The Boys Elite Clubs National League (Boys ECNL) was founded in 2017 to provide a top class, club-based development, training, and competition platform for youth male soccer players in the United States. The mission of the Boys ECNL is to improve the landscape for players in the United States through innovative, player-centered programming that raises standards of quality and improves the player experience in all aspects of the game.
The ECNL prides itself on supporting its member clubs by encouraging club-based development. The ECNL gives Washington Premier, as with any other club in the league, the freedom to use their own club curriculum, create a calendar periodization schedule derived from reality-based coaching and develop players according to the vision and values of Washington Premier. This allows WPFC to continue to use our own principles of play and game methodology which are the following;
As we will always have a wide-range of ability across our teams, the freedom of club-based development supported by the ECNL will allow WPFC to continue to focus on developing all players to be hard-working, competitive, disciplined, and inspired to make the best decisions on the field.
The inaugural Boys ECNL season, August 2017 to July 2018, included 57 of the top boys soccer clubs throughout the country, with more than 9,000 players participating in Boys ECNL competition in the U14, U15, U16, U17 and U18/U19 age groups. The first season featured three National Events held in Florida, California and Pennsylvania.
In the the 2018/19 the Boys ECNL Platform continued to experience growth and several changes. The Boys ECNL added fourteen of the top boys clubs from around the country, bringing the total number of ECNL member clubs to 71. Each of the 71 member clubs had a Boys ECNL team in the U14 through U18/U19 age groups. The Boys ECNL added a fourth National Event in Oklahoma, Florida, California and Pennsylvania. .
In 2019, the NW Conference was formed. Washington Premier along with 7 other top clubs in the the state of Washington were invited into the Northwest Conference.