Several questions have been raised about changes to the birth year chart recently released by U.S. Soccer.
Source of Confusion
The birth year chart originally presented by U.S. Soccer at their July AGM in Tulsa depicted the age
groupings in a single calendar year format (e.g., 2016, 2017, 2018), in which a player born in 2004, for example, would play as a U12 in 2016. This chart has since been removed from U.S. Soccer’s website and replaced with the chart below, which groups players’ ages by soccer year (e.g., 2016-17, 2017-18). Using the same example above, a kid born in 2004 would play as a U13 in the 2016-17 soccer year. According to U.S. Soccer, the two charts are in fact consistent with one another, but the first chart did not address the competitive season. So, U.S. Soccer has created the “Birth Year and Season Matrix” to account for the competitive seasons.
Determining Birth Year
U.S. Soccer explains that birth year registration should be calculated based on the year in which the season ends. For example, if a season begins in the fall of 2017 and ends in the summer of 2018 (ex: 2017-18 season), the players would be registered based on their age in the year 2018. Competitions that take place in a single year (ex: fall of 2018 only) should use that year to determine birth year. To simplify determining the age group, just subtract the birth year from the year the season ends.
Year Season Ends – Birth Year = Age Group:
- 2017-18 – 2003 = U15
- 2022-23 – 2016 = U7
For more info, please visit USSoccer.com