Christian Lavers on the prospects of ECNL-MLS synergy and working with new U.S. Soccer leadership

That the ECNL would solidify its claim as the top girls league in the nation in the wake the Development Academy’s demise comes as no surprise. After all, the Girls ECNL launched in 2009 and U.S.Soccer didn’t start its Girls DA until 2017. The Boys ECNL is only its third season but before U.S. Soccer made official the DA collapse, Boys DA clubs in California, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginiaand Washington started committing teams to the ECNL. Within hours of those moves, MLS announced its intentions of creating a development league that would include amateur clubs. Some of the clubs thatcommitted to the Boys ECNL would be obvious candidates for the MLS’s leagues. Christian Lavers has been ECNL president since its inception.