The ECNL sits at the top of girls' youth soccer in the US, producing 77% of college players. The pyramid breaks into tiers: elite ECNL clubs, regional GA leagues, then NPL and grassroots programs. Players outside the top levels should target Division II or III, where recent roster cuts have pushed stronger talent.
What is the youth soccer pyramid specifically for girls soccer? Now in this video, I'm actually going to break down different levels of the ECNL, and then I'll go through the rest of the pyramid if you watch until the end. So first of all, yes, at the top of the pyramid is ECNL for girls, and that is not up for debate. As of today, 77% of girls that play college soccer come from ECNL. However, there are different levels within the ECNL. If you're playing ECNL and you're going winning playoffs or going to playoffs, that That's the top upper echelon of ECNL. These can be girls who play for Eagles or Blues or PDA. This is very high level. Then below that, you have ECNL girls who go to showcases. So they're constantly going to showcases during the year. And then you have the third tier of ECNL, which are girls who are playing ECNL but maybe don't go to any showcases. And if you are playing ECNL, for example, but you go to more showcases than an ECNL team, you might have a better chance of playing college soccer at even a Division I school. So at the top is ECNL, winning playoffs, ECNL going to playoffs, ECNL showcases. Then you have ECNL RL or GA with the same concept, going to playoffs, going to showcases, et cetera. Then you probably have NPL, NAL, or DPL. And then below that it's EDP or USU Soccer. And the truth is, if you're below the GA world or the ECNL RL world, then you should be aiming for Division III or Division II, which is still amazing, by the way. Less than 5% of girls play college soccer. But it is also to tell you, with the new roster cuts to Division I schools, It is making those levels a lot better because while most of the time the best girls would have gone to Division 1 and sat on the bench, now they cannot. So they're going to go play Division 2 and go play top academic Division 3. If you would like a list of the best clubs in your state, comment your state, for example, CA club, and I'll send you a list of clubs in your state for girls. If you want more help, give me a call. Links in the bio.
