Kansas City Wizards and ownership group OnGoal, LLC, the Mayor's Office of the City of Kansas City, Missouri and the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners are proud to announce the inaugural Mayor's Night Kicks Tournament. The program, sponsored by the City of Kansas City in conjunction with the Wizards, is a six-week evening soccer tournament for adult males ages 18 - 25. Kansas City and OnGoal will host a special kick-off event Tuesday, July 8 at Field 3 of the Wizards Swope Park Training Center, where all tournament matches will take place.
"I have a lot faith in the power of soccer to bring people together." Mayor Funkhouser said. "Although the participants will speak many languages and practice many faiths, they can come together around the love for a wonderful game. The Parks Department and the Wizards have come together to create something that I think is going to be huge."
"The Kansas City Cup Tournament celebrates the international flavor of Kansas City. With Hispanic and Somalian teams, the Mayor's Night Kicks program is about more than playing and having fun, it is community building at its finest," John Fierro, Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners President, said.
"We are eager to work with the Mayor and the City of Kansas City, Missouri on this exciting World-Cup-style tournament," OnGoal CEO Robb Heineman said. "We feel this is a great way to continue our great relationship with the City and soccer enthusiasts who live here."
Games will be played on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday nights at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Games will be played on a regulation size soccer field and consist of two 45-minute halves with a 15-minute halftime. Teams will consist of 20 players, with 11 players per team on the field at once.
Similar to the World Cup format, the 16 teams are divided into four groups of four teams. The first round will take three weeks and allows for each team to play the other three teams in their group. Week 4 finds the top two teams in each group advance to play in the quarter-finals where they play in a single elimination bracket. Week 5 hosts the two semi-final games. Week 6 hosts the third place and championship games. A total of 32 games will be played on Field 3 over the six weeks.
The champion, runner-up and third place teams will be awarded trophies and introduced at halftime at a Kansas City Wizards home game Saturday, August 23 against FC Dallas at 7 p.m. CT. All participants will receive a T-shirt and a ticket to match on August 23.
Registration costs $200 for a team of 20 ($10 per participant). Teams may sign up at selected community centers throughout KC, City Hall, and at the Wizards and the Parks and Recreation offices. The Wizards will publicize this electronically on its website, community blog, and MySpace pages; as well as make in PA announcements at games leading up to the registration deadline.
