Lengthy discussion comparing 2 Canadian models to Catalonia youth soccer model: https://gsarakinis.wixsite.com/kidzf...d-how-it-works
Over here [Catalonia] it's pretty simple. Everything is under one stream with the Catalan Football Federation (www.fcf.cat) You can see on their website from Segunda B (third tier of professional football) all the way down to U7-8. There are scores and standing for all groups but promotion/relegation starts at the U9/10 age group. They are 2 year age groups until U19, but they are U8(Prebenjami), U10(Benjami), U12(Alevi), U14(Infantil), U16(Cadet) and finally U19(Juvenil).
Divison of Honour is 1 division from all of Catalonia and has 16 teams as you can see from the standings below. There is no distinguishing between a pro academy, local town academy, for profit, not for profit. If you are good enough as a club then you would have a team in this division based on footballing merit.
No alphabet soup of leagues; no distinction between pro, amateur, profit/nonprofit youth clubs; they keep score, standings, promote and relegate at a very young age [much younger than us]. Age-groups are usually 2-year as opposed 1-year.
As author calls out, no system is perfect, but Oregon and American youth soccer is definitely headed in a different direction then one of the top regions in the world in terms of producing elite soccer players.
Over here [Catalonia] it's pretty simple. Everything is under one stream with the Catalan Football Federation (www.fcf.cat) You can see on their website from Segunda B (third tier of professional football) all the way down to U7-8. There are scores and standing for all groups but promotion/relegation starts at the U9/10 age group. They are 2 year age groups until U19, but they are U8(Prebenjami), U10(Benjami), U12(Alevi), U14(Infantil), U16(Cadet) and finally U19(Juvenil).
Divison of Honour is 1 division from all of Catalonia and has 16 teams as you can see from the standings below. There is no distinguishing between a pro academy, local town academy, for profit, not for profit. If you are good enough as a club then you would have a team in this division based on footballing merit.
No alphabet soup of leagues; no distinction between pro, amateur, profit/nonprofit youth clubs; they keep score, standings, promote and relegate at a very young age [much younger than us]. Age-groups are usually 2-year as opposed 1-year.
As author calls out, no system is perfect, but Oregon and American youth soccer is definitely headed in a different direction then one of the top regions in the world in terms of producing elite soccer players.
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