MadridFan wrote:How does this benefit Vienna? I assume they will continue under the BRYC ECNL title. Any Vienna player can currently tryout for BRYC and play on their ECNL teams already.

Correct. If two clubs are partnering but their collective offerings don’t change, it doesn’t change anything for the betterment of the players, outside of the obvious benefit of more kids experiencing rush hour beltway traffic. It is a Club Director paycheck protection program. The “No Director Left Behind” program!

England doesn’t belong on that list. They are more comparable to countries like Croatia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Uruguay. Countries that have some talent and will make a deep run in a major tournament every now and again, but not consistent favorites.