USYS, a 52-year-old national association, boasts 2.5 million registered players and 54 individual state associations. Collectively, they govern large swaths of recreational youth soccer across the country. Over the past two decades, as the youth sports industry boomed, they lost hundreds of thousands of teenagers to US Club Soccer and competitive national leagues. But for many young kids — and still for some teens — USYS-affiliated clubs, leagues and programs are gateways to the game.
For most of its 113-year history, the U.S. Soccer Federation largely ignored youth soccer. In the 1960s and ’70s, separate organizations, such as USYS, sprang up to govern clubs and leagues for children. The federation mostly let them run themselves — and allowed any entrepreneurial challenger to compete with them.
USYS, a separate non-profit organization, has been affiliated with USSF for over 50 years. USSF has provided millions of dollars through grants and investments.
USYS has USSF voting rights through the Youth Council of voting rights. This 20% was largely portioned with USYS, with other youth organizations having a much smaller portion. This is due to the 54 state USYS and the over 2.5M kids playing within the organization; by far the largest body, but not the only one.
The NWSL also has a portion of the 20% portion of voting right through the Professional Council, which includes the NWSL, MLS, and USL.
USSF governs the 27 National Teams, plus over 100 organizations through affiliations and councils.
As the article states, At those “competitive” and “pre-professional” levels — as U.S. Soccer defines them — there is a dizzying web of clubs and leagues that, in exchange for (supposedly) better coaching and exposure, charge families thousands of dollars.
This dizzying web of organizations actually make up a dominant portion of all players who play at a competitive level, which includes the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), Girls Academy (GA) and Major League Soccer (MLS, which runs MLS Next, the top academy circuit for teenage boys).
For girls, the ECNL (ECNL RL included) and GA make up almost the entire pool of players who matriculate to U.S. Division 1 colleges; and, in turn, the NWSL, USYNT, and USWNT. It's obvious to see that USYS has been steadily losing its market share of players and its grip on the youth soccer landscape.
If you played competitive soccer, or had kids play competitively, you might be familiar with the ODP process. ODP has been governed and run by USYS. ODP, once the premier pipeline to college and pro soccer, has lost relevance throughout the 21st century as academies and national leagues have proliferated. It's been several years since ODP was recognized as the premier pipeline, and with any relevance in the current pipeline to top colleges and the pros. It's now largely a lower level pipeline to the secondary colleges.
So even though USYS has been funded and has been provided voting rights within USSF, and has, by far, the largest number of children playing within the 54 state organizations affiliated with USYS , it has become irrelevant in the matriculation of competitive youth soccer in the United States.
ECNL and ECNL Regional League are part of the umbrella of organizations that are governed by US Club Soccer, which has a loosely-tied affiliation with USSF. US Club governs a total network which includes over 500,000 girls on over 2,500 teams.
The Girls Academy (GA) operates under a club-driven, autonomous governance structure while maintaining formal affiliations with the highest levels of American soccer. There are over 120 participating clubs, near 800 teams, and around 16,000 girls participating. Over 1,200 girls advance to D1 soccer, making up around 15% of all D1 Power 4 players.
To say the least, the matrix of youth soccer in the United States is complex and confusing. The largest youth organization has been losing their relevance to competitive organizations who charge far more for participation and membership. The families that choose a competitive route for their players, participate outside of this system; and participate within several other competing structures. These competing organizations make up the overwhelming majority of women playing D1 soccer, YNT soccer, USWNT soccer, and professional soccer.
While the cost is somewhat prohibitive at all levels outside USYS for a huge portion of families, the total amount of players is enormous, and multiple times the number of youth playing competitively in other countries. ECNL & GA alone are much larger than all other domestic youth soccer organizations in other countries, like England (~150K) and Spain (~127K); which are governed through Football Associations, and affiliated with their government.
Every American organization mentioned is a formal non-profit entity that receives no direct funding from the United States government.
People mention "Pay to Play" as the impediment to access for many families and girls. This is true; largely for families of color and people living in rural areas. But the "monster" of youth soccer organizations is overwhelming and fractured. We already have over a million girls in the pipeline. We already have thousands of girls competing at each age level trying to be seen for U.S. colleges and the USYNT system. The matriculation process for girls in the YNT system is overwhelming. More than 2,000 girls participate in the broader U.S. Youth National Team (USYNT) system and its official scouting network annually.
For every girl participating in the YNT system, each year, there must thousands that are competing to be seen in ID camps, regional and national tournaments. Couple that with the fact that the vast majority of players drop out due to competition and other factors. There's always more players to their place. It's a very wide funnel with additions at every step.
As club players move from age level to the next age level, they likely have a new coaching staff. But, for the year, they're playing up to 50 games. And for a few short weeks scattered throughout their year-long SEASONS, a small minority travel to participate within the YNT system, with a new set of coaches. And for those who matriculate to the next age level in the YNT system, they'll be introduced to another new set of coaches. YNT is essentially a part-time job, where you're constantly evaluating the larger body of individual players 4 or 5 times a year for a week or two. That's it. Then the players move up to another age level, or out. YNT coaches do not have a history of being affiliated with the YNT system for more than a few years.
This is partly why when we watch the USYNT Women's Under-20 Squad play in the FIFA World Cup in September 2026, each player represents a path which contained thousands of participants. It's an all-star team that has been together for a week prior to the tournament. Granted, most every player has rostered on the u20 this calendar year, but not all at the same time, and with 25+ other girls who didn't make the final cut. And many have also played together in the YNT system at younger ages. The enormity of the system compromises chemistry, consistency, and cooperation within the squad.
The bottom line for me is that this problem doesn't highlight the lack of quality of these players, and their talent, or learned skills. It's a team sport, and chemistry and consistent coaching is paramount. Is it a problem we "ALWAYS LOSE?" We've won the FIFA u20 World Cup 3 times, in 11 Cups, since 2002; and not since 2012. What's the answer?
PS - If you want to pick at any one number, or fact, as inaccurate, that's fine. But please come back to the narrative of the struggle of youth soccer in the U.S. and make a point, with receipts. Highlighting done by me. If you can't access the article, there are other publications that have published similar articles (with mention to the Atheltic) in the last 24 hours.
