Managing the Age Group Formation Change in GotSport: What Clubs & Teams Need to Know
What changed, what GotSport handles automatically, and what you need to do before the 2026–27 season.
| Old Method | New Method | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar-Year Birth (Jan 1 – Dec 31) | Grade-Based / School Year (Aug 1 – Jul 31) | 2026/27 Seasonal Year (begins Aug 1, 2026) |
What Changed and Why
US Youth Soccer (USYS), AYSO, and US Club Soccer have collectively adopted a new age group player formation cycle running from August 1 to July 31, effective beginning with each organization's 2026–27 season/registration year. This replaces the previous calendar year (January 1–December 31) method.
The change was made to better align players with their school-grade peers, support social and individual development needs, and increase overall participation. This new cycle will apply to all USYS league and Cup competitions for the 2026–27 season, including National Championships, Presidents Cup, and National League.
What GotSport Handles Automatically
On August 1, 2026, GotSport will automatically update all player profiles to display the correct school-year-based age for the 2026–27 season and will update all team account age bands accordingly. When a team applies for a 2026/27 event, the system displays the event age the team will be recognized as for that seasonal year. When players are added to a roster, the system uses the new grade-based age band to validate eligibility — players who are too old for the assigned age band will be blocked from being added automatically.
What You Need to Do
There are several areas within GotSport where you will need to manually update the Seasonal Year setting from Calendar Year to School Year. This must be done on your Forms, Teams, Programs, and Internal Rostering Events before the 2026–27 season begins.
Additional Tips
Team Naming
Since each age band now spans two birth years, consider updating team names to reflect both years covered (e.g., "2013/14 Boys" rather than a single birth year). Also avoid including the "U##" label in your team name — that designation changes every season and will require an edit each year.
Preview Rosters Before 2026/27 Events Go Live
If your club wants to see what rosters will look like under the new age bands before official 2026/27 events are published, you can build an internal rostering event as a sandbox. Create a private, club-internal event with the Seasonal Year set to 2026/27 and the Age Calculation Method set to Grade-Based. Add your teams and begin rostering players — the system will apply the new age-band logic exactly as it will during the real 2026/27 season.