Youth soccer clubs in California
California is the biggest youth soccer market in the country, and it doesn't act like one state.
Club soccer in California
Two US Youth Soccer associations split it, Cal North above roughly Fresno and Cal South below, and each has its own leagues, its own State Cup and its own habits. A family in Pleasanton and a family in Irvine can be in the same sport and never see the same opponents.
Cal North is based in Sacramento and runs the Cal North Competitive Soccer League and the California Select League. It describes itself as the only state association in the country that operates an MLS NEXT league. Up here, NorCal Premier Soccer is the other big league body, and the ECNL Regional League is aligned with it. Cal South lists the Coast Soccer League, Spring Club Soccer and the USYS National League on its site, and its clubs fill every national platform in the book.
Southern California is where the density is. San Diego Surf, Pateadores, Slammers FC, Legends FC San Diego and City SC Southwest all sit in ECNL, MLS NEXT or Girls Academy conversations, and LA Surf and Albion run big programs in Los Angeles and San Diego. The Bay Area and Central Valley have a quieter but deep bench, with De Anza Force, Ballistic United, Santa Clara Sporting, Davis Legacy and California Odyssey representing the north and the Sacramento Republic academy running a pro pathway.
The pro list is long. MLS has the LA Galaxy, LAFC, San Jose Earthquakes and San Diego FC, NWSL has Angel City, Bay FC and the San Diego Wave, and the USL Championship has Sacramento Republic, Orange County SC and Monterey Bay.
Because the state is huge, a club's name often covers several sites, so the real question is where your birth year trains. The clubs below are the names California parents most often compare. Each one links to its own site for current teams, fees and tryout dates.
Popular clubs in California
These are the clubs California families ask about most. League badges show what we could confirm for the 2025-26 season, so check each club's own site for current teams, tryout dates and fees. For 2026-27, the NPL and the US Youth Soccer National League combined into the National 1 League, which teams enter one at a time, so ask a club which of its teams play in N1.
San Diego Surf Soccer Club
Surf says it was established in 1977 and runs from Surf Sports Park in Del Mar along with Central, South and North locations. Its site lists boys and girls ECNL, and ECNL Regional League coaches on both sides. The club also has a Junior Academy and a recreation program. SoccerWire named it the overall ECNL Girls club winner for 2023-24, so it's one of the most successful girls programs in the country.
Pateadores Soccer Club
Pateadores is one of the biggest clubs in Orange County, with more than 220 boys and girls teams according to a SoccerWire profile, and the club says it was founded in 1987. SoccerWire lists it as an ECNL Boys and ECNL Girls member based in Costa Mesa. Directory listings show chapters in Irvine, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Newport Beach and South Orange County, though counts vary by source.
Slammers FC
Slammers FC says it started in 1994 and runs separate girls and boys team pages. The girls side is the headline, since the club has been named ECNL Girls overall club champion more than once, including 2019, and its site shows ECNL Girls teams at U15, U17 and U18/19. Grassroots programs include Baby Slammers and a free Friday skills clinic for girls born 2018 to 2021, held at Irvine Terrace Park.
Legends FC San Diego
Legends FC San Diego is the newer local branch of a club network that was founded in 2007, and it reports about 150 competitive teams with more growth underway. The site lists boys and girls ECNL, National League and SoCal Soccer teams, futsal for ages 6 to 17, a recreational league for ages 5 to 12 and a Little Legends program starting at age 3. Facilities range from Clairemont and La Jolla to Carlsbad and Escondido.
City SC Southwest
City SC Southwest was announced on November 22, 2024, when Murrieta Soccer Academy, City SC Temecula and the Lake Elsinore and Menifee Valley programs merged. It serves the Temecula Valley with training and game sites in Murrieta, Temecula, Lake Elsinore and Menifee. The club lists SoCal, MLS NEXT, Girls Academy, DPL and Elite Academy League play, reports about 130 competitive teams and is an affiliate of the City SC Sports Group program.
LA Surf Soccer Club
LA Surf is on MLS NEXT's 2025-26 Academy Division member list. Its website lists nine locations, including Arcadia, Hollywood, Pasadena, San Marino, Sherman Oaks and the San Fernando Valley, and shows Boys Elite and Girls Elite programs plus an MLS GO grassroots track for ages 6 to 9. Logos for DPL, GA and EA appear on the site, but the page doesn't spell out which teams play where.
Albion SC
Albion says it was founded in 1981 and has grown from its San Diego roots into a network that also operates in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Atlanta. MLS NEXT's 2025-26 Academy Division list includes ALBION SC San Diego, ALBION SC Los Angeles and ALBION SC Riverside. The club credits its players with more than $62 million in college scholarships. Check the local Albion site for the area nearest you.
De Anza Force Soccer Club
De Anza Force calls itself the most comprehensive youth soccer club in Northern California, and its site lists MLS NEXT, ECNL, ECNL Regional League, NPL and NorCal Premier play. It runs Player ID sessions for MLS NEXT and for ECNL Girls, and a Force Futures program for five year olds. The club has pointed to a role as a founding member of MLS NEXT. Wikipedia dates its start to 1999.
Pleasanton Ballistic United Soccer Club
Ballistic United says it was founded more than 50 years ago and runs competitive and recreational programs from its Pleasanton base. The site has an MLS NEXT section with Tier 1 tryouts, plus the Tri-Valley Futsal Academy and TOPSoccer. An NPL logo also appears, and the club has an adult UPSL team. It's a long-standing East Bay club with a clear path from rec to MLS NEXT.
Davis Legacy Soccer Club
Davis Legacy joined ECNL for the 2017-18 season, according to a SoccerWire report, and its site lists ECNL and ECNL Regional League teams for U13 to U19. It reports more than 51 teams and over 120 college commitments in five years. Rec soccer runs in fall and spring, and the men's side plays in USL League Two or UPSL while the women play with California Storm. The ECNL RL team competes in the Golden Gate Conference.
Folsom Lake Surf
Folsom Lake Surf is based in Folsom, with facilities there, and fields boys and girls teams. Its site lists ECNL Regional League squads and an announcement of boys moving up to ECNL, along with competitive, recreation and Little Surfers programs. The club was selected for the top division of NorCal's realigned ECNL Regional League for 2025-26. Boys and girls camps for U7 to U12 give younger kids an entry point.
Sacramento Republic FC Academy
The Republic academy is the youth arm of the Sacramento Republic FC, the USL Championship team, and describes itself as the only youth-to-pro pathway in the Sacramento region. It competes in the MLS NEXT Allstate Homegrown Division, and its U19 team also plays in the USL Academy league. Its site mentions an academy player picked for the U.S. U-15 Boys' National Team, which shows the pro club's reach.
Santa Clara Sporting Club
Santa Clara Sporting's site says it has been around since 1971, and it lists boys, girls and men's programs. Its teams play in ECNL, Girls Academy and NorCal Premier. NorCal Premier announced that the girls program is leaving Girls Academy to join the ECNL Regional League Girls in NorCal starting in 2026-27. The boys program plays in ECNL.
California Odyssey
California Odyssey is a Central Valley club based in Clovis, established in 2002 according to its site. It lists ECNL, ECNL Regional League and NorCal Premier, plus Pre-ECNL, Odyssey Juniors and Junior Elites. The ECNL announced it was promoted to ECNL Girls in the Northern Cal Conference for 2025-26. It's the main national-level option for Fresno-area families who don't want to move to the Bay Area.
From California clubs to college soccer
For a lot of California families, club soccer is also the road to playing in college. These pages cover the next step, from ID camps close to home to emailing college coaches.
College ID camps in California
Every college soccer program in California, with a link to its official camp page.
See the camps ›Recruiting guideHow college recruiting works
Timelines, divisions, scholarships, coach emails and showcases, explained for players and parents.
Read the guide ›RecruitlyEmail college coaches from your own inbox
Find programs by division and conference, reach every coach, and see who opens your email and watches your film.
Meet Recruitly ›Choosing a club in California
Settle the league question first, because it decides how much you'll drive and fly. MLS NEXT, ECNL and Girls Academy mean a heavy travel calendar, often across several states, while state leagues like Cal South's Coast Soccer League or Cal North's California Select League keep most games close to home.
Second, ask which site your birth year uses. LA Surf lists nine locations across the Los Angeles area, Legends FC San Diego lists facilities from La Jolla to the South Bay, and Pateadores runs chapters across Orange County and beyond, so the headquarters address rarely tells you where practice happens. Traffic on the 405 or the 101 matters more than the club logo.
Third, check which association the club belongs to if you're near the middle of the state. Fresno-area clubs like California Odyssey play with NorCal teams, while Southern California clubs sit under Cal South.
Finally, tryout timing. Many California clubs run tryouts in late spring for the next season and a second round in fall, and each posts dates on its own site.
Our guide to choosing a club has the questions worth asking at a tryout, and the costs page explains what a season in California might add up to.
California club soccer FAQ
Why does California have two state soccer associations?
US Youth Soccer splits the state into Cal North, based in Sacramento, and Cal South. Each runs its own leagues and State Cup. Cal North says it is the only state association in the country that operates an MLS NEXT league, and Cal South lists the Coast Soccer League and USYS National League.
Which California clubs are on the MLS NEXT Academy Division list?
The 2025-26 list includes dozens of California names. Examples are LA Surf, ALBION SC San Diego, Los Angeles and Riverside, Ballistic United, Sacramento United, FC Bay Area Surf, City SC San Diego and Sporting San Diego. Cal North has its own MLS NEXT league, so check the MLS NEXT site for your area.
Which California clubs play in ECNL?
San Diego Surf, Pateadores, Slammers FC, Legends FC San Diego, De Anza Force, Davis Legacy, Santa Clara Sporting and California Odyssey all list ECNL programs. Several also run the ECNL Regional League, which sits one step below the top level and is organized through NorCal Premier in the north.