The club list for the Elite Club National League has been announced, and it contains a number of the heavyweight clubs for girls’ soccer in the U.S. as well as a few notable omissions.

The league, slated to begin next year as a precursor to a girls’ academy program, similar to the USSF Development Academy for boys but not affiliated with that organization, is replacing the Red Bull National League that has operated for the past two years, but is much larger in scope than that effort.

The release mentions 40-team leagues in age groups U15 through U17. Each age group’s league will be split into two, 20-team flights. The 10-match regular season schedule will be conducted through multiple showcase events, with semifinals and finals both for league championships and promotion and relegation conducted for the top and bottom four teams in each flight. Three teams will advance from the 2nd tier to the top, with three teams being relegated. A club championship points system will also be implemented.

The release does not mention any requirements for training-to-match ratio, nor does it mention any regulation of total matches played by member teams, including possible prohibition from participating in some other competitions such as the U.S. Youth Soccer National League. It is thought that some of these league regulations are still to be worked out among the membership. The U.S. Youth Soccer National League is reportedly being expanded to 16 teams per age group, but no announcement on that has been made.

“The ECNL is a great step for elite girls youth players in this country,” ECNL President Christian Lavers, of FC Milwaukee, said in the release. “The ECNL is founded on the concept that elite female player development in the United States needs a structure that will reduce the total number of games on the schedule and increase the number of meaningful, quality games. The ECNL sets forth a vision that gives us a clear path to that goal –a national competition schedule and a national identification program linked to that competition.”

The league which will be run by a board of directors made up of club coaching directors, includes a who’s who of clubs participating from around the country. Some notable exceptions to this include Dallas Texans, Michigan Hawks, Carmel United and Southern California powerhouses Slammers, Surf SC, So Cal Blues and Real So Cal. Reasons given for non-participation include perceived lack of cost effectiveness and perceived lack of need for better competition.

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Following is a list of clubs by U.S. Youth Soccer region:

Region I (East)
Albertson Fury (NY)
Bethesda SC (MD)
Connecticut FC
FC DELCO (PA)
FC Stars of Massachusetts
FC Virginia
Freestate Soccer Alliance (MD)
FSA SoccerPlus (CT)
PDA (NJ)
Virginia Rush (VA)

Region II (Midwest)
Eclipse Select (IL)
FC Milwaukee
Minnesota Thunder
Ohio Elite
Ohio Premier
St. Louis Scott Gallagher

Region III (South)
Atlanta Fire
Birmingham United
CASL (NC)
CESA Premier (SC)
Challenge SC (TX)
Charlotte SA (NC)
Concorde Fire (GA)
Sting Dallas (TX)
D’Feeters (TX)
FC Dallas (TX)
Lonestar SC (TX)
Solar SC (TX)

Region IV (West)
Arsenal FC (CA)
Colorado Rush
Crossfire Premier (WA)
Irvine Strikers (CA)
Mustang SC (CA)
Neusport FC (NV)
Pleasanton Rage (CA)
Real Colorado
San Juan SC
SC Del Sol (AZ)
Sereno SC (AZ)
West Coast FC (CA)