U.S. Soccer

Brand overview

---
bcp_version: "2.0.0"
file_type: root
brand_name: "U.S. Soccer"
publication_profile: registry_backed
canonical_bcp: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand.md
registry_mcp: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/mcp
registry_handle: "us-soccer-785"
tree_version: "1.0.0"
website: "https://www.ussoccer.com"
category: "National sports governing body"
markets:
  - "United States"
last_updated: "2026-10-19"
default_locale: "en-US"
publication_status: demonstration
provenance: "Encoded Brands compiled this package on 19 October 2026 (ticket #785, slug us-soccer). Visual and messaging rules come from the Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit PDFs that U.S. Soccer publishes on ussoccer.com (Toolkit Brand Guide and Campaign Call to Actions, both dated November 2025), supplied to Encoded by the requester, plus the toolkit's companion PDFs and photography folder linked from the same page. Federation facts come from ussoccer.com pages checked the same day. U.S. Soccer has not reviewed or approved this package. No Registry handle has been assigned yet; daughter paths below are package-relative until publication."
daughter_files:
  voice: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/voice.md
  voice_anti_ai: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/voice/anti-ai.md
  values: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/values.md
  boundaries: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/boundaries.md
  claims: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/claims.md
  representation: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/representation.md
  visual: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/visual.md
  onboarding: https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/onboarding.md
source_coverage:
  status: partial
  research_refreshed: true
  sources:
    - "Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit — Toolkit Brand Guide, 8 pp, PDF created 2025-11-26 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/c4b848ffdd0b9acd0f125623623578f30153e778.pdf; cited as GUIDE p.N)"
    - "Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit — Campaign Call to Actions, 4 pp, PDF created 2025-11-29 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/8764135f579e6cb9704e3b630c57a234d74c4110.pdf; cited as CTA p.N)"
    - "Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit — How-to Guide, 52 pp, PDF created 2025-11-29 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/6fe5392f91d7d9609d7ac8a2b7bd7ebc4e27bec4.pdf; cited as HOWTO p.N = PDF page index; from p.37 on the printed folio is one higher)"
    - "Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit — Campaign Impact Statements, 8 pp, PDF created 2025-11-26 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/9bdb8f08bd4de16adc5cb4026c400a6847991ecf.pdf; cited as IMPACT p.N)"
    - "Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit — Social Copy Examples, 3 pp, PDF created 2025-11-26 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/7594fc58246975f7dfc162d4b3bd033f2b4eac06.pdf; cited as SOCIAL p.N)"
    - "Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit — Soccer Forward Foundation Logo (lock-up), 7 pp, PDF created 2025-12-01 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/ac3576c0a9d1f639db048c51e4479cb13470fb9a.pdf; cited as LOCKUP p.N)"
    - "Soccer Forward Foundation Toolkit — Request support from Soccer Forward, 7 pp, PDF created 2025-11-26 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/3e0914aba4a84c668f879bd724f993e3c805265d.pdf; cited as SUPPORT p.N)"
    - "Safe Storytelling, 7 pp, PDF created 2025-12-01 (https://cdn.sanity.io/files/oyf3dba6/production/5be4476e8900dc538c7cf1405d3b140c0028e323.pdf; cited as SAFE p.N)"
    - "Keeping Score of What Matters — Photography (Google Drive folder, 9 PNGs, created 2025-11-29; linked as 'Photography' from the toolkit page): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZZ2dV2mGbH77vuFdRLDZYr2J5RoK3Z21"
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/about
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/soccer-forward
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/soccer-forward/keeping-score-of-what-matters
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/soccer-forward/keeping-score-of-what-matters-toolkit
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/soccer-forward/resource-hub
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/participate
    - https://www.ussoccer.com/stories
    - "ussoccer.com production CSS (/_next/static/css/*.css), fetched 2026-10-19, for observed font and colour tokens"
  gaps:
    - "No accountable U.S. Soccer brand, communications or legal approval exists for any claim, voice or visual rule in this package."
    - "The supplied guidelines are a campaign toolkit for Soccer Forward partners, not the federation's master brand book. Federation-wide rules (crest usage, national-team marks, sponsor lockups, Insiders, tickets) were not supplied."
    - "No crest artwork or crest rules: GUIDE p.6 carries a hidden text layer reading 'Crest / Primary / Secondary' under the ADA cheat sheet, but no crest page is visible. HOWTO p.10: '*U.S. Soccer crest is for placement only – add your crest where it is placed!' — the template crest slot is for the partner's own crest or logo, so partner assets do not carry U.S. Soccer's crest. Rules for U.S. Soccer's own crest use were not supplied."
    - "No logo files were supplied: the Soccer Forward Foundation (SFF) lock-up is shown only inside PDFs; the design file link on LOCKUP p.3 reads 'XYZ' (placeholder)."
    - "USSF Unity font files and licence were not supplied. ussoccer.com serves USSFUnityDisplay Regular/Medium/Bold/Black web fonts; public serving is not permission to reuse."
    - "Photography credits, model releases and licence terms for the nine toolkit PNGs are not stated anywhere Encoded could find."
    - "Soccer Forward Foundation's legal form and its relationship to U.S. Soccer and to the separate 'U.S. Soccer Foundation' name are not stated on any page read."
    - "Leadership and coaching roles are unconfirmed: the homepage features 'Message to Fans from Mauricio Pochettino' and 'Emma Hayes Mic'd Up' (2026-10-19) without stating titles; no president or CEO/secretary general names appear in fetched governance text; team hubs render client-side."
    - "The underlying studies behind the Campaign Impact Statements were not independently retrieved; several citations in the PDF are incomplete or inconsistent (see claims.md)."
    - "ussoccer.com /about contains outdated statements (see claims.md 'expired'). Founding year and headquarters city are not stated on pages read."
    - "Spanish-language or other-locale materials were not supplied or analysed."
integrity_signed: true
trust_level: claimed
official_brand_source: false
verification_method: null
verified_domain: null
verified_at: null
dns_verified_at: null
verification_last_checked_at: null
verification_expires_at: null
certification_status: not_certified
registry_certified: false
---
# U.S. Soccer

> **Demonstration built from public first-party materials.** Encoded Brands encoded this BCP from the Soccer Forward Storytelling Toolkit (November 2025) and ussoccer.com. U.S. Soccer has not reviewed it. Frontmatter shows `official_brand_source: false` and `trust_level: claimed`.

U.S. Soccer describes itself as "the governing body of soccer in all its forms in the United States" and says it "exists in service to soccer" with the ambition "to ignite a national passion for soccer." It runs the U.S. men's and women's national teams (USMNT, USWNT) and, by its own count, 27 national teams in total, with 119 member organizations across all 50 states. **Soccer Forward** is the federation's legacy initiative: "the main driver of U.S. Soccer's generational ambition to make soccer accessible everywhere for everyone." Its current campaign, **Keeping Score of What Matters**, gives clubs, schools and community groups templates, impact statements, CTAs and photography so they can "make the case for soccer" locally. The supplied brand guide is that campaign's toolkit guide.

## Package map

**What this file is.** The root of a Brand Context Protocol (BCP) 2.0 package for U.S. Soccer. Encoded Brands authored the package. It is reference data about the brand, not a content generator, and grants no permissions.

**Two scopes, kept separate.**

| Scope | What it covers | Primary sources | Speaker |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Soccer Forward / Keeping Score of What Matters** | Community storytelling, partner templates, impact statements, CTAs, photography | Toolkit PDFs (GUIDE, CTA, HOWTO, IMPACT, SOCIAL, LOCKUP, SUPPORT, SAFE), photography folder | Often a *partner organization* using the toolkit, or Soccer Forward itself |
| **U.S. Soccer federation** | Governance, national teams, news, Insiders, participation | ussoccer.com | U.S. Soccer |

The toolkit's visual system (palette, USSF Unity, lowercase italic headlines, goalpost photo frame) is the only brand-declared visual system here. Use it for Soccer Forward work. For federation-wide work it is the best available evidence, not a confirmed master standard: see `visual.md`.

**What's in the package**

- `voice.md`, `voice/anti-ai.md`: how the campaign, Soccer Forward pages and federation news actually read, by register.
- `claims.md`: dated, sourced claims. Impact statements with their published citations and caveats; federation facts; expired statements from `/about`; prohibited claims.
- `boundaries.md`: audience-sensitivity rules for stats, safeguarding and consent, crest and logo limits, partner-endorsement limits.
- `representation.md`: how to describe U.S. Soccer and Soccer Forward, and framing traps.
- `values.md`: stated beliefs and the five Safe Storytelling principles, quoted.
- `visual.md`: palette (RGB/HEX/CMYK/PMS), ADA pairings, USSF Unity and fallbacks, layout hierarchy, SFF lock-up rules, goalpost rules, and an image-by-image map of the nine toolkit photos.
- `onboarding.md`: how to use this package.

**Public by design.** Font files, logo masters and full-resolution photography are not included.

## Core identity

```yaml
organization_name_in_copy: "U.S. Soccer (with periods). Footer: 'COPYRIGHT U.S. SOCCER 2025'."
legal_name: null  # gap: not shown on pages read; 'USSF' appears in font and asset names and 'U.S. Soccer Federation' in toolkit resource titles.
role: "governing body of soccer in all its forms in the United States (ussoccer.com/about, checked 2026-10-19)"
purpose_line: "U.S. Soccer exists in service to soccer. Our ambition is to ignite a national passion for soccer."
belief_line: "We believe soccer is more than a sport, it is a force for good."
scale: "119 member organizations across all 50 states, from grassroots to professional leagues, and 27 national teams (ussoccer.com/soccer-forward, checked 2026-10-19)"
initiative: "Soccer Forward — 'U.S. Soccer's legacy initiative' (page meta description); lock-up descriptor 'A U.S. Soccer Initiative'"
campaign: "Keeping Score of What Matters (strap line: 'Keeping score of what matters')"
campaign_ctas:   # CTA p.2 — personalized version OR Soccer Forward version
  awareness:  ["Get involved in soccer with (organization name.)", "Get involved in soccer with the Soccer Forward Foundation."]   # high-level assets, e.g. the brand video
  conversion: ["Find soccer opportunities near you at (organization's website.)", "Explore tools to grow your organization with the Soccer Forward Resource Hub."]   # assets that highlight impact statements
  short_form: ["Join the legacy.", "Kick off.", "Learn more."]   # captions and clickable buttons in social/digital
  print_qr:   ["Scan to join the legacy."]
resource_hub_tagline: "One game. One mission. One team."
contact_for_toolkit: "soccerforward@ussoccer.org (published in HOWTO and LOCKUP)"
national_team_abbreviations: ["USMNT", "USWNT"]
```

## Positioning

U.S. Soccer positions the game as a public good: "the game belongs to everyone," and soccer is "a force for good" that contributes to "healthy, educated, equitable, and connected communities." The campaign idea is a second scoreboard. Goals and assists are one score; friendships made, confidence built, dreams inspired and communities strengthened are the score that matters. Campaign creative leads with a benefit of playing ("Soccer can help improve your concentration skills"), pays it off with the strap line, and closes with a CTA chosen by purpose: CTA p.2 pairs impact-statement assets with the conversion CTA, while the template examples use 'Join the legacy' (HOWTO p.4) or the awareness CTA (GUIDE p.8); see voice.md. Federation communications are factual, AP-style news about teams, competitions, referees and participation.

## Change log

- 2026-10-19: tree 1.0.0. Initial package by Encoded (ticket #785). No prior Registry package.

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## See also

- [boundaries.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/boundaries.md>)
- [claims.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/claims.md>)
- [onboarding.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/onboarding.md>)
- [representation.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/representation.md>)
- [values.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/values.md>)
- [visual.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/visual.md>)
- [voice.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/voice.md>)
- [voice/anti-ai.md](<https://registry.encodedbrands.ai/us-soccer-785/.well-known/brand/voice/anti-ai.md>)
<!-- registry-daughter-links:end -->