The Elite Clubs National League is excited to be kicking off its 4th boys season with 2020-2021.
Click HERE for more information on the league, their mission and what
membership in the ECNL Boys entails. 

The Boys Elite Clubs National League (Boys ECNL) was founded to improve the daily environment for boys youth soccer players through a collaborative club-based development program featuring competition, player identification, and coaching and club development platforms. The Boys ECNL includes both regular season conference games and cross-conference events, and qualifying teams from the Boys ECNL will advance to the post-season Elite National Premier League (ENPL) Playoffs.

The Boys ECNL is based on the values of grass-roots collaboration and innovation, and supports the independence and freedom of coaches and clubs to fully manage the development path for their players, including the system and style of play, the competitive calendar, and all aspects of the development path. The Boys ECNL will raise standards in training, competition, club organization, and coaching in a holistic development program.

McLean Youth Soccer (MYS) is regarded as one of the top clubs in the region, providing player pathways from recreational to elite travel levels. To adapt to changes in the youth soccer landscape and to provide an elite, national level offering to boys on par with the club's existing girls ECNL program, MYS applied for and was accepted into the ECNL Boys Program for Fall 2018.

Background: Since joining the ECNL Girls program in 2011, McLean girls have been provided an opportunity to compete and develop their talents in an elite, national-level environment. The program has been a success for the club and its girls, providing consistently high levels of competition, top training opportunities, and unmatched college exposure. MYS ECNL Girls is nationally renowned, with 33 current players committed to Division 1 and 3 colleges and two on US national teams in 2018. The club has maintained robust local and regional travel team opportunities for girls not in ECNL, and a pathway for all to the highest level of play in the nation.

Since adding high level technical staff and a training focus, today MYS fields two national level teams in older age groups, younger Green teams with strong potential and ever-improving White, Gold and Silver teams.

Today, however, the elite soccer landscape is changing quickly. The fast-growing ECNL Boys and an established but expanding DA system have increasingly become the destination for many aspiring top athletes. They provide proven elite player development and reliable exposure to national level competition for all age groups, and to college recruiters for older boys. MYS leveraged its good standing in the ECNL Girls program for acceptance in ECNL Boys.

Summary: To consolidate progress and continue growth of its boy's elite program and adapt to an evolving soccer landscape, MYS believed it needed to access one of the two national, elite player development leagues. ECNL has proven to be extremely successful for MYS girls. Leveraging our good standing within the ECNL program enabled us to secure an ECNL Boys charter for Fall 2018. We believe that not joining this League would have disadvantaged the club's highest performing players and possibly slowed or reversed progress of the club's boy's elite pathway, diminishing routes for all players to the highest level of play.

MYS staff developed plans to ensure the continuity of McLean's current boys White, Gold and Silver teams and improve the player experience for those boys and girl's teams through guest playing on ECNL and better matching of teams to the appropriate CCL and NCSL division or league.