EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — El Paso’s top girls soccer players will soon have a new pathway to elite competition and college exposure, as El Paso Locomotive FC Youth Soccer prepares to enter the ECNL structure for the first time in the city.
El Paso Locomotive FC Youth Soccer announced on March 25 during an event at Texas Tech Health El Paso that it will join the Elite Clubs National League Girls Regional League beginning in the fall of 2026.
The move marks the first time a girls’ program in El Paso will compete within the ECNL structure.
The club said it will field seven teams across the ECNL pathway. Six teams, from U13 through U18/19, will compete in the region, and one U12 team will compete in the Pre-ECNL platform, creating what the club described as a pipeline for elite female athletes in the area.
This is a landmark moment for our organization, and even more importantly, for girls’ soccer in the city of El Paso,” said Ulysus Torres, the club’s director of youth soccer. “This milestone represents opportunity, vision, community, impact, and organizational alignment within El Paso Locomotive Youth Soccer.
Locomotive youth soccer programs will compete in the ECNL Girls Regional League Mountain Division, aligning with the club’s boys program as part of a unified approach to high-level player development.
“With elite, top-tier national platforms now established on both the boys’ and girls’ sides of the club, we are uniquely positioned to lead the future of youth soccer development and expand pathways of opportunity throughout our city and the broader Borderplex region. The future of girls’ soccer has never been brighter,” Torres said.
The ECNL Girls Regional League is described as one of the most competitive and respected youth soccer platforms in the country, offering elite competition, training standards and college recruiting exposure for boys and girls.
The club said more information about team formation, tryouts and the upcoming 2026-27 season will be announced in the coming months.
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