Elite Academy League
National Elite (L2) · Boys
A national boys academy league, and one of the five MLS NEXT Academy Division operators.
Overview
The Elite Academy League runs nine conferences across the country, from the Northeast and Texas to NorCal and the Pacific Northwest, so it is a national league rather than a regional one.
Its place on the ladder comes from what it operates. MLS NEXT names the EAL as one of five organisations running the MLS NEXT Academy Division, the second tier that opened in 2025-26, and the EAL says it operates both its own Elite Academy competition and that Academy Division. So an EAL club may be selling you an MLS NEXT Academy Division place, which is a different thing from the Elite Academy league itself. Ask which.
Events run from U11 up, with the EA2 tier at U13 to U19 and a Pre National competition for U11 and U12 starting in 2026-27.
Two things it does not publish: a founding year, and which body sanctions it. Neither US Club Soccer nor US Youth Soccer lists it.
- One of the five operators of the MLS NEXT Academy Division
- Nine conferences nationally, so a club is not tied to one metro to play here
- MLS NEXT permits Academy Division players to play high school soccer
- It publishes no sanctioning body and no founding year
- Two competitions under one name, so "EAL" alone does not tell you which one a team is in
Who plays here
158 clubs we catalogue play in EAL. Open one to see every league its teams actually enter, not just this one.
AC BreaNational EliteCAADF PortlandTravel / SelectPortland, OR
ALBION SC Antelope ValleyNational ElitePalmdale, CA
ALBION SC AtlantaNational EliteAlpharetta, GA
ALBION SC Atlanta MetroNational EliteGA
ALBION SC Boulder CountyNational EliteCO
ALBION SC BrooklynNational EliteBrooklyn, NY
ALBION SC Central ValleyNational EliteCA
ALBION SC DenverNational EliteCO
ALBION SC HawaiiNational EliteWailuku, HI
ALBION SC Las VegasPre-ProfessionalNV
ALBION SC Los AngelesPre-ProfessionalCACollege commitments
332 college commitments from 34 New York and New Jersey member clubs, taken from public commitment lists. Those two states are the only ones these counts cover.
These counts cover this league’s New York and New Jersey member clubs only. “Unverified” means the school matched but the program level did not. No league publishes college placement by youth league, so read this as one slice of two states rather than a scoreboard. We never print a current youth player’s name.
Rules
What this league asks before your kid can register: the ages it runs, whether they can still play the high school season, and who sanctions it. The college-exposure and cost lines are our read of the league, not a figure the league publishes.
HS soccer policy
Players can also play high school soccer
Age groups
U11-U19
Geographic footprint
National
College exposure (our read)
High
Cost level (our read)
High
The other leagues at this level
Leagues on the same rung of the ladder, so you can hold a club’s pitch against what the alternatives actually ask of a family.
| Factor | EAL This league | MLS NEXT Academy | NAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Boys | Boys | Boys & Girls |
| Ages | U11-U19 | U13–U17 | U13-U19 |
| Clubs in directory | 158 clubs | 277 clubs | 186 clubs |
| HS soccer ok? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Footprint | National | National | National |
| What it is | A national boys academy league, and one of the five MLS NEXT Academy Division operators. | The second tier of MLS NEXT — clubs developing toward Homegrown promotion. | A national academy league run by 3STEP Soccer, and an MLS NEXT Academy Division operator. |
Pathway from here
Clubs at this level play national or multi-state schedules and sell their events on college-coach attendance, which is a figure each league publishes about itself. Clubs also move between here and level 1 most springs, so the badge a club carries this season may not be the one it carries next.
The national events at this level are where college coaches watch, and each league publishes its own attendance figures for them. A coach at an event watches players who are on the pitch, so the question that decides your kid’s exposure is the roster size at their age group and where the coach puts them in it.
Which EAL clubs are inside your drive time?
Put in your ZIP and the finder shows the Elite Academy League clubs near you alongside everything else at that level. Or tell us about your kid and we’ll rank them with the reasoning spelled out.