13 year old skipping college?

I was there and didn't realize: Moultrie played the second half of the Thorns v U23 pre-season game. No one looked out of place. Pretty amazing. (It was mostly the second string Thorns. U23's won 1-0 on a 6th minute PK.)

 

Well, this sounds indeed impressing. I trust your knowledge of women's football, and if you didn't notice a 13 yo was on the pitch it means that she had to blend in perfectly.

 

Some on this thread have been hard on this girl.
I'm not nearly as expert as many on this site, but I've seen some of her highlights and at least at this stage, she is phenomenal, particularly for her age..
Good luck to her!

 

Short article and video on her appearance.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland...ts-for-portland-thorns-in-preseason-game.html

 

I notice this quote in the article:
"The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) also prevents players from competing in the league until they turn 18".

Do I remember right that there was discussion about this point here on our boards? I seem to remember that someone wasn't completely persuaded that the letter of the rule was actually "preventing" U-18 players to compete in NWSL.

Also, the 18-limit seems quite harsh to me: many players from the pioneer-era of women's football debuted in National Team way younger than this.

 

Someone probably wasn’t persuaded because such a rule isn’t in the roster rules.

There are two references to players under 18. One for foreign minor discovery players, and one for non contracted players during regular season scrimmages and exhibitions.

The restriction on foreign minors is probably to avoid fifa and uefa rules on minor players in other countries.

1) “Discovery Eligibility of a Foreign Minor

A player may be discovery eligible while a minor (under the age of 18) provided her 18th birthday occurs by the time of the close of the next transfer window immediately following the submission of the Discovery Player Request Form, enabling the execution of a Standard Player Agreement during that Discovery Period with a start date coinciding with or following the Player’s 18th birthday, and also provided the player’s international clearance transfers during that same Transfer Window.”

2) Scrimmages and Exhibitions

Teams may hold scrimmages and exhibitions during the regular season with prior notice and approval from the League office. A scrimmage/exhibition Roster must be submitted at least 48 hours in advance to the League for approval.

Teams will be allowed to use Non‐Contracted Players in scrimmages and exhibitions in order to replace any missing Women’s National Team Players on their 18‐20 Player Roster during WNT call‐ ups. It must be a one‐for‐one swap without exceeding the maximum of 20 Players on a Team Roster. Any Non‐Contracted Player must sign a Release and Liability Waiver in advance and be at least 18 years and older to be eligible.

Note the age restriction is only for non contracted players during the regular season. This isn’t the regular season, so it doesn’t apply to Moultrie, for example.


Otherwise there are no age restrictions, at least in the 2018 version ( the only version on the NWSL website)

But check for yourself: http://www.nwslsoccer.com/roster-rules

 

Ok, so this basically means that the author of the above article was wrong.

And, by the rules, Moultrie could hypothetically be signed by a NWSL team and could play in the league as long as she's under contract. Do I understand it right?

 

There are also fifa rules on minors. I’m rusty on what those are. But I recall Lío Messi had to jump through hoops to play young as a foreign minor. Also, The NWSL is different than most leagues around the world in that contracts are with the league, not the team.

But other than that, there are no special NWSL provisions on domestic minors that I see, at least not in the roster rules. I do recall that when they published the college draft rules a player had to be 18 and have exhausted eligibility, but I don’t know if that’s still the case. At the time, I thought it might be to Avoid having to pay the education portion of a youth player the fifa rules mandate. It appears Moultrie already had that covered by Nike.

 

So far the youngest foreign player has been Ellie Carpenter, who was in the W league and Olympics at 15 and joined the Thorns 11 days over 18.

The youngest domestic player so far that I can think of was Mal Pugh, who was born on April 29, 1998 and was reportedly offered a Thorns contract in January 2016 under a process other than discovery.
She decided to instead go on her one year college misadventure and entered the league over 18, I think under a supplemental draft.

 

I guess this age limitations (if they really exist) are much less strict in other leagues. You mention Carpenter playing in Aussie-W-League at 15 and I remember that, at the same age of 15, Homare Sawa was already playing her first World Cup and was an emerging star in Nadeshiko League.

 

Remember they played as domestic players, not foreign players

 

Of course, but wouldn't Moultrie be a domestic player, should she join NWSL?

 

Plenty of time for that yet. She may discover dating and drinking instead.

 

For those of you interested in Moultrie - she's bubbled up in Yahoo Sports. Some interesting issues in the article - age limits for girls vs boys, college play requirements, homegrown player rules, etc.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/olivia...a-topflight-club-so-whats-next-211506300.html

 

Officially having an agent and promoter is making some difference, but my opinion is that her dad has been pretty good about these activities in the last several years. I and others (including Anson) were pretty confident that Moutrie would never find herself in Carolina Blue, and it seems that her handlers are betting that the move to pro at this time is the best choice for a defined result ( as opposed to some time at a college.)

Once again, within 5 years we shall see...whether or not she sees playing time for the Portland senior team. If she has to wait until she is18, then foreign teams could be part of the mix, but it's also very possible that the NWSL could make it officially clear that underage us citizens could play at any age their skill level allowed them.

My worst fear is that she (if it already hasn't happened) will miss so much of the social/emotional development that her young adulthood will become problematic. There are many examples in history of such pitfalls cropping up for prodigies. I wish her well.

 

As a player on the youth academy team her education will be provided by the club.(FIFA rules)

Next we can figure out if the Thorns Academy will claim a transfer fee if another club drafts her. The mls now follows FIFA. It’s only time the equity issue will arise.