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Age Group Changes

As part of ongoing efforts to align player development nationally, US Youth Soccer, US Club Soccer, and NJ Youth Soccer announced age group changes for the Fall 2026-Spring 2027 soccer season.

What's Changing?

Beginning with the 2026-27 season, U.S. Soccer will implement an updated age-group cutoff, moving away from the January 1st–December 31st calendar year model to an August 1st–July 31st grade-based model. Under the new model, a player’s soccer age group will be determined by their birthdate between August 1st of one year and July 31st of the next.

The change is mandatory and is designed to:

Better align with the traditional school year.
Reduce the “split-year” effect where players born later in the calendar year are often separated from classmates.
Solve the "Trap year"** for players on teams entering High School.

** 7th graders that were on a team with 8th graders, generally lost a fall season when those 8th graders moved into High School and did not play travel soccer in the fall. Those players now have an option to play travel soccer in that fall season.

Age Group Determination For 2026-2027 Season

Below is the updated annual U.S. Soccer birth-year chart showing the new ranges for each “U” age group.

Freehold Soccer League Guiding Principles

The guiding principles are to "keep teams together" and "keep as many kids playing travel soccer that want to".

For new U8 Teams and new U9 Teams (current U8 Teams) we plan to enforce the new age group rules highlighted below.
For current U9 Teams and above, our intention is to "keep teams together", letting a player continue to play in the age group they are currently in, if that is what they prefer to do.
Parents for U10 Teams and above will be advised to register and try out for the age group they intend to play during the 2026/27 season.
Players will not be forced to rate in the top 5 to "Play Up" to keep playing in their current age group.
You do not need to attend multiple age group tryouts to receive a rating.

Note: If a player (1) was eligible to repeat an age group, (2) decided to stay in their current age group for tryouts (3) and does not get an offer for that age group, the Director of Coaching will work with the player to give them an offer for an appropriate team in the younger age group.

Keep in mind the amount of player movement may dictate that we combine age groups and play them up, in order to keep all kids playing travel soccer that wish to.

Age Group Matrix

2026-27 Season
Age Group	Birth Date Range
U19/U18	Aug 1, 2007 – July 31, 2009
U17	Aug 1, 2009 – July 31, 2010
U16	Aug 1, 2010 – July 31, 2011
U15	Aug 1, 2011 – July 31, 2012
U14	Aug 1, 2012 – July 31, 2013
U13	Aug 1, 2013 – July 31, 2014
U12	Aug 1, 2014 – July 31, 2015
U11	Aug 1, 2015 – July 31, 2016
U10	Aug 1, 2016 – July 31, 2017
U9	Aug 1, 2017 – July 31, 2018
U8	Aug 1, 2018 – July 31, 2019
U7	Aug 1, 2019 – July 31, 2020