If ECNL moves to SY, then all the ECNL teams/clubs will go SY, as most the matches they play are against other ECNL teams. Not doing SY, would put them at a disadvantage in league, showcase, and playoff instances. They will forego Surf Cup, and all the other national/local non-ECNL events. MLS Next won't bother going to those tournaments either as the only solid competition they will have is against other MLS Next clubs. That's something they get with MLS Next events (e.g., MLS Next Fest). I agree with @Carlsbad7 -- I think tournaments as we know them today will pewter out and more walled gardens will be formed. Personally I think either SY or BY needs to mandated. I don't really care which one, but this ambiguity is going to have a bigger impact than what most are thinking.
Get ready folks
- Thread starter soccer4us
- Start date
If ECNL moves to SY, then all the ECNL teams/clubs will go SY, as most the matches they play are against other ECNL teams. Not doing SY, would put them at a disadvantage in league, showcase, and playoff instances. They will forego Surf Cup, and all the other national/local non-ECNL events. MLS Next won't bother going to those tournaments either as the only solid competition they will have is against other MLS Next clubs. That's something they get with MLS Next events (e.g., MLS Next Fest). I agree with @Carlsbad7 -- I think tournaments as we know them today will pewter out and more walled gardens will be formed. Personally I think either SY or BY needs to mandated. I don't really care which one, but this ambiguity is going to have a bigger impact than what most are thinking.
If it happens, it would be for Fall 25 but that's a massive decision to go against US soccer. I know the main us club leagues are ready to do this so weren't happy with US soccer's release. I still think they will do it but as long as all of us club soccer did, it's doable since it would include all tournaments. Hopefully something final comes out soon after some meetings taking place.
The disadvantage from a 5 month offset isn’t enough to kill participation in local events.
Take a look at the schedule for Silver Lakes last week. The top ECNL teams were all playing up by 12 months, trying to find tough games. They’re not going to run and hide if they have to play up by 5 months.
PurpleCrush
BRONZE
They aren’t doing it for Fall 2025
davidnunez
BRONZE
I'm not sure I'd put that showcase on the same level as Surf Cup. Nonetheless, the playing up situation there was more so on the girls side. Didn't see a ton of play-up teams on the boys side. Keep in mind moving to SY would impact ALL ECNL clubs. Sure the top clubs/teams can easily afford to play up -- but I think that's a pretty small minority in the whole ECNL landscape.
Clubs pick and choose the tournaments they enter their teams in very specifically. They know the club sponsoring the tournament is going to make $$$. What this means is most of the time attendance is reciprocal. Meaning if club A attends club Bs tournament club B will attend club As tournament. Big tournaments like Surf Cup are an exception.
If SY cutoff dates are all over the place and some leagues are BY. It will effectively kill cross league tournament events. The SY leagues won't want the hassle of dealing with each other and the BY leagues won't want to compete against older teams + vice versa SY teams won't want to rerack to participate in BY tournaments.
Keep in mind all US Soccer has done is stated that leagues are free to organize as SY if they want to. ECNL (US Club Soccer) has been clear that they want SY. MLS doesn't care what other leagues do. GA and DPL haven't said what they plan to do.
On top of everything else NWSL Next and NCAA blowing up are still waiting in the wings to occur.
My prediction is the craziness will continue to get worse.
This was my impression as well, but admittedly that perception is based on the premise that ECNL teams are generally playing at a higher level than other teams in their age groups (eg: SoCal flight 1 teams). I know my son's club NPL teams do that regularly, and I figured ECNL would be the same, but perhaps if they are not actually better than "normal" flight 1 teams, playing up by ~6 months would be a significant enough imposition to discourage participation in BY tournaments.
I think the thing to remember is MLS Next, ECNL, and GA all have their own national events. Technically they really don't even need to bother with events outside of their own walls. I think this would be terrible for the ecosystem though. I think the potential mismatch between BY and SY could build those walls higher -- perhaps starting at even younger ages, etc.
This does seem like a risk, but not a significantly larger risk than what's already happening, at least in my limited perception.
There are already invite-only tournaments, closed leagues, league-specific national events, exclusionary ecosystems, etc. If/when the team within those spheres want to play "friendlies" outside of them, they arrange them ad hoc, playing up as desired. If you're intimating that they may thumb their noses as "pleb teams" even more, I don't know that this would have much of a material impact on the other 95% of the soccer ecosystem (club or otherwise).
Would it be better for US Soccer if there was more cross-competition and exposure? Of course. But the exclusive and exclusionary clubs and leagues are already fracturing that ideal, before any consideration of a BY/SY division. In my opinion, as long as the other 95% of youth soccer stays consistent and aligned, it doesn't really matter what those other exclusive clubs and leagues choose to do or mandate for those teams, and if their choices make them even more disconnected, I'd say that's not a huge loss for the rest of US youth soccer. They will always be able to play with the rest of the teams if they choose to.
Exactly...
Consider this, what if GA chose to stay BY. The next logical thing for GA clubs to do is take their non GA teams out of Socal and create their own BY defined lower level and youngers BY leagues to feed into GA.
This would lower Socal registrations by probably close to half and bring GA/ECNL turf wars all the way down to the littles.
Doubt it. GA still wants to appeal to the college route for girls. Besides...all of the kids that sign up for their 1st year of soccer will prefer to play with the friends...so will lean SY. Very likely that rec programs will switch to SY for that reason. The 'all star's that feed into club will mostly be born Sept-Dec. Parents of Jan-July birthdays (that struggle in rec against Sept-Dec birthdays) will think their kid isn't great at soccer...so they are not going to sign up for club. RAE in action. If rec goes SY, I don't think BY club programs will be very successful in a few years.
No recruiters don't really care about all the same grade on the field at the same time. All they care about is identifying top talent. Just like it works now.
GA Clubs could easily sell BY as a way to the pros. Also many GA clubs are also MLS Next which means Socal would also lose all the boys as well.
I guess. If they run their own rec program...and the rec program stays BY.
This is already happening, perhaps in anticipation of this change with MLS x2 in CalNorth. It starts at U11. I have zero doubt this new league has impacted NorCal ever so slightly.
What's the relationship with rec and club here? I don't think clubs actively recruit from rec these days, do they? I figured it was mostly parents just trying to find something "more" for their kids and that's how they into this mess
That is why ECNL partners with NorCal.
Well that happened before the whole X2 thing and the relationship is really only deep on the boys side along with ECNL-RL/NPL, but your point is still valid. We could see a scenario up here where the MLS Next clubs stick with BY and build their own ecosystem and NorCal/ECNL go SY. I don't know if NorCal has it in the though, as that might force a shift over to X2.
Most clubs recruit the 5-6 year olds from rec. which is usually the rec ‘all stars’. For example, the 2018s and 2019s BY.What's the relationship with rec and club here? I don't think clubs actively recruit from rec these days, do they? I figured it was mostly parents just trying to find something "more" for their kids and that's how they into this mess
Most kids play at least 1-2 seasons of rec. kid starts dominating rec, they are put on the all star team, and club coach says your kid is awesome..need to play club to nurture his/her talent.
This got a bit skewed during Covid, at least for us locally. Basically, AYSO was super liability-averse, and delayed restarting their program for about a year and a half after it was demonstrably "safe" to do so. This caused a lot of parents, myself included, who were looking for some way to keep their kids active in sports, to look at clubs, and the club registrations exploded as a result. See also the notes about AYSO suffering now, in part as a direct result of their actions a few years ago, when they prioritized their own liability paranoia over the well-being of the kids.What's the relationship with rec and club here? I don't think clubs actively recruit from rec these days, do they? I figured it was mostly parents just trying to find something "more" for their kids and that's how they into this mess
Our local club has never recruited from AYSO/rec, as far as I know; the exodus of kids to club was a self-inflicted wound from AYSO. It has only persisted and grown due to word of mouth, and bad feelings within this generation of parents toward AYSO, in my perception (it also didn't help that AYSO now requires 6+ different legal agreements just to sign up, and even more to volunteer, and has always treated parents like servants who should be grateful for any scraps, but while that is frustrating, I don't think it was the main factor here).
Code
GOLD
Surf Cup is run by a very pro ECNL orginization. Most likely, they would stick with ECNL rules, and all others would have to shift thier rosters to participate. It wouls likely become an ECNL heavy event, which would not be a benifit to other leagues. Same scenario with Silverlakes amd Legends.