Our league
Academy Super League
Western Canada's premier youth academy soccer league, operated by BCSAA.
U7 – U18
12 age groups
Sep – Mar
~30 week season
2 cities
Vancouver & Burnaby
Bio-banding
Grouped by maturity
The League
What the Academy Super League is
The ASL is the competitive platform operated by BCSAA. It exists so that licensed academies have somewhere serious to play — against opponents held to the same standards they are.
A licensed-academy competition
Every participating program holds a BCSAA licence. Teams are staffed by professional coaching personnel who are screened and certified before they set foot on a pitch.
Boys and girls, twelve age groups
Competitive divisions run from U7 through U18 for both boys and girls, so an academy can enter a full program rather than a single flagship team.
A real season, not friendlies
Fixtures are scheduled from September through March — approximately thirty weeks — primarily at weekends, giving players a continuous competitive rhythm.
Across six communities
Matches are hosted in Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Moody and Surrey, with Empire Fields in Vancouver as the primary venue.
One safeguarding standard
The same SafeSport policy applies to every academy in the league, so the standard of care does not change depending on who you are playing.
A single disciplinary process
Competition rules, discipline and disputes are administered centrally by BCSAA under its Bylaws, with written notice and a fair hearing for every party.
Divisions
Twelve age groups, boys and girls
Divisions run from under-7 through under-18. Match format and squad size scale with age group.
U7
U8
U9
U10
U11
U12
U13
U14
U15
U16
U17
U18
Season Structure
September to March
Roughly thirty weeks of scheduled competition, played primarily at weekends.
September
Season opens
Registration closes, divisions are confirmed and the fixture list is published. Bio-banded groupings are set for the developmental age groups.
October – December
First block
Weekly weekend fixtures across all divisions. Standings and discipline records are maintained centrally.
January – February
Second block
Play continues through winter, moving to covered and artificial-turf facilities where weather requires it.
March
Season concludes
Final fixtures and end-of-season events, including tournament play for eligible age groups.
Bio-banding
Two thirteen-year-olds can differ by thirty centimetres and twenty kilograms. Grouping them purely by birth year produces matches that are unsafe for one and unchallenging for the other.
Bio-banding groups players by physical maturity instead — height, weight and stage of growth — so that competition is matched to the body doing the competing.
Developmental stage
Lower injury risk
A real challenge
Space to develop
How It Is Run
League administration
Registration and eligibility
- Member academies enter their own teams; families can also register directly onto a BCSAA team
- Academies submit accurate rosters with proof of age
- Divisions and bio-banded groupings are formed from those rosters
Match officials
- Fixtures are officiated to the Laws of the Game
- Adapted for small-sided youth formats
- Officials operate under the same code of conduct as coaches and players
Discipline
- Misconduct is administered centrally under the association’s Bylaws
- Every party receives written notice of the allegation
- And a genuine opportunity to respond before a decision is made
Bring your academy into the league
Academies apply to BCSAA for a licence. Once admitted, you can enter teams into the divisions that fit your program.