Youth Soccer

MLS Next Pro — a new third-tier league launched in 2022 that features mostly MLS reserve teams — is looking to change the game, literally. MLS Next Pro is in the middle of its first season and will be testing out two new rules effective immediately. One of the two new MLS Next Pro rules would be a game changer if it spread to the rest of the sport.

New MLS Next Pro Rules

The two new rules are called the Off-field Treatment Rule and the Red Card Suspension Rule. Let’s look at how they work.

The United States men's U-20 team beat Costa Rica 2-0 on Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals of the Concacaf U-20 Championship in Honduras, clinching a place at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup and moving one win away from a spot at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The Philadelphia Union's Paxten Aaronson — younger brother of Leeds United and USMNT attacker Brenden Aaronson — was man of the match for the USYNT with both goals.

For years Americans have attempted to come to grips with the fact the nation’s most popular sport, football, causes severe head injuries resulting in chronic traumatic encephalopathy with lasting impacts on both physical and mental health, often leading to premature death. For the first time, doctors have diagnosed an American professional soccer player with CTE. 

The United States men's U-20 team hammered Nicaragua 5-0 on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Concacaf U-20 Championship in Honduras. Victory over Costa Rica on Tuesday would guarantee passage to the 2023 U-20 World Cup in Indonesia, but the ultimate goal is a win in the semifinals on July 1 to book a place at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

BERLIN — Transgender and non-binary footballers can now decide themselves whether to play for a men's or women's team instead of being bound by personal identification data, the German Football Association (DFB) said on Thursday.

It said the ruling was included in the DFB match regulation for amateurs, the junior regulation and the futsal rulebook.

Across the United States, trans inclusion in sports has been a major topic of discussion. As of May 2022, 18 states had either enacted laws or issued rules limiting or outright banning transgender athletes from participating in youth sports such as soccer. Even if you hate her politics, you might actually agree with how Megan Rapinoe feels about transgender athletes. 

Normally at this time, we’d be inundated with soccer 24/7. The men’s World Cup has been held in the summer every four years since 1930, with only two missed dates in the 1940s for World War II. This year, however, we’ve got to wait until November for the World Cup to begin. After a June men’s international window and ahead of a women’s international window, we’re at a bit of a dearth in soccer action around the world.