The under-20 World Cup has top players ‘caught in between’ club and country

The women’s under-20 World Cup should be an opportunity for young players to make a name for themselves. Instead, the tournament being played in Poland from Sept. 5 to 27 presents a different challenge.

Under FIFA rules, clubs must release players selected for national team duty when a camp or competition falls within the governing body’s international window. That means clubs and universities have the ultimate decision — not the players or their national teams.

English midfielder Erica Meg Parkinson, 18, plays for the North Carolina Courage in the NWSL. She was called up to the senior England team and was in the U-20 World Cup squad until the Courage intervened.

“We want our players to have the opportunities to play in the biggest games on the biggest stage, and we’re so proud of Erica,” Courage chief soccer officer and sporting director Ceri Bowley said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we also have a duty to our club, and given the situation we are facing with injuries, we need Erica.”

Bowley called the decision difficult and emphasized the grace with which Parkinson handled the news. Her English teammate in North Carolina, Lauryn Thompson, made the U-20 roster but later picked up an injury and had to withdraw.

Parkinson played in the Courage’s 6-0 win away to Chicago Stars on Sunday to take them to third in the NWSL table with seven matches of the regular season to go.

But Parkinson’s situation is not in isolation. Several more on the U.S. roster face the same issue, which has not just impacted their club careers but the overall development of the U.S. youth system. It is why this week’s “Three Words,” a weekly column that unpacks key players, teams, and moments in global women’s soccer, is about the impact of young players being …

Caught in between

Players are beginning their professional careers earlier than ever. Sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, Olivia Moultrie, Melanie Barcenas, Alex Pfeiffer, Kimmi Ascanio, and Jordyn Bugg, headed to the NWSL as teenagers rather than the NCAA route.

Lily Yohannes‘ family moved to the Netherlands from Virginia when she was 10; she came through Ajax’s academy before making her professional debut at 16, and now plays for OL Lyonnes in France.

A professional salary helps, but players don’t typically make those leaps unless they aspire to compete in a World Cup. Many senior national team coaches expect them to have tournament experience by the time they do.

That has come in the form of the U-17 and U-20 tournaments. Earlier editions of these tournaments have resulted in scheduling conflicts with the college season, but programs were and remain willing to release players.

That hasn’t proven true across all NWSL clubs. Barcenas, Ascanio, Pfeiffer, and Bugg, who regularly received call-ups to the U-20s, were left off the U.S. roster, prompting challenging questions for head coach Vicky Jepson.

“What’s sad is when a player is desperate to represent their country and they’re not being released,” Jepson said last month. “We can’t control that.

“The only thing that we can do is make sure we select a squad of players that are in a good position to go and compete at this World Cup.”

Eight of the 21 players on the U.S. roster play in the NWSL; the rest are collegiate players who left the start of the NCAA season to head to Poland.

Forward Barcenas and midfielder Ascanio play for the San Diego Wave, comfortable in the top half of the league table.

Barcenas is among the Wave’s most prolific goal-scorers (five) behind Trinity Byars (10) and alongside rookie Lia Godfrey. With the prolonged absence of High Impact Player signing Catarina Macario due to a heel injury, the Wave need a playmaker like Ascanio, who has recorded a goal and three assists.

Bay FC have struggled for most of the season, hovering above the bottom of the table in 15th place, but have not stood in the way of Kennedy Fuller to captain the U.S. She has proven just as crucial to her California club as Pfeiffer; both have five goal contributions this season, but only one is in Poland.

There’s a longer-term concern too. When the senior World Cup comes around, and national team coaches consider their rosters, how will they assess players who have missed out on the experience a U-20 World Cup provides?

U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes has made her stance on the tournament clear, telling ESPN last month that she considered the U-20 World Cup “the biggest platform for young players to play in.”

Hayes’ tenure as USWNT coach has been defined by her focus on development. She often credits Spain and Japan for their focus on the U-17 and U-20 World Cups. Those tournaments served as launchpads for stars like Spanish midfielder and two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas and forward Salma Paralluelo, Colombia winger Linda Caicedo, and Japan winger Maika Hamano.

“When I speak about this subject, I am sending a warning that I am worried,” Hayes said. “I am massively worried about the direction for and the lack of those experiences for American players.”

Hayes has channeled those concerns by filling the USWNT calendar with high-level fixtures. Of the 10 matches the senior team has played this year, seven have been against teams ranked among the top 20 in the world by FIFA: No. 9 Canada, No. 20 Colombia, No. 5 Japan and No. 7 Brazil.

The U.S. faced Japan three times in April, and in June they traveled to Brazil, along with the U-23 group, to play the 2027 World Cup hosts twice. The Brazil friendlies marked the first time those two teams met in South America since 2014 and were a significant departure from the vast majority of matches the U.S. plays at home.

This, Hayes said, was to expose senior players to environments in which they can’t enjoy the comfort of home.

It helps that players like Bugg, Gisele Thompson, Claire Hutton, and Ally Sentnor featured at the 2024 U-20 World Cup in Colombia. They placed third, the best finish since the U.S. won the tournament in 2012. Each has gone on to earn senior caps.

The U.S. under-20 group was equally busy in its World Cup preparations, playing Brazil in April, France in June, and England and Colombia in July. After losing 2-1 to Italy in their opener, they followed up that performance with a hard-fought draw against Japan.

The clearest solution for FIFA to acknowledge the U-20 World Cup is to create a window in the international calendar. Clubs would have to release players.

Until players are given that agency, they and their international dreams will be at the mercy of their clubs.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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