

Step 3: Click the red trash icon for any result that is not correct. If you are happy with the edit and it’s correct, click ‘DONE’ in the top right corner. Alternatively, if you made a mistake, click ‘CANCEL’ in the top left corner. 

Q: I’ve split my teams into 2 different ones and my corrections won’t stick. What’s wrong?

A: Unless your teams have different names, the software is going to merge them together. The best thing to do in this situation is moving forward, differentiate your teams better and then merge older results with the new name.  

Q: Why aren’t my edits sticking?

A: There are a handful of reasons why this can be happening. If you see that consistently your edits are not sticking, reach out to us immediately and we’ll talk through and work on your specific case. The good news is this is temporary and we just ask for your patience as we sort it out.  

Q: How do you identify a favorite team?

A: Go to the team page that you wish to make a favorite and click the heart. The heart will turn red when chosen. After selecting as many favorite teams as you like, you can see them all on the main drop down menu when you click ‘FAVORITE TEAMS’

RESULTS

Q: How often are results posted?

A: Results are usually loaded within 48-72 hours barring complications. If a result takes longer than 72 hours to show up, the first thing to do is click ‘EDIT’ in your team details and try to add the missing results by searching for the team name you used to enter the competition. If you can’t find the results, from the edit screen click ‘REPORT AN ISSUE’ and send links (not screenshots) to the web pages showing your team's results in the missing competition and we will take a look at this.  

Q: What are live updates?

A: If a parent is recording a game for their player, the game score will display in near real time on the team page. To learn more about this, visit: https://youtu.be/VcuvQHczUg4?feature=shared

Q: Will live updates count against my team’s rankings?

A: No. Only official results are used to determine your team’s ranking.

Q: Why has the live update result disappeared?

A: We show live updates on the day of the match. On the following day, we will usually display the official result. If the official result has not been posted then the result is not displayed until it is.

Q: How do I add unpublished results?

A: PRO users can capture results for competitions where the organizer has chosen not to publish the results. It cannot be used to add missing results for published competitions. 

If you participated in an unpublished league, please send us the name of the league as well as the date, time, opponent and score of one of the games. Then we can set it up so you and others can add the rest.  

Q:How do I remove a forfeited game?

A: If the competition organizer tags the game as a forfeit, we will ignore it. Otherwise, our policy is to always use the official results. We don’t allow updates to individual game results as that is too open to abuse. 

Q: How can we go about getting a tournament added to the results?

A: Please send a link (not a screenshot) to the webpage showing the results for your team and we will take a look at this. 

Q: We won the final on PKs but you show a tie?

A: For the purposes of rankings we prefer to use the full time score because this most accurately represents the relative quality of the teams. If they were tied at full-time then the two teams were equal on the day. The penalty shoot out is useful for awarding the trophy but does not provide meaningful information about the quality of the teams.

Q: Where is my team?

A: If you can’t find your team on the ranked list, check the unranked list. Teams will appear when we have 6 -10 recent results played against multiple ranked teams. To see it sooner, find a team they have played and look at their playing history. From there, you may be able to drill into the missing team and add additional results to get them ranked faster.  

Q: Why is the app showing the wrong results?

A: It looks like the tournament organizer got it wrong. Our policy is to always use the official results. We don't have a way to correct individual results. Please work with the competition organizers to get this removed. If that happens in the next couple of weeks then we will pick up the update. 

Q: Why were we ranked a week ago and now we’ve moved to the unranked list? 

A: Our system requires a minimum knowledge about a team in order to rank it. If your team fluctuates weekly between ranked and unranked then you are right on the line. This tiny movement might be caused by many factors including what we know about your opponents. As you play one or two more games you will almost certainly become ranked.  

Q: I registered my team as a split age group (e.g. 2011/2012). What year will it be placed in the rankings?

A: The team will automatically be placed in the older age group.

PLAYER STATISTICS (PS) 

Q: What is the purpose of Player Statistics?

A: Player Statistics provides professional level metrics and analysis based on what was recorded. This helps with player development.

Q:What are the 2 different levels of recording?

A: We offer two levels of recording:

Easy: You record every action the player performs, such as passes, tackles, interceptions, shots, free kicks, and fouls. You also record playing time.

Expert: This is the same as “easy” level, except that you also record where every action happens and where every pass or shot goes.

Q: Can I change the level I use during a game? 

A: No.

Q: Can I change the level I use for different games within a season? 

A: Yes.

Q: How do I add a player on the Player Statistics (PS) screen?

A: Open the app and click on the “players” icon at the bottom of the screen. 

1. Click ‘ADD A PLAYER.’  Then you 2 choices:

A. To add an existing player, the owner will send you a one-time only code. In this case, you will have received the code from a user and you will add the code to the box. Then click ‘ADD SHARED PLAYER’

B. If this is a brand new player who has never been added to the app click “ADD NEW PLAYER”.  Once you do this you will be taken to a new screen where you will add the player’s name, gender, birth year, optional photo, and your relationship with the player. For any relationship answer other than ‘parent’ you will be asked to certify that you have permission from a parent/guardian. Click the box if this is the case.

C. When all fields are completed an ‘ADD’ button will appear in the top right corner. Click ‘ADD’.

Should you want to make any changes to the player (e.g. change photo, etc.) click ‘Edit’ in the top right corner and make the changes. When finished, click ‘Done’ or if you choose not to make any edits, click ‘Cancel’. To view a detailed video on how to do this, visit: https://youtu.be/gx3k9NW1hAs?feature=shared

Q: How do I add a game?

A: Click the green button ‘ADD GAME’ when drilled into the player’s screen. You will need to:

1. Enter the date and local time of the game.
2. Choose the player’s team from a drop down menu.
3. Choose the opponent from a drop down menu.
4. Enter the player’s jersey number.
5. Click ‘Add’ in the top right corner.

We recommend anyone who is first starting out to practice recording a game through training mode. This mode will not count in your history. You can click training mode in the ‘Add Game’ screen.

Q: How do I record a game on the Player Statistics (PS) screen?

A: When you are ready to record a game follow the steps below:

1.Click ‘RECORD’ to record your player’s actions during each game.

2. Click ‘EASY’ or ‘EXPERT’ level - you will be prompted with this question.

2. Click the appropriate size of the field for this game. Choices are: 7v7, 9v9, 11v11 - you will be prompted with this question.

3. Click the field direction. Choices are: left to right or right to left - you will be prompted with this question.

4. Click the player’s position. Choices are: on bench, goalkeeper, left defender, center defender, right defender, left midfield, center midfield, right midfield, left forward, center forward, or right forward - you will be prompted with this question.

5. Click ‘KICK OFF’ to begin recording. 

6. Begin recording touches and involvement on the field. The field will be a bright green to show where it is possible for your player to have an involvement. To see more detailed videos of how PS work visit https://www.youtube.com/@usasportstatistics

Q: What if I don’t know what a term or graph means on the game statistics page?

A: When you are on the Game Statistics page, touch the term or graph and a definition will appear underneath. To remove the definition click it again.

Q: What game statistics are gathered?

A: Professional level statistics are gathered and they will change depending on the position played.

Q: What is the difference between ‘game statistics’ and ‘player statistics’?

A: The ‘Game Statistics’ icon is found on the recording screen and displays only what happens in the game being recorded. The player’s ‘Statistics’ is a tab found on the player’s detail screen. When you click on that it shows you a summary of all games recorded in the last year.

Q: Where do you get the data?

A: Parents, or someone whom the parent has given permission to, records the player's touches and involvement in a game. This is usually done in real time, but some parents may choose to record the game and enter the data at another time.

Q: What if someone cheats?

A: PS are private to the players parents and anyone else they explicitly share them with. Cheating only hurts yourself.

Q: Who can see my child’s data?

A: Only the person that created the players and others that they explicitly share access with. On the ‘Add New Player’ screen the user is asked what their relationship (e.g. parent, coach, team manager, self, college recruiter, other) is with the player. For any option other than “self” the user must certify that they have permission from a parent/guardian to add the player to the app.

Q: What happens if I miss a game?

A: If you miss a game you can ask another adult to record your players detailed statistics during the game, or you can record (i.e. goals, assists) statistics after the event by looking at a recording of the game that was taken.

Q: How do I update the score?

A: If your player scores, the result will update automatically. If another player on either team scores, click the scoreboard in the left corner and use the arrows to update the result.

Q: What if I make a mistake while recording?

A: if you notice the mistake immediately you can undo it by clicking this icon . Otherwise, you are stuck with it.

Q: How do I share my player with someone else (e.g. college recruiter, etc.)? 

A: You can share your player with any PRO user of the app. Go to the ‘My Players’ screen and click on the player you want to share. Then click ‘Edit’ in the top right corner. From there, click on the green ‘SHARE PLAYER’ button at the bottom of the screen. You will be asked 2 questions and then given a code. Click ‘Done’. At this point, you will see a list of the codes and everyone who has access to your player. You can text, email, WhatsApp, or verbally tell the code to that person. To see a detailed video on how this is done, visit: https://youtu.be/dsqgp-shtlc?feature=shared

Q: What about data privacy laws?

A: Before adding a player into the system, you must be their parent or guardian, or have permission from their parent or guardian. The parent/guardian controls who gets to see the players details.

Q: What if there is no Internet at the field?

A: You can record a game in the app without Internet connection. However, you won’t be able to see how your player compares to other players on the team until you’re back online.

Q: Will it be embarrassing if my player has a bad game?

A:  Only parents/guardians (and anyone else that they share access with) can see the player’s statistics. However, the app shows how the player is doing compared to their peers on the same team and playing at a similar level. For example, the app will tell you that the player ranked 3 of 10 players for playing time in the last game, but it won’t tell you who 1 and 2 are.  

Q: What do the icons mean?

A:

Click on this icon to take you back to the recording field. 

Click on this icon to read definitions of terms. The definitions change depending on the choices displayed.

Click on this icon to take you to the game log. The most recent touch or movement is recorded at the top of the log.

Click on this icon to take you to analytics.

Click on this icon to go back to the previous screen. Use this if you make a mistake while recording and you want to delete what you did.

Click on this icon to get out of recording a game to check email or use your phone in other ways. The game will be saved.

SCORE COLOR

Q: What do the red, green, and black colors mean?

A: Some scores are highlighted in red because it was a weak result that hurt that team's ranking, not necessarily a loss. Green is a good score that improves your ranking. You can lose to a very good team by 1 goal and improve your ranking. Similarly, you might beat a very bad team 2-0 and hurt your ranking. Black scores are "as expected."  If you look at the predictions you can see the goal difference needed to keep your ranking unchanged.  

CLUBS & LOGOS

Q: Can users add clubs?

A: We load clubs from all competitions on our end. Users can change clubs that are incorrect from our list. If your club is missing, please let us know. 

Q: What if the logo displayed is not current?

A: We pull logos from the latest competition. Please check to make sure it is current on the competition's website. If we have an incorrect logo send us a message with the webpage link with the official logo and we will update it in the app. If there are a lot of logos on the website, also send us a PNG or JPEG of the logo, along with the link, so we know which to pull.

Q: What if my club’s website is not displayed?

A: We pull club websites from competition entries. If your website does not appear on your club’s page make sure to include it in your next competition entry and we should pick it up.

COMPATIBILITY

Q: The app is not compatible with my Android?

A: In our testing the app crashed on phones with less than 4GB of RAM. For this reason, we are not currently allowing downloads for devices with less than 4GB of RAM. Sorry.   

Q: I’m not able to access the contact us tab or the ‘report an issue’ button within the app?

A: The reason for this is a privacy setting within the user's phone settings. If you update the settings on your end, then you will be able to use the contact buttons within the app.

POLICIES

Team Name Changes and Transfer of History

We are happy to change your team name and merge your old team’s history so long as the original team name is not used by another group of players in the new season. If it is being used by another group of players in the new season, our policy is that the team name defines the team, not the players or coach and hence the team with the original name is considered to continue playing from last season to this season, therefore a team’s history does not transfer. 

We understand that parents and coaches often want the past results of a team’s history to transfer and find it frustrating when they have gone from a ranked team to an unranked or lower ranked team. When this happens, it’s important to remember that it’s temporary: the new team’s ranking will normalize over the next month or so. 

Please don’t be tempted to try to merge results if the team name is continuing, as you will end up with a big mess and you might lose your editing rights if you persist.

Using Results

Our policy is to always use the official results. We don't have a way to correct individual results. Please work with the competition organizers to get this removed. If that happens in the next couple of weeks then we will pick up the update. 

Revoking Editing Rights

USA Sport Statistics reserves the right to revoke any user’s editing rights if they are deemed to be inaccurate. If your editing rights have been suspended incorrectly, please email at support@usasportstatistics.net to explain what happened. There is no refund should you lose editing rights. You will be able to access all PRO features except editing. 

Cancel PRO Access

From your iPhone, you can check your membership status by clicking on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Subscription’. This will take you to where you can manage your subscription. We cannot give refunds and encourage you to speak directly with Apple or Google should you need one.

Splitting the States

Unfortunately, we cannot tell which half of the state a team is in. Hence, the sub-state rankings are quite inaccurate. Therefore, we’ve decided to keep it simple and go with whole state rankings.