US Club Soccer announces new collaboration between NPL and ECNL RL

CHARLESTON, S.C. – US Club Soccer announced a formal competitive pathway across its leagues and a new postseason collaboration between the ECNL Regional League and the National Premier Leagues (NPL), beginning with the 2026-27 season.

While the top tiers of US Club Soccer’s competition pathway are the club-based ECNL and ECNL RL, the team-based NPL is the top level of team-based play in the pathway. Established in 2011, the NPL today consists of 18 member leagues and more than 3,000 teams throughout the country. Over the past five seasons, nearly 230 clubs with multiple top-performing teams in the NPL have been promoted to ECNL RL or ECNL competition. From the second level (ECNL RL) to the top (ECNL), 37 boys clubs and 21 girls clubs have made the jump in the past four cycles.

The success of this pathway will be enhanced by a new postseason competition in the 2026-27 postseason, in which NPL qualifiers will compete against ECNL RL qualifiers. Details of this postseason structure will be announced in the coming weeks.

The release of US Club Soccer’s competition pathway also coincides with U.S. Soccer’s recently announced Pathways Strategy, an initiative committed to making the game easier to navigate, more accessible and more supportive. To that effect, US Club Soccer welcomes other organizations in the youth soccer ecosystem to collaborate in this vision, and has had positive discussions with many other member organizations.

“At its core, this work is about clarifying pathways – helping players, families, teams and clubs understand where they are, where they can play, and how performance and development are recognized over time,” said Mike Cullina, US Club Soccer CEO. “We also want to reiterate our commitment to the U.S. Soccer pathways working group to be even more inclusive with other organizations that we know can bring tremendous value to establishing even greater clarity to the American youth soccer environment.”

“The leagues represented in this pathway are working tirelessly to create the structure and opportunities that ensure players and clubs are playing at the right level against the right competition to maximize their potential and have the best possible experience,” said Christian Lavers, ECNL President. “This pathway and the new postseason structure will help to recognize and reward performance and merit over time at all levels, and will continue the great and growing collaboration between ECNL, US Club Soccer and the NPL.”