"I look at disruption as a positive...."

Joe Mazulla, NBA World Champion Coach, Boston Celtics

Beginning in the 2026-2027 soccer season, most United States Soccer associations will begin to classify player age divisions differently.

Instead of classifying all players born in the calendar year as one age group, the new classification method creates age divisions which more closely resemble the school year age divisions. 

3 KEYS FOR ATHLETES & PARENTS:
👉No impact the Spring 2026 Season. 
👉No action for you to take now. 
👉You decide the "age division" you will play, in 2026-27, not WSA. 

CONTEXT FOR PARENTS: 

▶️WSA's technical staff have met for the past 18 months and reviewed all WSA athlete date of births, and interfaced this to a larger picture of what is a best possible scenario for athletes & teams. Coaches are being assigned to teams for the 2026-27 seasonal year with the age transition mind. 

▶️There is a goal to create as much stability, consistency, and social unity within team formation as possible during this transitional year.  

▶️Coaches and Coaching Directors will provide insight and information helping athletes and families foresee the 2026-2027 picture of team formation.  

▶️There is an understanding that the final outcome of team formation in 2026 will be more fluid and dynamic than in normal years.  

▶️Ultimately the athlete and parent stakeholder make the decision.  The process for team formation and player placement will still include open sessions, tryouts, communication on an offer to join a team, and ultimately an athlete and parent decision.  This is the SAME PROCESS as in the past.

▶️WSA's Technical Staff will generally encourage athletes in the U15 and younger divisions to consider playing within their new age group division.  This is not a requirement or mandate, but a general encouragement. 

▶️WSA will create an opportunity for players to declare to be a "hybrid" player, which participates in the Fall season with a chosen age division, with an option to intra-club transfer prior to the Spring season. This allows the athlete to experience the impact of the age change, and to flex to a new age division if there is a developmental reason to do so.  More information on this coming soon or ask your Director of Coaching.

** U18 and U19 age divisions will be COMBINED per normal into a U19 age teams.
This syncs with ECNL, NPL and OPC league rules. 
EX: In the 2026-2027 seasonal year, all players born Aug 1, 2008 thru July 31, 2009 and all players born Aug 1, 2007 thru July 31, 2008, will be eligible for the WSA U19 teams.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What are the new age divisions?  

        A: See chart above 👆 

Q: When do the age group changes go into effect? 
     
     A: This will begin with the 2026-2027 soccer season.

• The first time teams will be officially formed under these guidelines will be during the May/June 2026 "player placement" window. 
• Players will register beginning in May 2026 under these new guidelines. 
• August 1, 2026 is when the next soccer "annual calendar" begins, and this is when teams will first "compete" under these guidelines.

Q: Is registration and the new age groups based on your grade in school? 

        A: No it is still based on the athlete's date of birth. However, the new age division cut-offs are meant to bring alignment to the school calendar and will do so for most likely 90% or more of the athletes. 

Q: Do athletes starting school a year later or earlier get placed into the age division of their classmates? 

        A: No. The age divisions are strictly by "date of birth" (DOB). A child held back a year in school or starting a year earlier in school, could potentially be in a team setting with players one year behind or ahead in school. 

Q: Will WSA adopt these changes?

        A: Yes.  WSA Soccer belongs to US Club Soccer which has elected to adopt these changes.  Click here to read more from US Club Soccer.

Q:  Will all clubs adopt these changes?

        A: All clubs participating in OPC, NPL, ECNL, ECNL-RL, USL-Y, ACS and Unified League will in fact adopt these changes.  The majority of WSA athletes participate in these leagues. 

Q: Which associations nationally have adapted these changes?

        A: The major youth soccer associations have all synchronized their support of this age group model change and timeline to adapt as the 2026-2027 season: 

• US Club Soccer (USCS),
• US Youth Soccer (USYS),
• American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO)

* WSA Soccer belongs to US Club Soccer (USCS) which supports ECNL, ECNL-RL, NPL, and OPC leagues. 

Q: Does this affect the 2025-2026 season? 

        A: No. This season (2025-2026) continues with the current age group model. 

Q: Will WSA enforce that players play in the new age division? 

        A: No. The choice ultimately resides with the parent & athlete stakeholders.
The WSA coaching staff will provide guidance and influence of the proper decision based on several circumstances. 

Q: Can players play up an age group? 

        A: Yes.  This will still be allowed.   

Q: Does WSA provide guidance on "playing up"?

        A: WSA cautions that players should consider the implications of playing up could mean competing against athletes now 2 years older, instead of 1 year older. 

• EX: A player from this year's WSA 2014, U12 team, born January 10, 2015, qualifies for next year's WSA 2015, U12 team.  If this player chooses to "stick with the current team and play up" for WSA 2014, then in 2026-2027 this player will now compete against teams with players born in Aug-Dec of 2013 who previously competed on a U13 team.  This player is "in effect" playing up two years.
   
• EX: A player from WSA's 2014 team born December 29, 2014, will now qualify to play in 2026-2027 as a U12, in the WSA 2015 team.  If the player elects to "play up" the player will be competing against players born August 1, 2013, these players are up to 18 months older.

Q:  Which model does WSA prefer?

        A: WSA soccer leadership prefers the new proposed "school-year" model and believes it is the "right" model.  WSA soccer has continued to propose and advocate that the "school-year" model is the best model. 

Q:  Are there drawbacks to this new model?  

        A: WSA Soccer also recognizes that transitions such as this can be disruptive towards team continuity, relational consistencies, and may produce misinformation or misunderstanding amongst parents and players. 

Q: Are there positives to the "pure birth year" model? And why change to the "school-year" model? 

       A: Yes the "pure birth year" model allows easier ID of "national team" players.  This impacts less than 1% of the upper echelon 1% of the entire demographic.  The majority of players are scouted for placement into school, university or pro-am routes, which would rely on "year of graduation".  

Assimilating athletes across the competitive spectrum that serve the 99.99% makes more sense, while adapting our National ID Centers towards filtering players for national team selection is logical. 

The change is from years of feedback US Soccer has received on the complications created by moving away from a "school year" calendar, such as U18 teams comprised of juniors and graduating seniors, and U15 teams comprised of 8th graders in middle school and 9th graders beginning high school soccer. 

Q: Will this disrupt teams? 

        A: Player movement between teams is expected.  

Q: Can older WSA teams stay "in tact"? 

        A: Yes.  WSA staff began meeting in 2024 regarding this change.  It was determined at that time that some of the older (u15+ teams) may be in a position to remain "in tact" due to longevity of social relationships, friendships, and synergy that is essential to team success, achievement, and best outcomes.  WSA will NOT force teams to break-up. 

Point of clarification: Teams participating in traveling national and regional leagues, such as ECNL, NPL, ECNL-RL, WSA teams are still formed with certain parameters in mind, such as roster size for team depth, player quality for competition integrity, and etc...  There will NOT be a single way to answer this question to encompass all 200 WSA teams.  Each team's history, context, and subcontext will direct the best practices for that team. 

Q: Can younger teams stay "in tact"? 

        A: Yes. It is possible.  WSA recommends that younger aged players consider both near-term and mid-term as well as long term player development and team development goals.  

Q: How does this impact recently re-shuffled ECNL team rosters? 

       A: WSA's initial season in 2025-26 of adding a GIRLS ECNL platform created a disruption of continuity. We did our best to communicate to those athletes and families to expect a further transition and disruption in 2026 due to the age group change.  Athletes and families should expect some changes in 2026-2027 that will disrupt some of the continuity.  The goal beyond 2026-27 will be to remain adaptive to the external culture we are a part of, while working hard to establish consistency and continuity in alignment with our core values of "FAMILY" and "TEAM" moving forward. 

WSA staff reviewed athlete DOB's during the 2025 team formation process. This data was used to forecast future coaching staff assignments to create as much consistency and continuity as possible.  WSA's Girls ECNL program is in a great position to transition through the age group changes for 2026-2027. 

Q: What is WSA's "hybrid model" for U15 and younger players navigating the age group change? 

        A: WSA's "hybrid model" allows players to choose their team during the May-June window of 2026, and be given an opportunity to elect a corrective transfer during the winter window of Dec 15, 2026 - Jan 15, 2027.   This allows players to trial the experience in the Fall 2026 without full permanency attached to the decision. 

It is important to note that team's provide the platform for the athlete.  So player transfers will be considered within the frame of team success as well as individual success. 

Q:  Why is this new school age group model preferred?

        A: 3 Primary Reasons: 

1. Athletes can participate with their classmates which creates better early age (6-12 years) developmental outcomes and better team retention (proven by studies).  
2. Syncs with college recruitment and identification since scouts can observe players in their natural "year of graduation".
3. Eliminates significant challenges in multiple age divisions:
   • U16 teams comprised of 8th and 9th graders, with a portion of the team participating in a Spring HS Season and portion of the team not participating in HS Soccer 
   • U19 comprised of 11th and 12th graders, with a portion of the team about to graduate and move to college, while a portion is in a prime recruitment period for college
   • U19 teams in which half of the team graduates, leaving behind half of a team required to reform with new players, creating continuity and consistency challenges