How to check a coach before tryouts
What U.S. Soccer's license directory and SafeSport's disciplinary database can and cannot tell you, and what only a practice shows.
Two public records help: U.S. Soccer's license directory and the U.S. Center for SafeSport's disciplinary database. A missing result proves nothing, so the rest comes from watching a practice and asking the club.
Licenses
- • Search U.S. Soccer's Learning Center directory by the coach's name and state. It shows current U.S. Soccer coaching licenses: Grassroots, then D, C, B, the two A licenses and Pro. Where the coach did them through U.S. Soccer, it also shows SafeSport training, a background screening and their stage of U.S. Soccer's Safe Soccer clearance.
- • A blank there, or “Not Cleared”, is not a failed check. The clearance is voluntary nationally, and some state associations run their own: Cal South has its competitive coaches fingerprinted through California's Live Scan instead.
- • No result does not mean unlicensed. Licenses from other organizations, such as United Soccer Coaches or UEFA, do not show, and a D or E license can be missing until the state association that ran the course adds it. Ask the coach which license they hold and from whom.
- • Some leagues set minimum licenses for directors and head coaches, and require medical staff at every match. MLS NEXT and Girls Academy publish theirs; each page gives the rules and links the league's own documents.
Discipline
- • The U.S. Center for SafeSport's Centralized Disciplinary Database lists adults sanctioned after an investigation, and some under a temporary restriction while one is open. You can search it by name, city, state and sport.
- • A sanction is the Center's finding. A temporary restriction is not a finding that misconduct occurred, and a sanction marked subject to appeal is not final.
- • U.S. Soccer keeps a soccer-only copy, its list of disciplined, suspended or ineligible individuals. It is updated from time to time, so a new decision can reach it later.
- • Neither names a coach's club, and neither shows everything: cases involving a minor, and sanctions such as a formal warning or probation, are not published.
- • The same name is not the same person. Check the city, the state and the sport before you draw anything from it.
What no record shows
- • Watch a full practice: how many players each coach works with, how mistakes are corrected, how long players stand in line.
- • Ask who coaches this team next season, and how long they have been with the club.
- • Ask for the playing-time policy in writing.
- • Ask which background check and safety training the club requires of its coaches, and how often they are renewed. In Southern California, Cal South requires every competitive coach to hold an in-person U.S. Soccer license, not only an online one.
- • Talk to a family on the team now, away from the field.
The rest of the list is in Tryout questions for the player you have.
What federal law requires
Reporting and preventing abuse
Under federal law, adults who work with young athletes in sports that compete across state lines must report suspected child abuse to the authorities within 24 hours. The youth sports organizations the law covers must also have reasonable rules limiting one-on-one contact, including messages, between a player and an adult other than the player's guardian to where another adult can see and interrupt, except in an emergency; must train the adults in regular contact with players to prevent and report abuse; and must not retaliate against anyone who reports abuse.
Read Oct 4, 2026 · 36 U.S.C. §220530 · 34 U.S.C. §20341
Some states add rules of their own: California, Florida and Pennsylvania.
Each row summarizes what a law requires, as read on the date shown, and links the law itself, whose words govern. It is not legal advice and not a statement about any club. Ask a club how it meets these rules.
You can report suspected abuse yourself, at any time. You do not need to wait for a club.
If something happened to a player
- • In an emergency, call 911.
- • Child abuse: report it first to the police or your state's child protective services. Childhelp, 1-800-422-4453 (any hour, call or text), can help you make that report. Then report to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, 833-587-7233 (weekdays), or its online form, which can be anonymous.
- • Sexual misconduct, and retaliation for reporting abuse or sexual misconduct: the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
- • Other misconduct, or if you are not sure where: U.S. Soccer's reporting form, which routes it, or its voicemail line, (312) 528-7004.
We show who to contact; we receive nothing. Contact them directly.
Quick answers
- How do I check a youth soccer coach's license?
- Search U.S. Soccer's Learning Center directory by the coach's name and state. It lists current U.S. Soccer licenses only; a coach licensed by another organization, or holding a D or E license the state association has not added, will not appear, so ask which license they hold and from whom.
- How do I find out if a coach has been disciplined?
- The U.S. Center for SafeSport's Centralized Disciplinary Database lists adults sanctioned after an investigation, and some under a temporary restriction while one is open. A sanction is the Center's finding; a temporary restriction is not, and the same name is not the same person: check the city, the state and the sport.
- Where do I report a concern about a coach?
- In an emergency, call 911. Child abuse goes first to the police or your state's child protective services (Childhelp, 1-800-422-4453, can help you make that report), then to the U.S. Center for SafeSport (833-587-7233 or its online form). Sexual misconduct goes to the U.S. Center for SafeSport. For other misconduct, or when you are not sure where, U.S. Soccer's reporting form routes it.