BUSA — Birmingham Bash 2022 (Birmingham United Soccer Association)

If you are out and about this weekend in the Birmingham metro area, don’t be surprised if you see kids walking around with cleats and shinguards on.

Largest Youth Event Ever in Alabama

From September 23-25, the Birmingham United Soccer Association (BUSA) is holding its annual Birmingham Bash Soccer Tournament, presented by Medical Properties Trust. And according to event organizers, this year’s 375 teams participating in the tournament will be on hand at one of the largest youth sports events in Alabama history.

What should we expect? Here are the staggering numbers:

375+ teams participating in the 3-day tournament
U-9 to U-19 Boys and Girls teams from 9 different states
1200+ games played at 7 different venues
Estimated economic impact: $7.8 million on the Birmingham Metro Area

Soccer is Growing

Legion — Mayor Randall Woodfin and the Brigade’s Nic Gulas leads a cheer during the game. (Pat Byington/Bham Now)

“People for years have said, soccer is coming — soccer is growing,” Andrew Brower, BUSA’s Executive Director told Bham Now. “We finally reached that point. If you take just a small barometer like this tournament, which was started 15 plus years ago, it had 60 teams that first weekend. The next year, it might have been 80. It’s incrementally grown over time.”

Brower credits the growth of soccer to more and more kids and families having access to soccer.

“With the Birmingham Legion being in town, more people have a chance to see a higher level of soccer. They can also watch more games on TV. It’s more visible and it’s more readily accessible to watch.”

Gone are the days where you had to go to the local pub to watch the one game. Soccer is everywhere now.

And with more people watching games and becoming fans, their kids are playing the game.

“Here is a crazy statistic,” Brower added. “When we get to the end of May our organization Birmingham United Soccer Association will be a little under 10,000 youth players for the year, if you parlay that back to even 2010, we were probably half of that number. So the growth in soccer participation has been pretty extraordinary over the last decade.”

All Are Welcomed

Be a part of history. Watch the next generation of soccer players at the Birmingham Bash. The event is free and open to the public. The venues include:

Jimmy Johns, UAB Sports and Exercise Medicine, DiscoverShelby.com, IN Birmingham, Buffalo Rock/Pepsi are also sponsors.

Checkout the entire — Birmingham Bash schedule Want to get more buzzy news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our FREE daily newsletter.