ECFC’s message on next season’s age-group formation change
The message below was sent to ECFC member families on Oct. 1, 2025.
ECFC Membership,
As you’ve likely have heard, next year the governing bodies of US Club Soccer and US Youth Soccer have announced a change to the age group formation which is currently based on birth year, from Jan. 1–Dec. 31 of a given year. These organizations announced a change in how they will organize age groups from birth year to a more school-year-aligned system, grouping players players born in the Aug. 1–July 31 timeframe, beginning in next year’s 2026–27 season. (There are several reasons for this that are noted in their June 10 communication, quoted at the end of this message.)
This is a note to address ECFC’s plans to deal with this adjustment.
1. For age groups including U8–U14, we will be forming teams based on this Aug. 1–July 31 timeframe. (Note that, like always, there will be situations where a player may play up an age group if it is developmentally appropriate.)
2. For U15–U18 teams, which include freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior ages, we will be looking closely to decide if it is appropriate to try and keep rostered teams together as much as possible. We recognize teams have bonded and have chemistry, and that adjusting rosters based on these dates may be more disruptive.
Keep in mind that as with any new year of club soccer, there will be tryouts that may add players to age groups, and that rosters may be adjusted due to natural annual changes. We are committed to analyzing rosters at tryouts and looking at what would be best for each age group in handling this change.
There will be more information as we approach tryouts in 2026. These changes will not take effect until the 2026–27 season.
Below is the reasoning from US Club Soccer.
ECFC Directors
Communicaction from US Club Soccer
Why is the age group cut-off changing from January 1 (birth year ages)?
There are multiple reasons for this change.
First, the Aug. 1 age group cut-off most effectively reduces the number of “trapped players” in youth soccer and reduces negative impacts on these players at multiple stages of their career. “Trapped” players are those who, due to soccer age group cut-offs, are in an older soccer age group than their school year. Trapped players have significantly reduced competition opportunities and disrupted training experiences in 8th grade (when most of their team is in high school) and are similarly negatively impacted four years later when players from the older soccer age group, but who are still in high school, are moved down into the same soccer age group.
“Youth soccer has been talking about January 1 vs. August 1 for years,” said Mike Cullina, US Club Soccer CEO. “From my experience managing two clubs and a league in Virginia, a range of 2-5 players per team were negatively impacted by a Jan. 1 cut-off date in their eighth grade and high school senior years. US Club Soccer’s staff and board of directors regularly communicate with our leagues and clubs, and we’ve determined that that range remains accurate today.
“That’s a huge number of kids who have been adversely affected by the January 1 cut-off date. While coming to this decision has taken additional time, improving the experiences of hundreds of thousands of players was worth the extra time to gather research – particularly team rosters with graduation years and school start dates – and most importantly, listen to the youth soccer community.”
Second, an Aug. 1 age group cut-off best aligns soccer age groups with school year ages, maximizing the number of players who participate in soccer programs with their school-year friends. This alignment has a positive correlation with increased numbers of youth players entering and staying in the sport.
This decision to move to the Aug. 1 cut-off reverts to the same age group cut-off used prior to 2017, when U.S. Soccer mandated a Jan. 1-Dec. 31 timeframe. U.S. Soccer removed this mandate in late 2024, empowering its Organization Members to make the most appropriate age group formation decision for their members. US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and AYSO – the three largest youth soccer organizations in the country – have remained in lockstep in making these decisions, recognizing the importance of consistency across the landscape.
US Club Soccer believes:
An Aug. 1 age group cut-off best balances the desire to reduce both the number of “trapped” players and the number of “force-ups” in youth soccer.
A Jan. 1 age group cut-off creates the highest number of trapped players and negatively impacted youth players.
No age group cut-off will eliminate all trapped players or force-ups. States and counties throughout the country have widely different school year cut-offs, and this variance will always result in some number of trapped players or force-ups regardless of age group cut-off date.
There is no soccer developmental benefit to any specific age group cut-off, and no age group cut-off reduces concerns of relative age effect or changes the number of players impacted by relative age effect. Relative age effect is the phenomenon of players born in the first three months after an age group cut-off to be over-represented in identification programs due to early maturation compared to their age-group peers.
Age group cut-offs have no correlation or relationship with level of play or level of soccer aspiration. Various soccer age group cut-offs are used across the world in youth soccer, in both amateur and professional programs.
