Get ready folks

Not to rain on the 2026/27 festivities.

But, a million things can change in youth soccer in a year and a half. I still put the chances of BY changing to SY at a 50/50 chance of happening even with a more clearly defined timeline.

At least we'll know more about if NCAA has blown up by that time. Which would make the change from BY to SY useless. This would be because of college purging non revenue sports. Which would essentially make USM/WNT and college players the same pool because of limited roster spots.
They already gave the green light to change in 2026…ECNL will do that 100%..maybe earlier
 
Not to rain on the 2026/27 festivities.

But, a million things can change in youth soccer in a year and a half. I still put the chances of BY changing to SY at a 50/50 chance of happening even with a more clearly defined timeline.

At least we'll know more about if NCAA has blown up by that time. Which would make the change from BY to SY useless. This would be because of college purging non revenue sports. Which would essentially make USM/WNT and college players the same pool because of limited roster spots.
USYS, U.S. Club, and AYSO have clearly signaled that they want to go back to SY. They have members on the USSF Board that were involved in the re-evaluation. This is headed to SY for most leagues in 26-27.
 
Majority will do school year in 2026. If they want true grade year or close to it, 9/1 cut off makes more sense US club runs just about every tournament and they are in line with ECNL. The text of those 2 pages from US soccer BOD meeting is ridiculous though. Make a decision based on feedback and move on with it. At least all our poor babies hearts won't be broken...yet!
How would this work for these clubs' non ECNL kids? Would there be a pool of ECNL/SY kids and then a distinct pool of Socal/BY kids? It wouldn't be that difficult to do - but is this really what would happen?

ECNL can put a cap. MLS allows up to 3 players to do biobanding to play down. ECNL can allow up to 3 Q3/Q4 players to play down in their grade team. This will not impact the club overall.
 
Fall 26 for those who want to switch. Get ready folks! The times are a changing. For some…
As popular as it is to criticize US Soccer (and I'm not excluding myself) this result is reasonable and I believe the best result possible solution. Hopefully what results from this is leagues can compete based on (among other things) what age cutoff they use. For rec leagues, they can use SY, so that rec level kids can play with their school friends. For kids/parents who see themselves playing on the national teams against international competition they can play in leagues that use BY to align with international play. ECNL can use SY to appeal to college recruiters and to take advantage of whatever is left of that pathway after the legal wrangling concludes. MLS next / GA / etc, can decide which way they want to go - align with ECNL or go head-to-head against them and remain BY. Tourneys can decide to set up their tourneys to favor BY or SY or the biggest tourneys can have separate divisions within each age group: one for BY and one for SY. Overall, US Soccer won't lose as many of the youngest players who would otherwise quit because they aren't having success at the earliest ages playing against kids 10-12 months older than them. Like all change, it will take some adjusting, but we're a big country of smart people and talented kids. It'll work out.
 
A good example to just pull the band aid off and roll this out asap
Why does anyone need to do anything at all? Teams can stay the way they are, kids born between September and December are essentially playing up if they don’t change teams. Come tryout time, if you are good you stay on the team, if not good you move down to your own school year team. This is the best approach. If they force everyone to move based on the SY, then that will create unhappy parents.
 
Tournaments can go straight to SY right away right now or wait a year. Doesn’t matter. SY teams will just have September- Dec kids “playing up” on their current teams. No one is getting disqualified.

The only way the transition is not going to be smooth is if they force people to move teams to form SY teams. Just let the tryout decide who is on what team.
 
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