Home Forums Long Island & Eastern New York Soccer Message Boards BOTN Main Message Board Full list of member clubs in the new MLS youth academy league

Major League Soccer’s elite youth development platform will encompass over 11,000 players across 113 clubs and six age groups, including 30 professional MLS academies, 5 USL academies and 78 additional elite academies.

The platform will feature competition across six age groups: U-13, U-14, U-15, U-16, U-17 and U-19.

Founding Members

Albion SC – CA
Atlanta United – GA
Austin FC – TX
Ballistic United – CA
Baltimore Armour – MD
Barca Residency Academy – AZ
Beachside of Connecticut – CT
Bethesda SC – MD
Blau Weiss Gottschee – NY
Breakers – CA
Cedar Stars Academy Bergen – NJ
Cedar Stars Academy Monmouth – NJ
Chargers Soccer Club – FL
Charlotte FC – NC
Chicago FC United – IL
Chicago Fire FC – IL
Chula Vista FC – CA
Cincinnati United Premier Soccer Club – OH
City SC – CA
Colorado Rapids – CO
Columbus Crew SC – OH
D.C. United – DC
De Anza Force – CA
Empire United Soccer Academy – NY
FC Cincinnati – OH
FC Dallas – TX
FC Delco – PA
FC Greater Boston Bolts – MA
FC Westchester – NY
Florida Rush Soccer Club – FL
Houston Dynamo – TX
IMG Academy – FL
Indiana Fire Academy – IN
Inter Miami CF – FL
Internationals – OH
Jacksonville FC – FL
L.A. United Futbol Academy – CA
LA Galaxy – CA
LA Surf Soccer Club – CA
Lanier Soccer Academy – GA
Los Angeles Football Club – CA
Metropolitan Oval – NY
Miami Rush Kendall SC – FL
Michigan Wolves – MI
Minnesota United FC – MN
MLS St. Louis – MO (begins in 2021)
Montreal Impact – QC
Murrieta Surf Soccer Club – CA
Nashville SC – TN
NEFC – MA
New England Revolution – MA
New York City FC – NY
New York Red Bulls – NJ
New York Soccer Club – NY
Nomads – CA
Oakwood Soccer Club – CT
Orlando City SC – FL
PA Classics – PA
Philadelphia Union – PA
Phoenix Rising FC – AZ
Player Development Academy – NJ
Portland Timbers – OR
Real Colorado – CO
Real Salt Lake – UT
RGV FC Toros Academy – TX
RISE Soccer Club – TX
RSL Arizona – AZ
Sacramento Republic – CA
Saint Louis FC – MO
San Antonio FC – TX
San Jose Earthquakes – CA
Santa Barbara Soccer Club – CA
SC Del Sol – AZ
Seacoast United – NH
Seattle Sounders FC – WA
San Francisco Elite Academy – CA
SF Glens – CA
Shattuck-St. Mary’s – MN
Silicon Valley SA – CA
Sockers FC Chicago – IL
Solar Soccer Club – TX
South Florida Football Academy – FL
Southern Soccer Academy – GA
Sporting Kansas City – KS
Tampa Bay United Rowdies – FL
Toronto FC – ON
Total Futbol Academy – CA
TSF Academy – NJ
Valeo Futbol Club – MA
Vancouver Whitecaps FC – BC
VARDAR Soccer Club – MI
Ventura County Fusion – CA
West Florida Flames – FL
Weston FC – FL

Expansion Clubs

Achille FC – DC
Albion SC Las Vegas – NV (begins in 2021)
Alexandria Soccer Association – VA
Bayside Futebol Club – RI
Black Watch Premier Albany – NY
FC Bay Area – CA
Houston Dynamo Unidos – TX
Inter Atlanta FC – GA
Javanon FC – KY
Lamorinda Soccer Club – CA
Las Vegas Sports Academy – NV (begins in 2021)
Michigan Jaguars – MI
Midwest United FC – MI
Napa United – CA
Orlando City Youth Soccer Club – FL
Real Jersey FC – NJ
Sheriffs Fútbol Club – CA
Springfield South County Youth Club – VA
Total Football Club – TX

Members by state/province

ARIZONA

Barca Residency Academy
Phoenix Rising FC
RSL Arizona
SC Del Sol

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Vancouver Whitecaps FC
CALIFORNIA


Albion SC
Ballistic United
Breakers
Chula Vista FC
City SC
De Anza Force
FC Bay Area
L.A. United Futbol Academy
LA Galaxy
LA Surf Soccer Club
Los Angeles Football Club
Lamorinda Soccer Club
Murrieta Surf Soccer Club
Napa United
Nomads
Sacramento Republic
San Jose Earthquakes
Santa Barbara Soccer Club
San Francisco Elite Academy
SF Glens
Sheriffs Fútbol Club
Silicon Valley SA
Total Futbol Academy
Ventura County Fusion

COLORADO

Colorado Rapids
Real Colorado

CONNECTICUT

Beachside of Connecticut
Oakwood Soccer Club

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Achille FC
D.C. United

FLORIDA

Chargers Soccer Club
Florida Rush Soccer Club
IMG Academy
Inter Miami CF
Jacksonville FC
Miami Rush Kendall SC
Orlando City SC
Orlando City Youth Soccer Club
South Florida Football Academy
Tampa Bay United Rowdies
West Florida Flames
Weston FC

GEORGIA

Atlanta United
Inter Atlanta FC
Lanier Soccer Academy
Southern Soccer Academy

ILLINOIS

Chicago FC United
Chicago Fire FC
Sockers FC Chicago

INDIANA

Indiana Fire Academy

KANSAS

Sporting Kansas City
KENTUCKY


Javanon FC

MASSACHUSETTS

FC Greater Boston Bolts
NEFC
New England Revolution
Valeo Futbol Club

MARYLAND

Baltimore Armour
Bethesda SC

MICHIGAN

Michigan Jaguars
Michigan Wolves
Midwest United FC
VARDAR Soccer Club

MINNESOTA

Minnesota United FC
Shattuck-St. Mary’s

MISSOURI

MLS St. Louis (begins in 2021)
Saint Louis FC

NEVADA

Albion SC Las Vegas (begins in 2021)
Las Vegas Sports Academy (begins in 2021)

NORTH CAROLINA

Charlotte FC

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Seacoast United

NEW JERSEY

Cedar Stars Academy Bergen
Cedar Stars Academy Monmouth
New York Red Bulls
Player Development Academy
Real Jersey FC
Springfield South County Youth Club
TSF Academy

NEW YORK

Black Watch Premier Albany
Blau Weiss Gottschee
Empire United Soccer Academy
FC Westchester
Metropolitan Oval
New York City FC
New York Soccer Club

OHIO

Cincinnati United Premier Soccer Club
Columbus Crew SC
FC Cincinnati
Internationals

ONTARIO

Toronto FC

OREGON

Portland Timbers

PENNSYLVANIA

FC Delco
PA Classics
Philadelphia Union

QUEBEC

Montreal Impact

RHODE ISLAND

Bayside Futebol Club
TENNESSEE

Nashville SC

TEXAS

Austin FC
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
Houston Dynamo Unidos
RGV FC Toros Academy
RISE Soccer Club
San Antonio FC
Solar Soccer Club
Total Football Club

UTAH

Real Salt Lake

VIRGINIA

Alexandria Soccer Association

WASHINGTON

Seattle Sounders FC

Will the BWP Long Island be part of the BWP Albany elite youth development platform?

There is no way they are going to be able to justify putting any Black Watch Premier Boys team on the field with almost any of the tri-state area teams.

That will get ugly fast.

The club should be ashamed of putting the marketing value of being in this league ahead of what's best for the boys. Just think of the travel involved!

That would be a slap in the face to other LI programs. From the NY list, it seems that the 5 boros clubs are being favored and protected. Westchester and north teams and not one LI team? Please....

There was a gap that needed to get filled in Albany. Albany links to Empire United...Think of the travel from Rochester to pretty much anywhere...Toronto, montreal and Ohio now Albany are the closest. True Black Watch will get slaughtered this year. The 08 squad barely managed a victory last year in EDP North Atlantic Div 1...and then all their talent left for Foundation this summer. The 07's are like EDP div 2 or 3 and arent even competitive locally in Albany. True it was a reach to accept this club. There is a field of dreams potential in Albany but unfortunately BlackWatch is tainted. Too bad Alleycats didnt get consideraion...at least they own a killer facility.

I think the fortunes of BWP are going to change with this announcement. Anyone within a 1-2 drive from club will want to join, each team is going to be upgraded by the time that games are played.

All of the best Albany area 07's and 08's are committed to clubs out of the area. No meaningful upgrade can happen this year it is too late. Certainly next year a significant upgrade can happen but where do you go at u15? Blackwatch has no aspiration to compete in MLS at the older age groups. The club president needs those boys for his high school team.

The selection process for the MLS Academy League requires existing clubs within the region to agree to accept the new club(s). Met Oval and BWG are both in the process of expanding to LI, with the intent of sending the top kids to Queens to potentially play with their 1st teams in the MLS Academy League. Allowing another LI club to enter the MLS picture would result in players being drawn away from the MO and BWG player pools in Nassau and Suffolk. It is not in their best interest, obviously, for this to happen, and both clubs would likely object to/block/vote against any LI club entering the league. Unfortunately, this has more to do about politics than actually developing and identifying players. There are many LI kids that are talented enough to play in the MLS league, but for logistical reasons cannot make it to Queens 3-4 times per week. There are also only so many roster spots at BWG and MO, and, as we all know, it's extremely difficult to unseat an existing player to earn a roster spot. The future seems pretty bleak for talented boys on LI.

Very good summary. With this type of protectionism it is not surprising why the US will never elevate be able to compete with the rest of the world. The MLS will never see the talent out here because of this stupidity. IMO there is enough talent here to support two top level teams, but with the way the system is run, it will never happen. What a joke the MLS is.

Exactly, but I would change it to 3-4 hours.

Now that is funny and if I can see it the world can see it. Have you looked behind that club? Tim Bradbury and a group of extremely low level and unsuccessful training groups which collectively have done nothing of worthiness, and you think a name is going to change that? WTF was BWP thinking? Earth to Steve Freeman.....

Agreed. To expand on this, I was told by a couple of different people, who I would consider to be fairly reliable, that LISC was one of only 2 clubs on LI to apply to the MLS league this go-around. While they do have a very solid roster of coaches and good facilities, they have not had (yet) a record of producing elite boys players over a period of time. As such, it is debatable that they would have been accepted anyway; however, this might have been yet another layer of political "protectionism". Apparently, Met Oval has attempted to get into the GDA/GAL and has been blocked, in a similar fashion, by LISC. If true, no way Met Oval is going to let LISC into the MLS league. These things are bargaining chips that clubs are using to benefit their own organization at the expense of another. There is a lot that can be said about this, but the sad part is that none of this is in the best interest of the players or the sport in general. This is what youth soccer has become.

3-4 hours is Montreal, NYC, Boston, Rochester/Buffalo. North, South, East, West. Those kids arent going to Albany.I'm told BW (and any other expansion club) has two years to probe their worth. If that clock starts this fall that is trouble. That isnt a fair metric/timeframe in a new territory.

The "history of developing elite boys" is a sham requirement, or at the very least, not a requirement that existing members are ever held to.

It was meant sarcastically. What parent is going to drive 1-2 hours each way 3x a week for practice in order to drive 4-5 each way to play 5+ times a season.

Not true, LISC has not blocked Met Oval from GDA or GAL. Met Oval will not get into either of those leagues as ECNL and GAL recognize that Long Island can not truly support more than three elite girls programs without watering down the product. When you had both Fury clubs, LISC, SUSA and EM each of those clubs had one or more age group teams being crap. For once I think the leaders of the GAL and ECNL have it spot on when it comes to elite teams on Long Island.

On the other side, LISC boys program is nowhere near the level of the non-MLS DA teams except perhaps FC Westchester at certain age groups. What FCW has going for it is history as one of the founding members of the DA, it has produced players every year for both Red Bull's and NYCFC, and it has Stephen Carson who easily one o the five best coaches in the area.

Met Oval doesn't even have any girls teams. How can they get GAL or ECNL?

So was there a verdict on the USDA experiment? Did we turn out much better players because of that system? The quality of the senior men's team must be world class by now? I can see we are headed for another re-branding.... were are we looking for coaches and players this time so that we can find better coaches and better players?

There are an unprecedented number of American U23s playing at first division European Clubs.

Not sure that the DA is responsible for that, but I'm not sure that it isn't either.

This is an open league for anybody who wants in! Totally diluted

LISC is a joke and is more like a decent LIJSL club.

You know they only have U13 and U14 in the league right? Rest are EDP

We have more boys playing now than ever. Kids have been going to Europe for years. Did the USDA Program develop better players? I don’t see how with the same clubs, same coaches and same fishing holes that remain unchanged. Show me a sport where kids today aren’t naturally better than 20 years ago? The USSFDA was a rebrand. Nice league with a nice website but fundamentally not much changed relative to player development. How could it.

Boys teams at LISC have only been around for a few years... and Spring was a wash. Whoever is commenting on the quality has really no clue.

If I had to guess, your kids are less than 20 years old? So boys were not playing on Long Island over the past 25 years or that didn’t count?