Welcome

The Gay Games is the largest queer sporting event and occurs only every 4 years similarly to the Olympics. There are dozens of sports as well as cultural events that take place during this. For Soccer, there will be two formats of play and potentially varying levels to it. The Gray Ducks are former Bronze medalists in the Paris 2018 Games. We were unable to send a team to the Guadalajara/Hong Kong co-games as we did not have enough interest from players to go do these less secure destinations. 

Dates have not been set yet, but June 2026 is the period of time. This is a 7 day affair:

Saturday arrivals

Sunday opening ceremonies

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday group stage games daily

Wednesday mandatory rest day

Friday and Saturday final stage games

Know a LGBTQ referee? Tell them about this tournament too, we'd love to have refs join us for this. 

Browse the tournament website here: https://gaygamesvalencia2026.com/

This will happen in early 2025 with early bird rates that will climb over time. 

Join the squad by emailing ryan@grayduckssoccer.com  and/or please join our planning group on Facebook here.  We also have a group on Spond for tournament planning using code MTGKB.

Fields will be within the Turia Gardens:

11v11: Campo de Rumbo & Campo Exposicion
7v7: Campo Serranos and Campo Pond de Fusta

There will be a host hotel, and we will assess renting Airbnbs as well. We will provide ample opportunity for players to coordinate shared housing, and a preferred hotel. 

This will be an expensive trip, but one to which we could fundraise for greatly if persons are interested. 

Player Fee: $210

Airfare: $900-$1,400

Housing: Minimum $800 likely (think of it as $100 per person a night if sharing a room)

Transportation: $75* a lot of things accessible via subway

Uniform: >$170* (includes kits and opening ceremonies outfits)
Total Estimated Goal to Fundraise/Cost:$2,000-$2,500 per player usually
*This pricing is estimated, a better estimate will be known through your own search

These costs are incurred over the course of time and not all at once. 

We've never been to an EGLSF tournament, but we should go!  Browse the tournament website here: https://lyon2025.com/en/eurogames-lyon-2025/

We are accepting interested players on a rolling basis and would love to send a full squad from Minnesota.

Join the squad by emailing ryan@grayduckssoccer.com  and/or please join our planning group on Facebook here.  We also have a group on Spond for tournament planning using code MTGKB.

Fields TBA, but proximal to accommodations

There will be a host hotel, and we will assess renting Airbnbs as well. We will provide ample opportunity for players to coordinate shared housing, and a preferred hotel. 

This will be an expensive trip, but one to which we could fundraise for greatly if persons are interested. 

Player Fee: $150

Airfare: $1,500-$2,700

Housing: Minimum $700 likely (think of it as $100 per person a night if sharing a room)

Transportation: $75*

Uniform: >$115*
Total Estimated Goal to Fundraise/Cost:$2,700-$3,700 per player usually
*This pricing is estimated, a better estimate will be known through your own search

 Since 2013 the club has hosted an invitational tournament during San Francisco's famous Folsom Street Fair weekend, the last weekend in September. More info at https://www.sfspikes.com/folsom

Join the squad by emailing ryan@grayduckssoccer.com and/or join our tournament group on Spond using code MTGKB

This is presumed to be a mixed level tournament that skews competitive as there is no division set up.

The fields are located immediately adjacent to the Spark Social food truck park. Spark Social is home to a large variety of food and beverage options.

The tournament will be 7v7 on outdoor fields with no boards (ie. typical out of bounds and throw-in rules) and played according to the IGLFA 7v7 outdoor tournament rules. Rosters will be capped at 13 players.

Shin guards are required to play. Cleats, turf shoes, or flats are welcome - no metal studs allowed (save that for Sunday).

Nope! On the field, this is a typical, fairly competitive, inclusive LGBTQ+ focused soccer tournament. The club hosts this during Folsom Weekend, but the Folsom and BDSM related events of the weekend are not part of the tournament.
Whether Folsom Weekend is your favorite of the year or you've got no interest in leather or BDSM we'd love to have you! We're not here to yuck anyones yum.

The tournament will be 7v7 on outdoor fields with no boards (ie. typical out of bounds and throw-in rules) and played according to the IGLFA 7v7 outdoor tournament rules. Rosters will be capped at 13 players. Shin guards are required to play. Cleats, turf shoes, or flats are welcome - no metal studs allowed (save that for Sunday).

Friday - opening party

Saturday - day of play all day

Sunday - no games, just awards brunch

Is there a BDSM component to the tournament?

Nope! On the field, this is a typical, fairly competitive, inclusive LGBTQ+ focused soccer tournament. The club hosts this during Folsom Weekend, but the Folsom and BDSM related events of the weekend are not part of the tournament.

Player Fee: $100ea

Airfare: $175-$300*

Hotel: $195*+ [Varies based on room sharing, length of stay, and hotel chosen]

Transportation: $25-35*

Uniform: >$80*

Total Estimated Cost:

$500-$600 per player potentially

*The pricing is based on costs estimated in August 2024

Let's return as IGLFA World Series Champs! 

You will be joining over 5,500 LGBT and Allied athletes, family and friends for two days of exciting athletic competition! This year's soccer tournament will again host the IGLFA Indoor World Championships consisting of 26 teams from the US, Canada, Mexico, UK and possibly elsewhere. 

***Only turf cleats are permitted***

Join the squad by emailing ryan@grayduckssoccer.com and joining our group page here: www.facebook.com/groups/lasvegasducks/  and/or join our tournament group on Spond using code MTGKB

 ■  Teams will play 7 versus 7 in one of 3 all gender divisions or the women's division.
 ■  Teams are capped at 13 players.
 ■  We will be sending as many teams as we have interest for, teams will be split between level of player
 ■  Game format for 12 teams or less is 12-minute halves, one-minute halftime and guaranteed four games. In case of high demand, up to 16 teams will play 8-minute halves, one-minute halftime and guaranteed 6 games. 

 ■  Game times will be Saturday,  7am-7pm and Sunday, 8am-6pm. Games are typically played within a 4hr window of time each day.
 ■  Game Times will be released to the Team Captains ONE WEEK BEFORE via e-mail.
 ■  All Teams are required to check-in a MINIMUM of 30 minutes PRIOR to game time. Failure to do so will result in an automatic forfeit.
 ■  Round Robin play will take place Saturday, which will determine seeding for the Sunday playoffs.

 ■  Two referees per game minimum. Referee decisions are final.
 ■  This tournament is officially sanctioned by the IGLFA, therefore, all IGLFA 7v7 Indoor Tournament rules apply.
 ■  Any red cards from prior sanctioned IGLFA tournaments that have suspensions that need to be served, will carry over.
 ■  IGLFA rules will be followed with the exception of substitutions - unlimited, on the fly and at referee game stoppages.

Likely Big League Dreams Las Vegas - an indoor arena turf field (like soccer blast burnsville)

Player Fee: $80ea

Airfare: $275-$420*

Hotel: $195*+ [Varies based on room sharing, length of stay, and hotel chosen]

Transportation: $25-35*

Uniform: >$80*

Total Estimated Cost:

$500-$600 per player usually

*The pricing is based on costs estimated in June 2023

Ryan has led a team to this tournament the past 8 years. In 2024 our squad tied for third place in DII.  In 2023 our teams won D2 men's and the Women's divisions. Woohoo! 2022 we brought the most players ever with filling 5 teams. Three men's teams and two women's teams, with our Division 2 men's team winning it all. 2020 was huge in that we brought our first women's team in addition to two all gender teams. Our D1 team took first yet again, incredible! In 2019 we brought two teams and earned a first and second place finish with both teams in the top division of play. In 2017 and 2018, we placed 2nd in Division 1. In 2016, we placed 3rd in Division 1. It's been an incredible journey each year. 

We'd like to attend any and all tournaments, and we support you as an individual registering as a free agent at any time. You can find the most current tournament board at www.nagaysoccer.com 

The tournaments we tend to go to are LGBTQ+ (and allied) so all are welcome, however you should expect these to be highly queer centric experiences. We'll prioritize team building for identifying persons, however we have long been inclusive of allies because we're rarely able to complete a roster without allies. 

We've brought hundreds of players across the globe to play, and it's an incredibly bonding and memorable experience that has lead to great friendships. Teams typically stay at the same place, go to dinner as a group, play tourist and visit major attractions, and immerse into the tournament fun off the field. While a sponsor could help offset things, people tend to pay their own ways and split costs as equally as possible in this experience. We strive to stay in the right places at the right costs so that everyone can attend who wants to.

Tournament teams most complex aspect is getting enough players of like skill to play in the highest level of play, however we can bring a mixed squad and play in a lower division typically. We're quite good at this planning and we consistent finish in the top three of the division we join regardless of toughness level. 

Some tournaments we do not support or are weary to attend: 

We only sometimes attend IGLFA affiliated tournaments. The IGLFA has on multiple occasions failed to deliver the tournaments they have planned. They have a history of selling rights to tourism bureau to host a tournament in a place where no club has presence. And leadership has taken financial advantage of membership dues that have been paid, meanwhile membership rights and benefits were not delivered on.

National Sports Center Blaine Tournaments - we've encountered numerous incidents with leadership of NSC Blaine soccer events failing basic commitments to inclusion and allyship between 2018 and 2022. We've encountered violence at their tournaments and homophobia, and while that eventually led to the ejection of a team from the tournament 3 games in, it was not without intense advocacy, and they refunded that team in full effectively giving that team no penalty for their harm. We've encountered two instances of gender bias as well with this organization. The first being prize distribution (taking from the women and giving 100% of monies to men), and then inequity in programming women's league play.