Top ECNL clubs? Not one so far. Get back to me when Hawks or SLSG or Surf or Blues or Solar move to GA. The best club from ECNL to move to GA was the Midwest Untied #80 girls club in the country. Of their teams that made ECNL playoffs (not many) I am not sure they won a single game. Not one GA club is ranked in the top 10 of clubs and only one (City) is ranked in the top 20. I am not convinced you could put an all star team of GA together and win any age group of ECNL. |
GA is going school year. Now go sit in the corner. |
This will never happen as long as MLS Acadamies exist. But you can larp all you want |
There is an entire thread that is nothing more than a pissing match between GA parents and ECNL parents. Let’s keep this pissing match between BY and SY. |
ECNL made the solid chess move with promoting SY as it fell in line with their college pathway but they were also also banking on Mlsn staying birth year, otherwise they dont benefit as much |
What if I told you that City and the different Socal clubs they play friendlies and tournaments against arent that much different. In fact depending on the age group and players on the field City or different ECNL teams can win. You think theres a big difference between #5 and #30 nationally but there isnt. Don't get so tied up in the badge. At the highest levels it doesnt matter. |
Surf G10 NL will beat City 5:0. |
Not likely to happen but good luck. |
Actuallyi take that back. Surf will schedule City to play their ECRL team in Surf Cup. But when they play City most of the players will be ECNL. Just like Legends tried to do but still lost. Basically your ECRL player will ride the bench when it matters. |
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Biobanding provides the biggest advantage for Jan-Apr kids for clubs. Too little of a benefit to bother biobanding Sep-Dec kids. |
As someone that was at both GA and ECNL playoffs this year I can tell you unequivocally, that there is a difference between the top ten and the top 30. Friendlies mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. Playoffs and open tournaments mean something. And even if the Citys of the world occasional compete with Surf or Blues the point is that there are 19 ECNL team to 1 GA team in the top 20. But the pp is correct this is not the appropriate forum for discussion. You can see on the other thread that it simply isnt a contest. And there is plenty of data to back it up. |
This has been mentioned briefly, but for all the complaints about August players playing down and being misaligned, why can’t ECNL/US Soccer firmly say this is not allowed? During the registration cycle is it that hard to generate a bubble for parents to select their kids grade level? Every parent knows the grades of every kid on the team. Would be pretty dumb to go SY and have kids teams being gutted senior year when 6-8 players chose to play in the wrong and graduate a year early. Why even entertain that when they are taking positions from kids who are actually in that grade level? Is this really that hard to police? Honest question. |
I think the more aggressive pro-GA folks said next year would be the year for bigger clubs to switch (maybe contracts are involved, who knows?). As far as rankings, which ones and when did we get an official system endorsed by all in an ecosystem where the top leagues really don't play each other? Seems like they are done by websites or twitter users with a business interest where their readers are also potential customers instead of objective observers. Regardless, ECNL for girls historically and currently clearly is the stronger league. Still, the nonstop punching down on GA here is telling and continues to be quite unnecessary. I end by saying the whole thing and how it all works could change in a blink of an eye. Big time changes are brewing for all of youth sports. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/business/youth-sports-private-equity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Vk8.pqW_.jvxY2xIKFGaW&smid=url-share |
We all saw what PE did to TSJ. I hope this doesn’t become a trend. If we think soccer is P2P now, one can only imagine if PE gets more involved. |