Tampa, FL – (Thursday, October 23, 2008) – United Soccer Leagues recently announced the Super Y-League First and Second 11 Club rankings for the 2008 regular season, recognizing the Richmond Kickers Boys one of the top competitive and administrative clubs.  The Kickers program ranked eleventh on the First 11 list in the Boys category after taking Second 11 honors in both the overall Clubs and Girls categories in 2007. 

The Super Y-League launched the First and Second 11 Ranking System in 2005 with the top clubs ranked from 1-22 in three categories: overall, boys and girls. The extensive growth of the USL Super-20 League in the past three seasons has led to the inclusion of the under-20 league in the ranking process. The rankings are based primarily upon the on-field results. Winning percentage accounts for 70 percent of the score while minimum standards and operations complete the other 30 percent.

The release of the list precedes the 10th Annual Super Y-League North American Finals, where all but five of the 37 clubs in the rankings will be competing for 10 championships that are up-for-grabs beginning Friday, November 21. The clubs will also be recognized during USL’s Annual General Meeting, the second half of USL’s SoccerFest, which is held in conjunction with the North American Finals in downtown Tampa.

The USL Super Y-League represents a professionalized system that is the first step for developing elite youth soccer players in North America. Affiliated with U.S. Soccer and partnered with U.S. Club Soccer, the league is designed for talented youth players destined for professional or international careers. The league contains the youth academies of USL First Division, USL Second Division, Premier Development League, W-League, and Major League Soccer clubs, as well as many of the established premier youth clubs. Through Olympic Development Program status events such as the North American Finals and ODP National Camps, the nation’s top players are identified for selection to U.S. National Team Programs.