De Anza Force Officially Joins Girls ECNL RL Golden State Conference
Starting in the 2025-26 season, Northern California will have a new girls ECNL RL Conference, aligning our region with the national ECNL RL structure by adopting a club-based model rather than a team-based one. This conference replaces the current NorCal ECNL RL division, which previously operated under an NPL-style promotion and relegation system.
De Anza Force's second teams will compete in the ECNL RL Golden State Conference alongside other ECNL clubs' second teams. The format will mirror the ECNL structure, with all teams from a club playing their counterparts on the same day. Teams will also have increased opportunities to attend ECNL RL national events and qualify for ECNL RL playoffs.
This competition will replace our participation in NorCal's NPL and State Premier leagues; however, we will continue to take part in tournaments, NorCal's State Cup, and other events. The 2024-25 season remains unchanged. We will complete our remaining games in the current division, and final standings will not affect next season’s placement in the new ECNL RL conference.
This new structure will enhance competition and development opportunities for our RL players by providing high-quality match days against ECNL clubs that share similar player development goals. This also sets us up to align the playing environment for our ECNL and ECNL RL teams, increasing our flexibility to expose players to both environments where appropriate.
Finally, this gives us access to ECNL RL national events where increasingly colleges are gravitating to due to the consistency and quality of the player pool they can come to watch compared to traditional tournaments.
