For talented young players with aspirations to play at the game’s highest levels, opportunity is everything.
To get to, say, the UEFA Champions League, which is largely considered the top club competition in the world, first you need to get noticed. For the American prospect to get noticed, playing in MLS, the top level of men’s soccer in the United States, certainly helps. To play in MLS, you typically have to climb the ladder through an MLS academy, break into MLS Next Pro, and then get your chance in the first tier – it’s an arduous process for your average 16-year-old.
Increasingly, the USL provides an alternative. Every year, more high-level prospects sign in the second division USL Championship and earn first-team minutes. When Orange County SC announced the transfer of 17-year-old fullback Pedro Guimaraes to the Bundesliga’s Eintracht Frankfurt in early February, it was the latest example of the USL’s arrival as a player for burgeoning stars.
How do the USL’s most successful clubs approach the youth market? Orange County general manager Peter Nugent and Charleston Battery president Lee Cohen talked to Backheeled to explain.
