Spring/Summer
Promotion & Relegation
Southern Minnesota Soccer League (SMSL) Team Placement Policy: Promotion and Relegation
I. Overview
SMSL shall organize Spring-Summer league bracket levels using a Promotion and Relegation model based on prior season performance. Unless otherwise notified, SMSL will assume that a club’s team(s) with the oldest birth year will return for the following season.
II. Bracket Composition – Spring-Summer Season
Each age flight with a Division 2 bracket shall include a minimum of six (6) teams.
Division 2 brackets will be formed using:
Returning Division 2 teams that finished above 25% in point percentage from the previous season.
Promoted Division 3 teams that finished in the top 25% of their bracket.
Division 2 teams finishing at or below 25% may be relegated to Division 3, dependent on the structural necessity of maintaining a minimum of six teams in the Division 2 bracket.
In cases where bracket size requirements affect relegation totals, the need to maintain six teams in Division 2 must and will take priority.
III. Promotion Criteria
Division 3 teams placing in the top 25% of their bracket during the previous season shall be promoted to Division 2 for the upcoming season.
IV. Allocation Timeline
Preliminary Division 2 team allocations shall be announced no later than the end of December.
Team Placement Appeals Process
I. Appeal Submission
The appeals process will open in January.
Approved appeals will be rare
Appeals must be submitted by a club president or authorized designee.
Appeals can be made for:
Reconsideration of team placement within Division 2 (appeal into Division 3).
Inclusion of a new team or Division 3 team not listed in Division 2.
II. Appeal Review
Appeals will be adjudicated by a panel consisting of:
Three Directors of Coaching.
One SMSL Office representative.
III. Appeal Considerations
Appeals must demonstrate special circumstances related to a club’s birth-year team structure.
Approved appeals will be rare and subject to denial if granting the appeal would result in fewer than six teams in the Division 2 bracket.
IV. Final Authority
In order to offers full Division 2 brackets, SMSL retains all final authority to place teams in Division 2 regardless of this process.
