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The Girls Academy League, which is being launched in the wake of the U.S. Soccer DA’s termination, has announced its initial conference alignment.

In affiliation with the Development Player League (DPL) – which was created in 2017 by U.S. Soccer Girls DA member clubs as a way to expand their elite player pools – the new Girls Academy League will serve the top teams in each age group for member clubs.

During the inaugural 2020-2021 season, the Girls Academy League will feature six conferences around the country: Southwest, Mid-America, Frontier, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

In addition, the first wave of Girls Academy League members clubs has been revealed, as the Northeast Conference was introduced on Thursday. Eight clubs – all of which are former Girls DA members – comprise the Northeast Conference, representing the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York.

The clubs are: Cedar Stars Academy – Bergen (NJ), Long Island SC (NY), NEFC (MA), New York SC (NY), Oakwood SC (CT), Seacoast United (NH), South Shore Select (MA) and STA (NJ).

On Friday, the inaugural members of the Mid-America Conference were revealed. The 12-club conference will feature seven former DA programs and five non-DA clubs. The Mid-America members are: Beadling SC (PA), Chicago FC United (IL), Cleveland Force SC (OH), Cincinnati United SC (OH), Indy Premier (IN), Michigan Jaguars FC (MI), Midwest United FC (MI), Minnesota Eclipse (MN), Nationals (MI), Salvo SC (MN), SC Wave (WI) and Sockers FC Chicago (IL).

More member clubs announcements are expected to come out from the Girls Academy Club in the coming days and weeks.

The DPL was originally created through a collaboration of Southwest Division DA clubs, with a national leadership group consisting of representatives from LA Surf (Barry Ritson), Legends FC (Kevin Boyd), Tophat Soccer (Troy Garner), Lonestar SC (Wes Schevers) and FC Dallas Youth (Matt Grubb).

Although the DPL’s Girls Academy League will be primarily composed of former DA clubs, it will not be strictly limited to them. The DPL has stated that it will continue to provide its clubs with flexibility in the following two key areas:

Permission for all players in the Girls Academy League to participate in high school soccer.
Revising the substitution rules to encourage clubs to better utilize their player pools, especially when showcasing their players to college coaches.

To learn more about the DPL’s newly-launched Girls Academy League, click here.

A lot of good clubs in this league. Not as good as ECNL but definitely better than the other alternatives. I really hope they can keep their players.

The GA looks strong. The northeast region has two of the top three clubs in the region SS Select and NEFC but not PDA. NEFC and Select are the two top clubs in Massachusetts currently on Soccer Wire. Also the pool in the Mid America some very strong teams along with Southwest Legends, Beach etc ... can’t wait to see the rest of the regions roll out.

Arguably the best forward on the U17 WNT is at SS Select.

The Northeast league has some very good teams and will be great for LISC to compete it. SS select, NEFC are both strong clubs. Oakwood is also pretty strong. The two jersey clubs (cedar stars and STA) also are good clubs.

I don't think compete is the right word.

The league is looking pretty good. Definitely off to a great start. SOme clubs went to ECNL but many top clubs and especially those in the east stayed. The ECNL has a lot of politics behind it and doesn't give the teams much feedom. The new league gives the teams the best of the DA model and takes away the loss of HS ball for the girls and gets rid of the harsh subbing rule. I wouldn't be surprised to see more teams come over to the new league in coming years. I think it will give the ECNL a real run for its money.

No mention of showcases?

Yes definitely the teams in the Northeast Division as a whole are strong and as they continue to roll out the regions it is evident that the trend is that a lot of strong clubs are jumping on board the GA platform. We also heard that the trend in the northeast is going back to the academy teams too. Seacoast at the younger age groups had girls return to there club from ECNL teams in the past months. Some of the parents cited that the ECNL showcases in the past year has had a significant drop off in the level of play compared to past years. Also Select obtained a handful of desirable players from the ECNL just this past year.

They will have regional showcases and also National showcases. Plenty of opportunities for the girls to be seen

I noticed that a few GA clubs also have teams in the ECNL Regional league (Beach, Legends< Pateadores).

Is this league still happening? There are rumors that they are pushing the start date back to spring 2021. I can't get an answer out of our club. They are being weirdly quiet about this.

Spring 2021? Where did you hear this from?

Daughter plays on LISC GA team as far as we are being told the season will kick off in the fall-unless something happens between now and then that keeps the kids off the field.
we are starting small group practices on the 6th and full team practices on the 20th.

Good luck telling your HS coach you can't practice because you have club practice.

News flash...some people don’t care about HS soccer. You do you and don’t worry about others’ choices.

Seen virtually, not many coaches are going to these showcases anytime soon

Thanks. Good to know. Probably just our club having communication issues.

We heard that the 13s and 14s start in the fall. Older age groups start next spring. Teams are encouraged to organize local friendlies when rules allow it.

The best part is that if your kid is actually a stud, the HS coach will eat it just to have her play.

True but unfortunately NEFC SSS and especially Oakwood all lost several key players to ECNL.