RICHMOND, Va. (April 21, 2026) - The ECNL is proud to announce the release of the 2026-27 Coaching Professional Development (CPD) content in the ECNL Coach Education Center, powered by Coaches' Voice, designed to help deliver the best youth sports experience in the world for ECNL players, coaches and clubs.
As part of ECNL's commitment to raising coaching standards and enhancing player development, all ECNL and ECNL RL coaches are required to complete five CPD hours every season in the ECNL Coach Education Center, powered by Coaches Voice.
Launched in August 2024, the ECNL Coach Education Center is a dedicated online learning environment and groundbreaking digital education platform built to provide ongoing professional development resources to coaches and clubs across the country. Last year, the platform saw more than 450 clubs and nearly 6,700 coaches engage in more than 33,000 hours of professional development. Every coach, every club and every hour has contributed to building a smarter, more consistent coaching culture across the ECNL, ECNL Regional League, and Pre-ECNL.
The new CPD content launching today will focus on three Core Modules dedicated to coaching excellence:
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Zurab Amirian, head of coaching and methodology at Dutch giants Feyenoord, on the importance of developing a clear club vision and identity.
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Leading coach developer Russell Earnshaw on the gamification of training sessions.
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Doug Lemov, ECNL Methodology Advisor, delivers the second part of his presentation on how memory works in relation to soccer practice and how coaches can apply theories of working memory, encoding and retrieval in practice.
The new CPD will also introduce three new practical coaching sessions for 2026-27, all filmed exclusively for Coaches' Voice around the theme of counterattacking:
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Norwich City lead foundation phase coach Scott Allison leads a series of three practices with a shared theme of counterattacking.
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Wolves youth development phase lead coach Wes Hughes takes his players through a series of practices designed to develop their counterattacking play.
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Welsh professional football manager Nathan Jones's match preparation session for Bournemouth's Under-21 players, focusing on turning effective defensive shapes into clinical counterattacks.
Three additional Tactical modules complete the set of nine new learning resources for the season ahead:
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Cover breaking lines with Pro Licence coach Luke Benstead, who explains some of the key principles and discusses the technical qualities that equate to success.
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Experienced Chelsea academy coach Ed Brand on the key principles of pressing.
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Gary O'Neil, most recently head coach of Racing Strasbourg in France's Ligue 1, explains some of his key principles, both in and out of possession, on the Coaches' Voice tactics board.
To learn more about the ECNL Coach Education Center, click here.
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About Coaches' Voice:
Coaches' Voice connects players, coaches, and clubs with world-class continuous learning and experiences. Through elite tournaments, player and coach education tours, online learning, specialist courses, and session planning tools, Coaches' Voice ensures that coaches are fully equipped to create the best possible environment for player development.
For more information, please visit https://learning.coachesvoice.com/.
About the ECNL:
The ECNL is the nation's leading youth soccer development platform for America's top soccer players. The ECNL mission to provide the best youth sports experience in the world drives constant innovations in competitions and experiences for players, parents, families, coaches, referees, and partners. The ECNL has questioned convention and challenged the status quo of youth sport since 2009, pushing boundaries and striving for unmatched excellence. Together with its clubs and club leaders, the ECNL creates unforgettable memories and supports the development of youth players into college stars, professionals, world champions, and leaders.
www.TheECNL.com
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