As many of you may have seen, the American soccer community was blindsided as the US Soccer Development Academy announced with little warning that they would be closing up shop due to continued financial losses made worse by the pandemic. Member clubs were shocked. With no chance to make contingency plans, many clubs began scrambling to find homes for their youth teams to continue competing against their peers. MLS used the opportunity to push for a new MLS-academy centric competition that will encourage high profile matches against other league clubs and international academy programs. They released plans to incorporate former USSDA clubs that had not yet found homes and announced their partnership with the USYS to open scouting and professional pathways to over 3 million boys and girls across the country.
Introducing the USL Academy Leagues
