Group Stage

30 teams from all SoCal Premier Divisions will compete in the group stage. Each group consists of two flights of clubs. Clubs in flight “A” will compete against clubs in flight “B”. The Raul Briones Cup will kick off on November 20th and run through December 12th.

The top 14 clubs, based on point totals, will be seeded and advance to the Knockout stage. Capo FC and Inland Empire FC will enter into the Knockout rounds.

Current League Rules will guide all Cup games unless otherwise noted below.

Knockout Stage

Round of 16 - Raul Briones Cup & Brent Freeman Friendship Cup

• The 30 teams in the Group stage and the 2 teams that had a bye will join the round of 16 as two groups:
  • Raul Briones will be the 2 teams on bye and the top 2 teams from each group. The remaining 4 teams will be the highest points totals chosen from the 5 groups.
  • Brent Freeman will be the bottom remaining 16 teams. They will be seeded based on total points and tie-breakers as outlined in our regular league rules.
• Single elimination Games will be held the weekend of January 29th, 2022.

Quarter-finals

• Home/away series with a cumulative score, away goals will determine first tie-breaker.
• 1st leg February 26th/27th - lower seed to host
• 2nd leg March 26th/27th - higher seed to host
• If tied after 2nd leg, will go straight to PK's immediately following the game

Semi-finals

• Home/away series with a cumulative score, away goals will determine first tie-breaker.
• 1st leg April 23rd/24th - lower seed to host
• 2nd leg April 30th/May 1st - higher seed to host
• If tied after 2nd leg, will go straight to PK's immediately following the game

Finals

• Single Game. May 15, 2022.
• Highest remaining seed option to host
• FIFA overtime and PK's if game tied at the end of regulation

Winner of the Raul Briones Cup will enter into the SWPL Regional Playoff for a spot in the 2022 NISA Independent Cup. If the RBC winner is also the SoCal 1st division champion then the RBC runner up will be given the spot in the regional playoff

Brent Freeman Friendship Cup

This Cup is for a second tier championship allowing for ALL teams to advance to the knockout rounds.

The BFFC champion will be given a team trophy at the SoCal AGM.

Additional Rules for the RB Cup

Player Eligibility

• Players can be added to rosters as new/trasfer up through quarterfinals
• Only currently rostered players are allowed to play in RBC and BFFC games.
• No Borrowed players
• No Free Agents
• Once a player plays in the Cup for one team, they CANNOT play in the cup for another team
• Cup rosters will be frozen after the quarterfinals

Home/Away hosting for Knockout stages

• Highest seeded team has the option to host knockout games
• If higher seeded team does not want to host, the lower seed team may host
• If neither team has a home field, a field will be assigned by the league and both teams will split costs of the field

For further Cup rules see the 2021-22 SWPL Rules Handbook in the Document Library.