How Rankings Work
Rankings are computed from publicly available MLS Next match results. Clubs are ranked within each league independently using percentiles, so you can see exactly how a club compares to others in the same competitive division.
Where the Data Comes From
Every ranking on this site starts with actual match results from MLS Next, the top youth development league in the United States. These results are publicly available on modular11.com and include the score, date, and teams for each game played.
We do not use subjective ratings, coach surveys, or insider opinions. The only input is what happened on the field.
How Standings Are Computed
From the raw match results, we compute each team's win-loss-draw record. Two metrics drive the standings:
- Points Per Game (PPG) — a standard measure of competitive success (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss), divided by the number of games played.
- Goal Difference Per Game (GD/game) — goals scored minus goals allowed, averaged across all games. This captures how dominant or competitive a team's results are beyond just wins and losses.
How Teams Are Grouped into Clubs
MLS Next teams are listed individually by age group (U-13, U-14, etc.), but families care about the overall club. We match teams to their parent club using fuzzy name matching — for example, "FC Dallas 09 ECNL" and "FC Dallas 08 MLS Next" both map to FC Dallas.
When automatic matching is uncertain, we use manual overrides to ensure accuracy.
Understanding the Three Leagues
MLS Next is organized into three separate leagues. Each league is its own competitive environment, and clubs are ranked within each one independently.
- Homegrown Division (HD) — the primary competitive division where most clubs compete. This is where you'll find the majority of independent youth soccer clubs.
- Academy Division (AD) — a separate league for academy-level teams. Both independent clubs and MLS professional clubs can field teams here.
- Pro Pathway — for MLS professional clubs at the older age groups. Only MLS professional clubs participate in this league.
Many clubs compete in just one league. Some compete in two or all three. When a club appears in multiple leagues, it receives a separate ranking in each one.
How Per-League Rankings Work
Clubs are ranked using percentiles within each league. A percentile tells you how a club compares to every other club in the same league. For example, if a club is at the 91st percentile in the Homegrown Division, that means it outperforms 91% of all other clubs competing in that division.
Rankings are computed independently for each league. A club's percentile in the Homegrown Division is based only on how it performs relative to other Homegrown Division clubs — not clubs in the Academy Division or Pro Pathway.
The percentile is derived from each club's team-level standings (PPG and GD/game as described above), averaged across all age groups where the club fields a team in that league.
What Coverage Means
Coverage measures how many age groups a club fields in a given league out of the total possible. For example, "4/6 HD age groups" means the club has teams in four of the six Homegrown Division age groups.
A club with teams across many age groups demonstrates broader organizational commitment to player development at every level. Coverage is shown alongside the percentile ranking as a separate dimension — it is not folded into the ranking itself.
This distinction matters: a club can be highly ranked with low coverage (excellent at the ages where they compete), or have high coverage with a lower ranking (fielding teams everywhere but with mixed results). Both tell you something valuable about the club.
How Assessment Labels Work
Each club in a league receives an assessment label that combines its performance ranking with its coverage. Think of it as a two-dimensional snapshot: how well does the club perform, and how broadly does it compete?
Performance is grouped into three ranges — top quarter, middle range, and lower range — based on where the club's percentile falls. Coverage is also grouped into three ranges based on how many age groups the club fields relative to what's possible in that league.
The combination of these two dimensions produces nine possible assessment labels:
| High Coverage | Mid Coverage | Low Coverage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Performance | Elite Program | Strong Program | Focused Performer |
| Mid Performance | Established Program | Solid Club | Promising Club |
| Low Performance | Building Program | Growing Program | Emerging |
Labels with "Program" indicate clubs with teams across many age groups — signifying organizational depth. Labels with "Club" appear at mid-level coverage. "Focused Performer" and "Promising Club" signal that the club excels or shows promise at the ages where they compete, even if they don't field teams at every level.
No label is negative. "Emerging" means the club is growing. Every label implies strength or forward motion — the question is where that strength shows up.
How Often Data Updates
Rankings are refreshed weekly during the active MLS Next season. Each update pulls the latest match results and recomputes all rankings and assessment labels from scratch.
What This Does Not Measure
These rankings intentionally focus on on-field results. They do not account for:
- Coaching quality or philosophy
- Club culture or player development environment
- Cost of participation
- Training facilities or session quality
These factors matter — often a great deal — but they are subjective and vary by family. Our goal is to provide the objective layer so you can combine it with your own firsthand evaluation.
Verify It Yourself
Your team's W/L/D record in our system should match what you see on the MLS Next website. If it doesn't, contact us.
Transparency is central to what we do. If something looks wrong, we want to know.