MLS Unveils New Youth Development Plan After U.S. Soccer Shutters Academy Program

Sixty-five former U.S. Soccer Development Academy teams will join Major League Soccer’s elite player development program.

The federation’s development academy was disbanded April 15 amid financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, leaving some 200 youth teams nationwide with an uncertain future. Launched in 2007, the USSF academy had included competitions in five age groups.

The new program will include teams from all 26 current MLS franchises, the four planned expansion clubs, five USL teams and 60 nonprofessional clubs, and involve some 8,000 players, according to details provided Wednesday by MLS, which had previously said it would fill the void left by the shuttering of the…