Starting in the 2026/27 season, youth player age groups will be organized by school year (Aug 1- July 31) rather than by calendar year (Jan 1-Dec 31).

Earlier this year, the governing bodies of soccer in the US - USYS, US Club, US Soccer – made the decision to shift to the Aug 1-July 31 age group classification.

No, teams will remain under the calendar year system through the end of the 2025/26 seasonal year. 

Not exactly. While age groups will continue to be determined by birth date, the birth date window will shift from Jan- Dec to Aug-July. Players attending a grade outside of their age cohort will play in the group that corresponds to their date of birth.

While the new age group system is often referred to as "School Year" because it aligns better with school grades than the calendar year, we will use the nationwide age groupings of August 1st to July 31st date range for safety and fairness.

Yes, the age parameters will shift for Rec soccer as well, but with more flexibility through our in-house programming, players and teams shouldn’t experience much change.