As previously announced in September 2015, US Club Soccer has implemented the U.S. Soccer Federation’s birth-year registration mandates.

This means that all youth competitions beginning Aug. 1, 2016 will be based on age group cut-offs of January 1 for each age group. Due to additional interpretative changes by U.S. Soccer since this announcement in how competition age groups are labeled, US Club Soccer and other sanctioning bodies are now clarifying the age group structures for the current season.

• US Club Soccer uses the following birth-year “labels” for competition, based upon the season in which competition ends. For example:
  • Players born from January 1, 1998 – December 31, 1998 will be labeled as Under-19s.
  • Players born from January 1, 1999 – December 31, 1999 will be labeled as Under-18s.
  • Players born from January 1, 2000 – December 31, 2000 will be labeled as Under-17s.
  • For any birth year, the age group “label” will be determined by subtracting the year in which the players participating in the competition were born from the year in which competition ends.

   

The change to birth year age groups and to the “labels” for naming each age group have been made by U.S. Soccer. You may view a matrix here.

US Club Soccer, along with other members of the U.S. Soccer Federation, have been collaborating with each other to help ensure that these changes forced by the U.S. Soccer mandates are implemented as efficiently and smoothly as possible. This collaboration of youth members is ongoing, and each member is continuing to provide feedback and recommendations.

Clubs may continue to organize their teams for competition with players of any age younger than the age group cut-off.

ABOUT US CLUB SOCCER:

A National Association member of the U.S. Soccer Federation, US Club Soccer is an organization committed to the development and support of soccer clubs in the United States.

US Club Soccer offers youth and adult registration, league- and cup-based competition platforms at the recreational and competitive levels, as well as a variety of other programming, including the Olympic Development Program-sanctioned id2 Program and Player Development Programs.

Through US Club Soccer, all of a club’s programs – recreational, competitive and adult – are able to be united under one organizational umbrella, creating a “members for life” culture within each club. US Club Soccer is sponsored by Nike.