New England Premiership returns to play amid pandemic, leadership change

Aztec SC players compete during a COVID-19 style game. (Courtesy photo)

The past six months have produced ups and downs for the New England Premiership, the largest youth soccer league in the region.

The NEP lost its entire Spring 2020 season when the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest this past March, and its member clubs (now 22 strong) felt the financial and real-world implications of that. There was also the downfall of Global Premier Soccer this past June, which sparked a free agency of sorts as teams and players searched for new homes. For one more, longtime league director Sean Carey departed and founded the New England Club Soccer League amid an ever-changing youth soccer landscape.

That creates quite the challenge for new league director Adam Scott, who formally began his role Aug. 20 after previously leading NEP club Liverpool FC International Academy Massachusetts. He’s intimately familiar with the league, and acknowledged this pivotal juncture as the 2020-21 season gets underway.