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Soccer Untangled
Pathways

The whole journey, on one chart.

US Soccer's playing standards start at 6U, which is five-year-olds on a 25-yard field with no keepers. Thirteen years later, 5.9% of high school boys and 7.9% of girls are on an NCAA roster, a fraction of one percent get paid to play, and everyone else keeps playing because they want to. The chart below is everything in between, and the six pages under it go a level deeper.

How youth soccer works
How youth soccer works, ages 5 to 19How US youth soccer works. Six numbered levels rise from Recreational to Pre-Professional; above them, outside the ladder, sit College and Professional. Age runs from 5 to 19 along the bottom. An orange line climbs from recreational soccer at age 5 through six stages (first touch, small-sided, the fork in the road, club soccer begins, the sorting years, recruiting and beyond) and out of the ladder into college, which 5 to 8 percent of high-school players reach. A dashed red line branches off at Pre-Professional to professional soccer, under 0.1 percent. A teal line branches off at the fork and stays level: playing for life, which is where most kids land. Side roads run alongside: ODP and state teams, high school soccer, and showcases and ID camps.L1Pre-ProfessionalL2National EliteL3Competitive RegionalL4State & PremierL5Travel / SelectL6Recreational“Nobody starts up here.Every pro was a rec kid first.ODP & STATE TEAMSSHOWCASES & ID CAMPSHIGH SCHOOL SOCCERFIRST TOUCHAGES 5–8SMALL-SIDEDAGES 8–10THE FORK IN THE ROADAGES 10–12CLUB SOCCER BEGINSAGES 12–14THE SORTING YEARSAGES 14–16RECRUITING & BEYONDAGES 16–19PROunder 0.1%COLLEGE5–8% of HS playersPLAY FOR LIFEmost kids, on purpose5791113151719AGE →the climbing routeplaying for lifethe long shot
Contents

Read it in this order

Six pages cover the whole system. The first two answer where your kid sits right now; the rest keep until they get there.

Looking for one league by name? Browse every league by level →

Built for your kid

Where does your kid land on this?

Answer a few questions and the roadmap puts your kid on one of these rungs, names the clubs inside your drive time that actually play there, and prices a year at each.

Build your roadmapSee the levels first