Starting with the 2026/27 season, the National 1 League will replace the National Premier League in NorCal Premier Soccer’s pyramid, serving as the top team-based league in Northern California.

The National 1 League brings together two established league platforms in US Club Soccer’s NPL and US Youth Soccer’s National League, with the new entity serving as the new path for teams and clubs to earn promotion to the ECNL RL.

Teams currently participating in the NPL and State Premier levels will be eligible to play in the National 1 League next year. The decision to combine teams from the NPL and State Premier into the same pathway was made in part to ensure that deserving teams–rather than clubs as a whole–could still participate in the highest levels of play and earn their way to the top through merit-based competition.

Furthermore, with the age group changes coming in just over a month, many teams will look much different next year than they did this year. For this reason, NorCal decided to level the playing field for the upcoming season.

“The establishment of the National 1 League is the next step in the continued growth of the youth soccer landscape all throughout the United States,” said NorCal Premier Soccer Director of Competitions Daniel Chamberlain. “We expect our already competitive youth leagues to become more competitive through this process, ensuring that the development of each player, coach, and team remains paramount to what we do as an organization.”

As National 1 League is a team-based league all throughout the country, there will be no N1 clubs, and therefore no direct qualification for whole clubs into the competition as has been seen in the past with certain clubs earning NPL club status.

However, there will still be ECNL RL and ECNL clubs. NorCal member clubs have the ability to be promoted to an ECNL RL and/or ECNL club through meeting certain standards on and off the field through participation in the National 1 League.

Individual teams will also be eligible for promotion to the ECNL RL as wildcard teams.

Teams participating in the National 1 League will be part of a national landscape that includes 37 different districts and eight different regions. Those who do well in district play will earn the right to compete for a national championship in the ECNL Conference League Playoffs.

For more information on the National 1 League, click here.