US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and AYSO have announced an adjustment to the previously announced age group cut-off decision. While the age group formation is currently based on a Jan. 1-Dec. 31 timeframe (“birth year”), these organizations announced in March an anticipated change to Sept. 1-Aug. 31 to be effective as of the 2026-27 season. Now, after additional information and feedback, we are revising that to an Aug. 1-July 31 timeframe. The implementation timeframe of each Organization Member’s 2026-27 season/registration year will remain the same.
Initially, US Club Soccer, US Youth Soccer and AYSO had determined to use a Sept. 1 age group cut-off instead of Aug. 1. After receiving significant feedback and identifying missing information in Department of Education school year cut-off lists, it has been determined that the Aug. 1 cut-off best reduces misalignment between age and school year. The Aug. 1 cut-off reduces not only the trapped player effect, but it also reduces the number of “force-ups,” a term referring to players in a younger soccer age group but older school year who must play up an age group in order to be with their school-year friends.
US Club Soccer believes:
- An Aug. 1 age group cut-off best balances the desire to reduce both the number of “trapped” players and the number of “force-ups” in youth soccer.
- A Jan. 1 age group cut-off creates the highest number of trapped players and negatively impacted youth players.