Player's Guide to BC Soccer Adult Soccer Adults 19+ 2026

• League matches: you must be registered at least 1 day before taking part.
• Cup competitions: you must be registered (or transferred) at least 7 days before any cup match, including the adult cup competitions that qualify teams for provincial cup play.
• Unregistered players: a player or official not registered with BC Soccer is ineligible for league and cup competition under BC Soccer's jurisdiction. A team proven to have played an ineligible player in a competition is disqualified from further participation in it.
• Proof of registration: it rests with your team officials. Proof of age, where required, rests with you.
• Photo ID: if the competition rules require it, adult players and team officials in divisions that take part in provincial cup are issued photo ID (with a photo taken within the last 24 months) in physical or digital form once registered. It shows surname, given names, club name, birth year, player ID number and the year the playing season ends. Where required, team officials present the ID cards of players and officials to the referee before league or cup matches.
• Playing for a club outside Canada: a player registered with BC Soccer needs BC Soccer's permission, otherwise the registration is cancelled and the player is ineligible to compete in Canada for the rest of that season.
• Previously registered elsewhere: if you were last registered outside BC, you need documentary evidence that your previous association cleared you, stating whether you were an amateur or professional.

Not at the same time. A player cannot register for more than one club at one time, with these exceptions: BC Soccer player programming, school teams (BC School Sports schools and recognised post-secondary institutions), and Associate Member adult league teams.

Within a registration year you may register with one club for the winter playing season and a different club for the summer playing season, provided you fulfil your obligations to the first club under the league or cup rules. The Coastal registration year runs September 1 to August 31, and the Interior registration year runs April 1 to March 31.

You are bound to your club until the end of your team's current playing season unless you are transferred or released under the rules. Playing for more than one team in the same provincial cup competition is not allowed. A player who registered with a summer team and then signs with a winter team must get a release by the January 15 transfer deadline. Registration is only good for the current season.

An amateur player under BC Soccer's Rule 5:

• Cannot receive any remuneration or consideration, directly or indirectly, from playing soccer, except as the rules allow.
• Can receive necessary hotel and travel expenses, and in special cases expenses for equipment, physical preparation and insurance against accidents during play and travel.
• Can, if injured while playing with the consent of the association, receive payment of medical bills or the proceeds of a benefit match, subscription or collection.
• Must give a written receipt for any money received and produce a copy when the association asks.
• May be required to prove that any pay is fair and proper remuneration for employment in another capacity with the club.

You lose amateur status if you receive remuneration or payment not authorised by the rules, or if you are registered as a professional. A player registered as a professional with Canada Soccer who wants to be reinstated as an amateur applies through BC Soccer and cannot play as an amateur until 31 days after their last professional match (per Canada Soccer regulations). An amateur may register with a professional club as an amateur, but must also be registered with BC Soccer.

You can apply for a transfer at any time in the playing season, provided you have no outstanding financial obligations to your current club, district or league.

• Notice: give your club 7 days notice on the BC Soccer transfer form. A club official must respond within 7 days.
• If your club refuses: you can apply to BC Soccer for a review without a fee. If the club refuses to sign without just cause, BC Soccer can approve the transfer without the club's signature.
• Transfer deadlines for competition eligibility: Coastal primary season January 15; Coastal secondary season May 15; Interior primary season June 30; Interior secondary season January 15 (each of the current year). A league can set its own transfer dates within those deadlines.
• After the deadline: you can register with the new club, train and play exhibition matches, but you are not eligible for any official league or cup matches for the rest of that season.
• Limits: only two transfers are permitted within BC Soccer's jurisdiction in a playing season, and once transferred you cannot go back to the original club for 30 days.
• Fees: most transfers carry a fee set by the BC Soccer board and announced before March 15 each year. Transfer fees are non-refundable.
• Before you play: the transfer must be completed at least 1 day before a league match and at least 7 days before a provincial cup match.
• Moving province or country: from another province you need written clearance from the provincial association you were last registered with. From another country you need an International Transfer Certificate.
• Suspended players: a player under suspension who seeks a transfer is not eligible to play until the suspension has been served.

No. BC Soccer's Rule 9 lets a judicial body discipline anyone who:

• bets on any soccer match
• offers, directly or indirectly, any consideration to another club or its players to influence a match result
• accepts such consideration

For a player, betting on any soccer match carries up to 12 months suspension on a first offence, plus a fine of up to $500 and/or a bond of up to $1000. Offering or accepting consideration to influence a result is treated as corruption, with a $10,000 fine and a lifetime suspension on a first offence.

If you are sent off, or you commit conduct that would mean expulsion under the IFAB Laws of the Game, you are suspended without a hearing and without appeal for one match. This is the automatic suspension.

• When it is served: for adult players, in the following scheduled match within the competition or league in which it was incurred.
• Carry-over: if the season ends before you serve it, the one match suspension carries into the next season.
• After serving it: you can resume playing, unless you have also received an immediate suspension or a hearing results in a further sanction.
• Hearing still possible: the referee's report can lead to a complaint and a hearing. At that point the panel can add to the automatic suspension using the sanctioning tables. You may play your next match once the automatic suspension has been served, unless you are accused of assaulting, threatening or harassing a match official or the panel decides the matter is serious enough for an indefinite or provisional suspension pending the hearing.
• Postponing a hearing: if you ask to postpone your hearing, you must still serve the automatic suspension.

BC Soccer counts accumulated cautions for each player over one season. For a player, the sanctioning table says:

• Two cautions in one match: you are sent off and serve a 1 match suspension. These two cautions are not counted in the season accumulation.
• 3rd, 4th and 5th caution: 1 match each time. At the 5th caution you may be required to attend a discipline hearing.
• 6 or more cautions: 2 to 8 matches, and you may be required to attend a discipline hearing.
• Caution then red card: if you are cautioned and later sent off for an offence punishable by expulsion, the first caution stays on your record.

Adult leagues can also fine registered players under the league's own policies.

BC Soccer's sanctioning tables set the range for each offence. Suspensions for players are in matches (or months for later offences). Panels weigh mitigating and aggravating factors within the range and cannot go below a stated minimum or above a stated maximum. These are the player rows for common offences:

• Additive sanctions: if the offence is against a match official, against a youth by an adult, or involves racist or sexist comments, an extra administrative suspension and fine or bond is added. For violent conduct against a match official the added first-offence sanction is 6 months.
• Corruption (offering or accepting anything to influence a match result): a $10,000 fine and a lifetime suspension on a first offence.
• Fines: adult leagues can also fine registered players under their own league policies.
• Educational sanctions: a panel can also order education, such as a referee clinic, and this can reduce or replace match or term suspensions.

• Administrative suspension: a full ban from all sanctioned soccer activity for its duration. That includes playing, acting as a team official, coaching or communicating with players or teams by any means, taking part in member organization activities, wearing match strip while standing with the team, and playing in friendlies or tournaments without written permission from the panel that made the decision.
• Serving match suspensions: suspensions must be served over a continuous period or consecutive matches. If the competition has a break, the suspension may continue accordingly or during the active season. A match counts only if played to its conclusion; if a match is abandoned, cancelled or forfeited it counts as served only if your team was not responsible.
• Carry-over: if a match suspension is not finished by the end of the season, it carries into the following season.
• Friendlies and tournaments: a suspension may carry over into any sanctioned activity, including tournaments and friendlies, but playing in them does not count as serving it.
• Permits: a suspended player is not eligible to play on permit. A sanction given in a match played on permit applies to future matches of the team you are registered with.
• Transfers: a player under suspension who seeks a transfer cannot play until the suspension has been served.
• Dispensation: you can apply to a BC Soccer judicial body for dispensation from parts of a suspension, for example to resume training with your team. It can be recalled at any time.
• Review: anyone suspended for two years or longer can ask for a review after at least half has been served (after three years if the suspension is over five years).

A complaint about a breach of the Laws of the Game or a field of play offence (for example a referee report) goes to BC Soccer's independent discipline chair, who can dismiss it as frivolous, refer it to the league or district to be handled under its own procedures, escalate it, or hold a documentary or oral hearing. Attending a hearing does not mean you are taken to have done anything wrong.

• Your response: once a complaint is accepted you are asked to respond within 72 hours. An extension can be granted and that decision cannot be appealed.
• Notice: for an oral hearing all parties get at least 10 business days notice. The panel has one to three members.
• At the hearing: the chair reads the charge. You can ask relevant questions, make submissions, call witnesses (you pay their expenses if they must attend) and make a summary statement. An association representative can accompany you; an observer can attend but cannot take part. If you cannot attend for a valid reason, you can ask in writing to respond in writing or by videoconference.
• Decision timing: where the expected outcome is 5 matches or fewer, the decision is due within 3 business days of the hearing. For other offences it is due no later than 30 days after the hearing.
• Postponing: you can request one postponement. It will be granted if requested at least 5 business days before the hearing, and you must still serve the required automatic match suspension.
• If you do not show up: without due cause you stay suspended until you ask in writing for another hearing and attend it. The panel can still decide on the evidence it has, can charge a re-hearing fee of up to $1000 plus GST, and BC Soccer can fine you up to $500.
• Costs: the unsuccessful party may be ordered to pay the associated costs.

Decisions of an adult league, a BC Soccer standing committee or a BC Soccer judicial body can be appealed to BC Soccer.

• Deadline: send a written statement of your grounds to the BC Soccer independent third party (ITP) officer within 10 business days of being told of the decision. Appeals are lodged through the online form at https://www.integritycounts.ca/org/itpsport.
• What to include: the decision being appealed, your grounds, a statement of facts, the rule or regulation that was contravened, the remedy you want, and proof you paid the appeal fee (set annually by BC Soccer).
• Grounds: you cannot appeal on the merits alone. The listed grounds are that the body had no authority or jurisdiction, did not follow its approved procedures, was influenced by bias, used its discretion for an improper purpose, or made a grossly unreasonable decision.
• Timing: the ITP officer decides within 15 business days whether to accept the appeal. If it is refused you get written reasons and no further appeal. The other side has 10 business days to reply. Written decisions follow within 15 business days of the reply deadline, or of the hearing if there is an oral hearing.
• Outcome: the panel can dismiss the appeal, or allow it and revoke the sanction or findings or impose a different sanction.
• Meanwhile: sanctions other than financial orders stay in force until the appeal is finished. A one-match automatic suspension for a send-off cannot be appealed.
• Further appeal: the policy reserves the right to appeal to the Canada Soccer Appeals Committee.