Team Official's Guide to Ontario Soccer Youth U14-U18 2026-27

• A person may not be registered as a team head coach for more than two competitive teams, youth or senior, in any one season.
• Separately, a person may not be registered as a competitive team head coach per season for more than two outdoor teams at any one time.

Source: Ontario Soccer Operational Procedures 2026-27, Section 2 (Registration), Procedure 1.6, and Section 8 (Coaches), Procedure 3.1.2.

For Under-14 and older teams in a Provincial, Regional or District Competitive League (outdoor, indoor or futsal) or an Ontario Cup competition, each member club must make sure at least one head coach or assistant coach registering the team holds all of these valid certifications:

• Soccer for Life (or higher licensing, voluntarily or as required by an individual league or cup competition)
• Respect in Sport Activity Leader
• Making Head Way in Soccer
• Making Ethical Decisions and the Making Ethical Decisions Online Evaluation
• NCCP Emergency Action Plan
• NCCP Rule of Two
• the screening requirements of the position

The same applies to a club head coach serving as a team official for such a team. OPDL teams follow certification set by the OPDL Operational Rules.

For Under-13 and younger grassroots squads, coaches need the qualifications in Canada Soccer's Grassroots Standards instead.

Source: Ontario Soccer Operational Procedures 2026-27, Section 8 (Coaches), Procedure 3.2, and Section 2, Procedure 5.11.

Ontario Soccer's Screening and Recruitment Handbook asks each member organization to rate every position by risk, and suggests screening and training for each level. For team officials:

• High risk (positions of trust or authority, with frequent or unsupervised access to vulnerable participants, for example coaches who travel with athletes or could be alone with them): application form, screening disclosure form, a vulnerable sector check (VSC), three references related to the position, and a driver's abstract if requested. Suggested training: NCCP Rule of Two, NCCP Making Ethical Decisions, Ontario Soccer Safe Sport Training and the Respect in Sport Activity Leader certificate.
• Medium risk (for example coaches who are typically supervised by another coach): application form, screening disclosure form, an enhanced police information check (C-PIC), one letter of reference related to the position, and a driver's abstract if requested. Suggested training: NCCP Rule of Two, NCCP Making Ethical Decisions and Respect in Sport Activity Leader.
• Low risk (for example parents or volunteers helping on an informal basis): application form and screening disclosure form.

The handbook's sample position descriptions class competitive and development team officials as a high risk position, and non-travelling grassroots team officials as a low risk position. It tells organizations to review the sample descriptions and adapt them to their own organization.

Source: Ontario Soccer Screening and Recruitment Handbook (June 2026), risk level table and Appendix B.

The Screening and Recruitment Handbook does not set a fixed renewal period. It says each member organization must decide how often it requires police records checks. An organization may ask for them every year, every two years, or only on initial appointment to a position that requires one.

The organization should also reserve the right to ask for a current check if there are reasonable grounds to suspect the last one is no longer accurate, or if the person's position within the organization changes significantly.

Once the organization has reviewed your check, it should return it to you. It must keep the information confidential and say how long it keeps it.

Source: Ontario Soccer Screening and Recruitment Handbook (June 2026), Frequency of Police Records Checks and the Screening and Recruitment Policy.

• Minimum: every youth team, regardless of the competition, must have at least one registered team official on the bench at all times.
• If nobody is there: if a team has no registered team official on the bench before the game or at any time during it, the game is abandoned and the result is awarded to the opposition.
• Maximum: no more than five team officials can be on the bench for any given match.

Each person on the bench must be a registered team official (head coach, assistant coach, team manager, assistant manager, club head coach, technical director or technical staff such as a goalkeeper coach or athletic therapist) who meets the certification requirements for the age division and classification.

Source: Ontario Soccer Operational Procedures 2026-27, Section 8 (Coaches), Procedure 3.0, 3.3 to 3.5, and Section 1, Procedure 1.0, definition 1.125.

Bring the Ontario Soccer validated roster with photos.

• Players and team officials are identified on the roster generated by the registration system. It shows each person's photo ID, birth year and eligibility date.
• Team officials are responsible for producing a copy of the roster with photos at all competitions.
• If you cannot present the completed, validated roster when asked, the team is ineligible to play in that competition.
• A player who wants to play up to a team in a sanctioned competition must show proof of registration to be included on the match day roster.
• Only a team official who meets the certification requirements for the age, division and classification can be listed on the match day roster, take part in a game and be in the team's bench area.

Photo standard: a valid photograph meets Passport Canada photo specifications and must have been taken in the past six months. Eyes must be open and clearly visible (glasses are fine if the eyes can be seen, sunglasses are not), the face must be in full front view with both edges showing, and hats or head coverings are not permitted except when worn for religious reasons. Black and white or colour photos are acceptable.

Source: Ontario Soccer Operational Procedures 2026-27, Section 2 (Registration), Procedures 1.6 and 6.0.

Ontario Soccer defines a tournament as a series of games involving Under-14 or older teams, with at least 4 teams, played within 7 consecutive days or over no more than three weekends in a playing season. Under the tournament rules:

• Team sheets: the tournament host provides team sheets. Each team completes one before each game and submits it to the referee before kickoff, identified by its full team name.
• Players dressed: a team may dress and play up to 20 players in each game, unless the tournament (for Under-12 and Under-13) is subject to Canada Soccer's Grassroots Standards, in which case the maximum match day roster is 18.
• Time between games: there must be at least 1 hour between each game played by any team.
• Daily playing time: Under-14 teams may not play more than 150 minutes a day, and Under-15 and older teams not more than 180 minutes a day.
• After the game: the host collects team sheets and misconduct reports from the match officials immediately after each game.
• Entering: each team must include written proof of team travel permission, authorized by its governing association, with its tournament application.

Source: Ontario Soccer Operational Procedures 2026-27, Section 5 (Competitions), Tournaments.

It depends on the player's age and the stream, under Ontario Soccer's Electronic Communication and Social Media Policy. A coach is a "Person in Authority" under it, and conduct on these media is subject to the Code of Conduct and Ethics and the Discipline and Complaints Policy.

Competition / high performance stream, players 13-18 (Level 2, many conditions):

• Communication should be open and observable where possible. If it cannot be, keep a log and make it available to your member organization or the player's parent or guardian on request.
• For non-personal information (such as training times), message the player and parents or guardians at the same time, for example by copying a parent on emails.
• Avoid initiating contact on social media. You may accept friend or follow requests only if communication is public (not private messaging), is limited to content that furthers the player's athletic goals, and parents know it may happen.
• Do not use platforms that automatically delete content (such as Snapchat).

Community recreational stream, players 13-18 (Level 1): do not initiate electronic or social media contact, and reject or block contact the player starts. Communicate through parents or guardians or face to face.

Children younger than 13: the policy also says to reject requests to communicate directly in most cases, and to deal with parents or guardians instead.

Source: Ontario Soccer Participant Safety Policies and Guides (30 June 2026), Electronic Communication and Social Media Policy, Appendices A and B.

Ontario Soccer's lightning safety policy says to get to a safe location as soon as you hear thunder, because if you can hear thunder you can be hit by lightning.

• Safe location: a fully enclosed building with wiring and plumbing, such as a clubhouse. Sheds, picnic shelters, tents and covered porches do not protect you. If no sturdy building is close, a vehicle with a hard metal roof and the windows up is better than staying outdoors. Do not shelter in the showers.
• Restarting: wait at least 30 minutes after the last flash of lightning or sound of thunder before returning to the field.
• Who decides: the match official has the final say over delaying or restarting a match because of weather.
• Plan ahead: know where the closest safe structure is and how long it takes to reach it. Larger groups need more time to clear the area.

Source: Ontario Soccer Participant Safety Policies and Guides (30 June 2026), Lightning Safety / Severe Weather.