Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on league schedules, isn't MLS Next and ECNL two different commitments?

For the boys, I believe MLSNext has a lot more games.

They do. Roughly 40% more per season.

Not quite true. League games yes. But ECNL has way more showcases (clubs can attend 3-4 a year (x3 games an event) than MLSN.

MLsN is adding a tier 2 which they say will have more events but who knows.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on league schedules, isn't MLS Next and ECNL two different commitments?

For the boys, I believe MLSNext has a lot more games.

They do. Roughly 40% more per season.

Anonymous wrote:Based on league schedules, isn't MLS Next and ECNL two different commitments?

For the boys, I believe MLSNext has a lot more games.

Based on league schedules, isn't MLS Next and ECNL two different commitments?

Anonymous wrote:OP here, DS is a u12, looking in Northern VA. Appreciate all the insight!

That doesn’t narrow it down much, lol. There are 4 ECNL team in NOVA and 2 MLSN in NOVA. If you’re in a club that either has ECNL or MLSN for U13 or feeds into those leagues for U13, they already know your kid presumably and have already made a decision about your kid. The ID session is a formality in such cases good or bad. If your kid is trying out for a club other than your current club (or the ECNL/MLSN club your club feeds into) and your kid hasn’t already been in contact with them to possibly get on their radar, you need to do so pronto bc otherwise it’s just gonna be hard to break into these clubs, even for U13 when ECNL/MLSN start) unless your kid is super amazing. That’s just my experience but pretty sure most would say the about the same. Good luck.

OP here, DS is a u12, looking in Northern VA. Appreciate all the insight!

OP, was age group and clubs are you asking about? If you’re not currently a U12 trying out for U13, it’s a lot harder to make a new club if you’re not already at that club or on that club’s radar (truthfully it’s even harder if you’re at that club now but on a 2nd or lower team, because your kid has already been pegged as a lower level player and it is just hard to dig out of that hole).

Anonymous wrote:Top players may receive an offer on the same day during an ID session.

Pretty much. Because they’ve probably already practiced with the clubs beforehand and are known to the club. Or the ID session is just a formality. Some players don’t even need to show up to an ID session, they’ve already got an offer.

Top players may receive an offer on the same day during an ID session.

You're gonna inevitably have overlapping ID sessions, as most clubs in our areas MLSN and ECNL have tryouts on at least one of the same days. Sometimes they're all on the same day and they recommend you going to as many as possible. So you need to probably avoid trying out at every possible club. You need to focus on the ones your kids actually wants to play at (and where they have a realistic chance of making the team). If you're not having your kid trying out at clubs where they are known (either they play at that club already or you've been invited to practice with them already), you're shooting your kid in the foot by trying trying to make one of every club's tryout.

Welcome to the 2025 youth soccer hunger games! It's not standardized and clubs are in competition with each other. They will want to get you to commit as soon as possible, sometimes within 24 hours. You can ask for more time. If you are a top player, you can take as much time as you need. Clubs will give top players offers first, waiting to see who commits or leaves, before making offers to more players. Clubs will move up their ID sessions to jump ahead of other clubs.

I think it really depends on the club, so you probably would get better information if you say which ones you're asking about. But in our experience, the initial round of offers go out after the first ID session for the players they absolutely want. Then there is a second round after ID sessions conclude. And then they fill in the rest usually by a date-certain that is within a month or so of ID sessions starting.So if ID sessions start in March, final decisions aremade by early April.

Looks like ID days for top level teams are being announced and occuring within the next month or so. How quickly do clubs usually send out offers afterwards? Concerned with the overlap if DS is trying out at multiple clubs.