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October 23, 2025
Dear Tournament Directors:
MSYSA will begin accepting tournament sanctioning applications for 2026 tournaments on Monday, November 3. The process remains the same as past years. I had originally looked at moving tournament sanctioning into GotSport for 2026, but at this time I do not feel their system is up to the standard we need. Please follow the below steps to ensure your tournament is submitted properly.
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Review the 2026 Tournament Director's Checklist to ensure your tournament meets MSYSA guidelines.
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Visit the Tournament Center and complete your application (Click Here). Please be sure to update all appropriate dates/age groups within your tournament rules before attaching to your new application.
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Pay the sanctioning fee ($250) on or before February 1, 2026 (+$500 if submitted after 2/1/26). Payment Link: Click Here
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Once both the application and payment have been completed, please email me at rtheisen@michiganyouthsoccer.org to signal that your tournament is ready to be reviewed.
New for 2026
MSYSA sanctioned tournaments will now be able to modify roster limits with prior approval from MSYSA. Should your tournament wish to adjust your team roster limits from what is listed in MSYSA Rule 3.5 please send me an email with the changes you would like to make. MSYSA does reserve the right to deny a request if we deem the modification to be too extreme. Please note that if you use GotSport to run your tournament there may be some system challenges we will need to navigate to get around the existing roster rules.
Tournament Scheduling
To avoid having too many tournaments on the same weekend, all tournaments are expected to retain the same weekend their event took place on this past year (with the exception of April tournaments who move around due to Easter). Any tournament who is anticipating a potential change to their scheduled weekend should reach out to me at rtheisen@michiganyouthsoccer.org to discuss this move. Please note that MSYSA may choose not to sanction a tournament that changes weekends if we feel that particular weekend already has enough tournaments taking place.
International Teams
The hosting of international teams is currently processed directly by US Soccer. For more information please visit their permission to host page.
If you have any questions, please reach out to me via email at rtheisen@michiganyouthsoccer.org.
Sincerely,
Ryan Theisen
MSYSA Director of Operations/Events
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