MLS (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
MLS has grown its elite youth development platform beyond belief
The MLS Elite Youth Development Platform has shot up in membership during its first four months of planning. The replacement for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy abolished in April, is now on pace to pass the 20,000-player population of the 13-year-old U.S. Soccer youth organization within a year.
The new youth program will quickly outpace the defunct academy. MLS immediately stepped up when U.S. Soccer closed the academy in April, after scrapping the current schedule in its 13th year. Since the boys’ program started in 2007, adding a girls’ wing in 2017, the U.