The United States U-19 women's national soccer team is a youth

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior women's national team, as well as bridging the development between the two major youth competition levels of the U-17 and the U-20.

History

The United States U-19 became active as the primary youth-level national team in 2001 when the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

decided to change the age limit from the U-18 to U-19. The move was in preparation for

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

's introduction of the first ever FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship (which has since changed to U-20). The new U-19 squad won the inaugural

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...

in Canada, where they beat the hosts on a

golden goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

by captain and future United States women's national team mainstay

Lindsay Tarpley Lindsay Ann Tarpley Snow (; born September 22, 1983) is an American former professional soccer forward and midfielder. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning gold at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and was a membe ...

. Five other members of that same team would join Tarpley as teammates on the senior international team:

Rachel Buehler Rachel Marie Buehler Van Hollebeke ( ; ; born August 26, 1985) is an American former soccer player who last played as a defender for the Portland Thorns FC and the United States women's national soccer team. In 2015, Van Hollebeke retired fro ...

Lori Chalupny Lori Christine Chalupny Lawson (; born January 29, 1984) is a former American soccer player. As a member of the United States women's national soccer team, she won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. She is curr ...

Heather O'Reilly Heather Ann O'Reilly (born January 2, 1985) is an American former professional women's soccer player who played as a midfielder. She played for the United States women's national soccer team (USWNT), with whom she won three Olympic gold medals ...

Leslie Osborne Leslie Marie Osborne (born May 27, 1983) is a retired American soccer defensive midfielder who last played for the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL in 2013. She is a former member of the United States women's national soccer team and previously pl ...

and

Angie Woznuk Angela Beth Woznuk Kerr (; born March 29, 1985) is an American former soccer midfielder who played professionally through October 21, 2014. Her career culminated with Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League and she played as a ...

. Other notable 2002 team members were

Kelly Wilson Kelly Louise Wilson (born 1 January 1984) is an Australian professional basketball player. Early life Wilson was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and grew up in the Victorian country town of Leongatha. She played her junior basketball for Leongath ...

, the all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the U-20 team, as well as two-time

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

winner

Kerri Hanks Kerri Michel Hanks Petersen (; born September 2, 1985) is an American soccer forward who last played for Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer. She is currently the competitive program director for Gainesville Soccer Alliance in Gainesvill ...

, who would go on to become one of the most decorated players in women's collegiate soccer. In 2004, the U-19 team placed third at the

2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 10 to 27 November 2004. It was the second edition of the youth tournament for women put together by FIFA, before being renamed FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship for the 2006 edition ...

in Thailand, after having been defeated by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the semifinals. The tournament marked the world championship debut of future senior national team members

Yael Averbuch Yael Averbuch West (born Yael Friedman Averbuch; November 3, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player. She was formerly the executive director of the National Women's Soccer League Players Association and is the current general ma ...

Stephanie Lopez Stephanie Renee Cox (; born April 3, 1986) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who played as a defender. She is currently the head coach of the Puget Sound Loggers women's soccer team. As a player, Cox played as a defend ...

Amy Rodriguez Amy Joy Rodriguez Shilling (; born February 17, 1987) is an American soccer coach and retired professional player who most recently served as head coach of Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). During a career that spanned 1 ...

and

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC, OL Reign of the National Wom ...

. 2004 also saw the first loss to a similar-aged team in the history of the program when the squad lost to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The U-19 team became dormant in 2005 when U.S. Soccer raised the age of the squad from U-19 to U-20. The move was, again, in response to FIFA's altering of the competition age from U-19 to U-20. The team subsequently had only periodic competitions until 2019, when the Federation (under general manager

Kate Markgraf Kathryn Michele Markgraf (; born August 23, 1976) is the former General Manager of the United States women's national soccer team and a retired American professional soccer defender. She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars in the WPS, ...

) reinstated all youth-level teams in their own right.

Competitive record

FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship

Pan American Games

CONCACAF Women's U-19 Championship

Recent schedule and results

2024

2025

Current squad

The following 24 players were called up for the March 2025 training camp. ''Caps and goals are updated as of February 26, 2025 after the match against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

.''

Recent call-ups

The following players were named to a squad in the last 12 months. *February 2025 friendlies. *June 2024 friendlies.

Coaches

Tracey Leone Tracey Marie Leone (; born May 5, 1967) is an American retired association football, soccer midfielder who was a member of the United States women's national soccer team, United States national team. She was the first American to win a world ch ...

(2001–2004) * Mark Krikorian (2004) *

Jitka Klimková Jitka Klimková (born 20 August 1974) is a Czech football coach and former football player. In September 2021 she was appointed head coach of the Football Ferns, the New Zealand women's national football team. Biography During her playing car ...

(2015–2017) * Twila Kaufman (2020) *

Carrie Kveton Carrie Kveton (born June 29, 1980, in Dallas, Texas) is an American soccer player who played as a midfielder and defender, before moving on to become a coach. Kveton played professionally in Denmark. She is currently the coach of the United Stat ...

(2023– )

References

{{USSoccer Women's national under-19 association football teams North American national under-19 association football teams Under-19 Women's under-19