It was never an idea that made any logical sense.

When your West VA team is compromised of half kids that live in sterling, train in sterling but play in West VA? Like what are you expecting?

Sterling having a partnership with West VA and not Revolution, Loudoun, Herndon, Great Falls, Vienna shows you what kind of people run that club.

Sterling girls play under Herndon, Sterling boys play under West Virginia.. so what is Sterling?

Anonymous wrote:They had decent AD teams. And 2012 HG was ok. They won a few games.

The 2012 hg has won 2/19 games and is ranked 15/17. That is no where close to "ok". Complete delusion.

Anonymous wrote:Did NVA hurt their ability to recruit? Where do most of the players live? What do they mean that the players will continue to have a competitive pathway next year?

Here’s the rest of the email.


2026-27 Programming
We are excited to move forward with a structure that we believe is better aligned with our players, families, and long-term vision:
Continued competition in top national and regional leagues, including National 1 League (EDP) and NCSL.
Expansion into the United Soccer League pathway for the 2026–27 season, including:
USL Academy
USL Youth
The USL ecosystem provides a comprehensive pathway across elite youth, pre-professional, and professional levels on both the men’s and women’s sides. Locally, professional clubs such as Loudoun United FC and DC Power FC (women) reflect the strength and accessibility of this system within the DMV region.
The USL Academy platform, in particular, is designed for high-level high school aged players, and college athletes, offering a pre-professional environment that mirrors many of the standards our players are accustomed to, while providing flexibility that better fits our market and player base.

USL Youth serves as the foundation of the pathway for elite youth players, progressing into the USL Academy (U20 pre-professional level), and ultimately into the professional tiers of the USL ecosystem.
Regional Development Program
As part of this transition, we will be concluding our Regional Development Program, which was originally designed to provide players in the Eastern Panhandle region access to opportunities within the West Virginia Soccer MLS NEXT ecosystem.
We thank the players and families of the affiliate clubs who participated in the program.

Did NVA hurt their ability to recruit? Where do most of the players live? What do they mean that the players will continue to have a competitive pathway next year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like WV lost MLS Next for BOTH HG and AD next year. Families were just told this week …after tryouts are over across clubs and offers accepted.

Anyone know why they lost both and didn’t just get demoted? For all the families impacted, what are you going to do? Timing couldn’t be worse.

They are a glorified rec team. They should have been demoted.

You’re the type of parent that brings toxicity to the soccer forum. Does this somehow make you feel better about your own player?

Some age groups had good AD teams. DS played with some of the 2008/2009 kids and there are some really great players among them I feel badly for those with a year left in HS who hope to play college. This is not good timing. For those naysayers, there are kids on that team with college interest and kids do get recruited who play that level.

Anonymous wrote:Looks like WV lost MLS Next for BOTH HG and AD next year. Families were just told this week …after tryouts are over across clubs and offers accepted.

Anyone know why they lost both and didn’t just get demoted? For all the families impacted, what are you going to do? Timing couldn’t be worse.

They are a glorified rec team. They should have been demoted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it’s ridiculous how diluted it has become. every team in the area now has mlsnext2 as an option. dcsc (why?), ppa (why?) and the only reason they gave Frederick the full program under w va is bc mls wants a team in every state. The dev academy was exclusive. you had to prove you belonged there. it took sac pipeline and the bay’s to merge to form armour just to keep dev academy in bmore. fast forward to 2026 now you have mlsnext option every corner.

How does clubs having MLS Next AD dilute anything? It's the same clubs. It's no different than any other league that existed. The top tier is MLS Academies and then MLS Next and ECNL.

Less than 10% of the DMV teams are top shelf, what difference do the rest matter if your trying to stack them against one another. They are all also rans for goodness sake. Let then enjoy the game and their teammates

Anonymous wrote:Hey please post the email or social media posts as proof they lost MLS NEXT.

Dear West Virginia Soccer Families,

We wanted to share an important update regarding our programming and the pathway for our players moving forward.
After discussions with MLS NEXT, West Virginia Soccer will not be renewing with MLS NEXT for the upcoming season. This decision was centered on broader alignment around structure, geography, and our long-term development priorities specifically in the Eastern Panhandle.

There will be no disruption to current team placements through the remainder of this season, and all players will continue to have a clear and competitive pathway for the 2026–27 season.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it’s ridiculous how diluted it has become. every team in the area now has mlsnext2 as an option. dcsc (why?), ppa (why?) and the only reason they gave Frederick the full program under w va is bc mls wants a team in every state. The dev academy was exclusive. you had to prove you belonged there. it took sac pipeline and the bay’s to merge to form armour just to keep dev academy in bmore. fast forward to 2026 now you have mlsnext option every corner.

How does clubs having MLS Next AD dilute anything? It's the same clubs. It's no different than any other league that existed. The top tier is MLS Academies and then MLS Next and ECNL.

I agree. This feels like humble bragging 101 especially if PP is functionally complaining about how good their AD team is compared to new entrants. Meanwhile, AD isn't even the top tier, which normally doesn't matter unless you are complaining about quality of comp. Smh

Hey please post the email or social media posts as proof they lost MLS NEXT.

Anonymous wrote:it’s ridiculous how diluted it has become. every team in the area now has mlsnext2 as an option. dcsc (why?), ppa (why?) and the only reason they gave Frederick the full program under w va is bc mls wants a team in every state. The dev academy was exclusive. you had to prove you belonged there. it took sac pipeline and the bay’s to merge to form armour just to keep dev academy in bmore. fast forward to 2026 now you have mlsnext option every corner.

How does clubs having MLS Next AD dilute anything? It's the same clubs. It's no different than any other league that existed. The top tier is MLS Academies and then MLS Next and ECNL.

it’s ridiculous how diluted it has become. every team in the area now has mlsnext2 as an option. dcsc (why?), ppa (why?) and the only reason they gave Frederick the full program under w va is bc mls wants a team in every state. The dev academy was exclusive. you had to prove you belonged there. it took sac pipeline and the bay’s to merge to form armour just to keep dev academy in bmore. fast forward to 2026 now you have mlsnext option every corner.

You'd assume by keeping the best AD kids and adding the HG ones, they'd be quite strong in AD. Typically clubs with no HG are a pita to face.

Probably some mix of ego and money involved rather than pure demotion. Maybe they are trying for ECNL RL to shore up the gap.

They had decent AD teams. And 2012 HG was ok. They won a few games.