We're number one! At least in recreational youth soccer.

Cincinnati has the most players of any town in the nationwide Soccer Association for Youth (SAY).

That could be because this is SAY country. SAY was founded in the Queen City in 1967. It's headquartered in Sharonville.

The soccer association accepts male and female players, ages 4 to 18, regardless of their skill levels or their schools. Rules require each player to play half of every game. SAY players attend parochial, private and public schools.

"We're strictly recreational," said Sheila Shay, SAY's national executive director. "Anybody who wants to play, plays."

For 2003, non-profit SAY teams are in 27 states and the District of Columbia.

"There are 125,000 players in SAY nationwide," Shay said. "Of that number, approximately 40,000 are in Cincinnati."

Green Bay, Wisconsin, another soccer hotbed, comes in a close second to Cincinnati.

"We're still getting in the numbers for the fall season," Shay said. "But it looks like Cincinnati will top Green Bay by a couple hundred players."