No academies: How do young female footballers in the US go pro?

The path to professional football is relatively simple in Europe: players come up through professional clubs’ youth academies where they play for free and then join a senior club squad once they graduate from their academy. In the US, with most professional women’s clubs not having affiliated youth clubs, the landscape is a little more complicated. What does youth football development look like in the United States, and what are the different pathways to going pro?

Youth clubs

The majority of future professional footballers come up through the top tier of youth clubs, competing in either the Elite Club National League (ECNL) or the Girls Academy League. For example, Southern California-based club Slammers FC trained USWNT players like Christen Press and Jenna Nighswonger, as well as USYNT players like Mak Whitham. Other levels of youth football exist, such as recreational or travel, but players hoping to go professional tend to compete in youth clubs for elite training and competition. 

Five NWSL clubs have an affiliated academy, but because there is no mandatory academy system within the league, those clubs compete with other clubs in ECNL or Girls Academy.

Unlike in Europe, elite youth clubs in the US require exorbitant fees from the players and their families. This “pay to play” system has been widely critiqued for excluding potentially great players because they can’t afford the costs. For example, María Sánchez, one of the top forwards in the world, could not afford to play elite club soccer as a child.

Olympic Development Program (ODP)

US Youth Soccer, the largest youth affiliate of the United States Soccer Federation, created the Olympic Development Program (ODP) in 1977. This program works with state soccer associations to identify the highest-level youth football players in each state via tryouts, and then invites these players to regional development programs and national training camps.

While elite clubs are the main way that young players develop their skills and get scouted for college, professional, and youth national team football, ODP is a resource used by many for extra development as it offers access to high-level coaching. 

College

Up until recently, almost every single player who went on to play professional football played at a Division I program in college first. In the US, players are identified by college scouts at elite club matches, national showcase tournaments, and college ID camps. They are then offered scholarships to play at these colleges and commit to whichever one they feel is the best fit, usually during their third year of high school. 

While in college, these players play against other college and university teams within and outside of their conference. The season culminates in a tournament among the top Division I teams, known as the Women’s College Cup. The most recent winner is Florida State University, and the most decorated university in the history of the tournament is the University of North Carolina (UNC), with 22 titles. UNC has produced some of the world’s top footballers for decades, from Mia Hamm and Sarina Wiegman, to Tobin Heath and Crystal Dunn and Lucy Bronze, to Alessia Russo and Emily Fox.

Before the NWSL college draft was abolished ahead of the 2025 season, most players would play a full four seasons of college soccer before declaring for the NWSL draft, allowing themselves to be selected by a professional team. However, since the eradication of the draft, players coming out of college now have the ability and responsibility to communicate with clubs directly, fielding multiple offers and deciding which club is best for them. It is also becoming more of a trend to leave college before the four years are up and go professional early. Most recently, Gotham FC forward Jordynn Dudley skipped her senior year to go pro. 

Other leagues

While the main pathway to professional soccer is still playing at an elite youth club and then playing for a Division I college program, some players take advantage of leagues besides the NWSL to hone their skills, or even go pro. 

Many college players spend the summer off-season training and playing with clubs in the amateur Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL). Because it is an unpaid league, players can stay fit and play alongside top talent while still maintaining their college eligibility. Top players who have spent summers in the WPSL include Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle, Catarina Macario, and Megan Rapinoe.

While the NWSL is definitely the top professional women’s football league in the United States, it is not the only one. The USL Super League is a fully professional league that started play in the summer of 2024. While it is technically at the top of the football pyramid in the US alongside the NWSL, it does not boast the same level of talent. 

The USL Super League offers players without NWSL offers to still make money while playing the sport they love. NWSL clubs have already started to take note of footballers excelling in the other league, with players like Natasha Flint, Neeku Purcell, and Emina Ekić earning contracts in the NWSL following standout performances in the USL Super League.

The future

While the elite youth club to college to league pipeline is still very strong, other pathways are emerging for young players to go pro. In 2021, Olivia Moultrie filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league that allowed players under the age of 18 to go pro and led to the NWSL establishing a U-18 Entry Mechanism. Since then, 22 players (including Moultrie) have signed a professional contract in the NWSL before their 18th birthday. As this option becomes more and more popular among the nation’s most talented youth, it becomes a more viable path to professional football in the United States.

The pathway to professional women’s football in the US has seen a lot of changes over the years. With more and more younger players expressing interest in going professional early, as well as the NWSL announcing plans to establish a second-tier league (NWSL Division 2), hopefully the US sees more structure and fewer barriers to entry in its youth football development going forward.