CHARLESTON, S.C. (Dec. 18, 2025) – US Club Soccer is proud to announce 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.
For more information, see below:
https://usclubsoccer.org/programs/leagues/newcomp/
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