Policies

Team captains can either pay their team’s full fee or split the payment between a set number of individual players during registration. Captains who pay the full fee should still have their players register for their team rosters.

Payment: By signing a team up for a District Soccer league, team captains commit to covering the entire team fee either through individual player payments or paying the full team fee. Any individual player’s dues not paid by communicated payment deadlines will become the team captain’s responsibility.

Refunds: If a player has signed up for a season and cannot participate due to injury, District Soccer will honor refund requests made up to one week before the scheduled start of league play. Refund requests made due to availability changes are not guaranteed and require a plausible explanation. If a player receives a refund, the portion of the team fee they were responsible for covering still must be paid, either by a replacement player or an existing roster member.

All league players and substitutes must sign a participation waiver. All players must be 18 years of age or older.

Team rosters may be whatever size a team prefers as long as team fees are fully covered. In instances where teams have an outstanding balance at the deadline, District Soccer retains the right to place non-aligned free agents on the team for teams that register players individually.

District Soccer suggests that teams carry the following number of players per category:

• 11s outdoor soccer - 18 players
• 9s outdoor soccer - 14 players
• 7s outdoor soccer - 12 players
• 5s soccer - 9 players

During the regular season, teams may pick up registered players from other District Soccer teams as substitutes; this should only be the case if the team does not have enough rostered players present at a game. We request that captains be considerate of the level of play in any given league when recruiting substitutes. District Soccer retains the right to suspend any team playing with unregistered players.

A player added to a team as a substitute must wear either the team’s assigned District Soccer jersey or a shirt in an identical color. Referees may choose to exclude any players not satisfying these expectations.

• Shin guards are mandatory and must be covered entirely by socks.
• Soccer turf shoes (recommended), cleats, or other athletic shoes are mandatory; no street shoes or metal cleats. Referees’ decisions on footwear suitability are final.
• Each team shall be responsible for providing at least one game ball (District Soccer will supply a small number of game balls for indoor leagues).
• Watches are not permitted during play unless covered by wrist sweatbands or padded covering.
• Referees may also ask players to remove non-essential eye glasses or hats. 
• District Soccer is not responsible for any item lost or stolen during games or at District Soccer field sites.

General

All players in District Soccer leagues should wear an official District Soccer jersey in the exact color listed next to their team’s name on the schedule during games. An “official District Soccer jersey” is defined as “a jersey with a District Soccer logo, or a custom jersey cleared by the league.” All registered league players are expected to obtain a District Soccer jersey, or play in an approved custom jersey.

Team Jerseys

Teams playing with District Soccer will be given a FREE set of jerseys once a year (not every season)! Captains will receive a jersey ordering email for their teams in the Winter, or in the first season your team plays with our league for those who join us in Spring, Summer, or Fall. These jerseys are a free gift to your team. Their cost is not reflected in the price of registration.

We do NOT give out sets of shirts to teams each season, only once per calendar year. This allows us to significantly cut down our league’s environmental footprint, and keeps people’s closets from filling up with duplicate shirts they end up tossing out.

Jerseys are distributed in a standard quantity per league type, unless otherwise requested by team captains upon registration (standard size breakdowns are included in parenthesis):

• 11s Leagues – 18 jerseys (4 Small, 7 Medium, 6 Large, 1 X Large)
• 9s Leagues – 14 jerseys (3 Small, 5 Medium, 5 Large, 1 X Large)
• 7s Leagues – 12 jerseys (2 Small, 5 Medium, 4 Large, 1 X Large)
• 5s Leagues – 9 jerseys (2 Small, 4 Medium, 3 Large, 1 X Large)

We strongly recommend that teams keep the jerseys together in a set, and avoid distributing them to individuals for personal use. Keeping your jerseys together means that they can be used by anyone who’s coming to games throughout the season, and in future seasons, when teams change rosters. At the very least, we suggest that all jerseys are collected and kept together at the end of each season. Remember: We only distribute one free set each calendar year!

For teams carrying more players than the standard set provided, or needing more shirts during Spring, Summer, or Fall, additional jerseys can be purchased by request.

Custom Jerseys

If your team would like to provide its own jerseys, great! District Soccer only requires that the shirts all match each other exactly, and have no profane/offensive language or images. A set of custom jerseys can be as simple as plain, colored t-shirts.

To get a set of jerseys cleared with the league, simply email us a picture of what you’d like to wear and make sure you change the color listed next to your team’s name to match the color of your kits, if necessary.

Substitutes

Teams using substitute players during the regular season are allowed to have a limited number of players not wearing District Soccer jerseys. These substitutes will only be allowed to participate if they are wearing a solid color shirt in the EXACT same color as the District Soccer jerseys worn by their teammates. Substitutes’ shirts must match exactly: No variations or different shades of colors will be accepted (ie Light Blue does not qualify as Royal Blue).

Playing a Team With the Same Color?

In games where teams will be wearing similar or the same colors, it is the responsibility of the team listed second on the schedule to change colors. The Captain of the team changing colors should notify the referee at the beginning of the match the reason their squad is not wearing their listed color/official District Soccer jerseys.

Any player not complying by the above rules will may be excluded from a given match. Referees have the final say regarding whether a player’s attire meets league standards.

Schedules are built based on the field permits we are awarded, the number of teams in a league, and the number of teams in leagues sharing the same space (as well as other factors). 

While we will make every attempt to reschedule games lost for weather-related reasons, there are rare occasions when we may have to cancel playoffs or cut a season short. District Soccer makes no ultimate guarantee of any specific number of games if conditions beyond the league’s control are present (including but not limited to excessive inclement weather conditions). Teams cannot independently reschedule games – only league administrators have the authority to do so.

Reschedule Requests: Requests for schedule adjustments are not guaranteed. Requests by teams to alter the schedule after they have been posted require the consent of all affected teams’. Schedule changes are not final until approved and communicated to the affected teams by District Soccer.

District Soccer reserves the right to change field locations and times as needed throughout the season; we will always try to give at least 48 hours’ notice, though this may not always be possible.

Teams who do not alert District Soccer of a forfeit with adequate notice ahead of their matches will be subject to a $75.00 penalty (assigned directly to the Team Captain). District Soccer will donate all funds collected from late forfeits to one of the league’s charitable partners. For a detailed definition of “Adequate Notice,” see below:

• Teams playing on weeknights must submit notice before 2:00 PM (Eastern).
• Teams playing on weekends must submit notice before 5:00 AM (Eastern) for all games scheduled to start before 1:00 PM (Eastern).
• Teams playing on weekends must submit notice before 10:00 AM (Eastern) for all games starting at 1:00 PM and later (Eastern).

If a team shows up in good faith but cannot field a full lineup, they will not be penalized. Any team that does not pay their forfeit penalty will not be allowed to participate in their league’s playoffs (should they qualify) or register for a future District Soccer program.

Game Cancellations: Games played on turf fields will continue even in the event of rain, though we may decide to cancel games out of concern for player safety (i.e., severe storms, accumulating snow, freezing rain, extreme temperatures, etc.).

Cancellation Notification: District Soccer encourages players to check for communications before leaving for games. We will make every effort to provide as much advance notice as possible when canceling games. Notification will go out via email and text (to those who’ve provided these details when registering), and we will also update the pre-recorded message on our Gameday Hotline (202.263.1143).

Game statistics (wins and losses) will be recorded and posted on your league’s page. Players are encouraged to review their respective League Standings page periodically. Captains should notify the League Administrator of errors.

• Forfeits are reported as a 3-0 loss
• Games that are canceled (not rescheduled) are reported as a 0-0 draw.
• Tie-breakers for playoffs are auto-calculated and explained on your league’s Standings Page.

Spectators are allowed and encouraged to attend District Soccer games.  We ask that all District Soccer-affiliated players and fans respect the rules set forth by individual facilities.

Fan and spectator behavior is ultimately the responsibility of the team captain. Any fan or spectator being verbally abusive toward players or league/school officials, entering the field of play, or disrupting gameplay in any other way will be asked to leave by referees.

Pets are not allowed on any DCPS or privately owned field premises; rules at fields controlled by the DC Department of Parks and Recreation vary. District Soccer asks players and affiliated fans to refrain from bringing any animal to games unless they are a trained service animal.

Drugs and alcohol may not be present at any game that District Soccer organizes.

District Soccer considers the in-game decisions of referees to be final. While we appreciate and welcome feedback on all elements of our league, including referees, challenges to both calls and non-calls will not be reviewed or overturned by league management, nor will referee decisions be considered justification for a replay. District Soccer will not authorize a replay of any match abandoned due to player behavior.

If a match is abandoned in the first half of a game, the following rules will apply:

• If one team or player is judged by the referees and league managers to be responsible for a match abandonment, District Soccer will record the match as a 3-0 forfeit in favor of the team whose player(s) were not responsible for the match abandonment.
• If both teams or players from both teams are judged by the referees and league managers to be responsible for a match abandonment, it will be recorded as a tie (0-0) regardless of the game’s scoreline when it was abandoned.

If a match is abandoned in the second half of a game, the following rules will apply:

• If one team or player is judged by the referees and league managers to be responsible for a match abandonment (and they are winning at the time of abandonment), the match will be recorded as a tie (0-0), regardless of the scoreline of the game at the time it was abandoned.
• If one team or player is judged by the referees and league managers to be responsible for a match abandonment (and they are tied or losing at the time of abandonment), it will be recorded as a forfeit (3-0) in favor of the team whose player(s) were not responsible for the match needing to be stopped, or the scoreline will stand if the team was not responsible for the match abandonment.
• If both teams or players from both teams are judged by the referees and league managers to be responsible for a match abandonment, the scoreline will be considered final at the time the match is abandoned.

In the event of an abandoned match, District Soccer is not obligated to issue refunds or schedule make-ups.