TAMPA, Fla. - The United Soccer League (USL) confirmed on Thursday the founding members of the USL Academy League’s Southeast Division. The inaugural season of Academy League play is due to kick off in Spring 2021 and will provide clubs in all three of the USL's senior divisions with an elite youth development and competition platform.
“We’ve developed excellent relationships with the local youth soccer clubs through our Legion FC D-League,” said Legion FC President and General Manager Jay Heaps, “and now we are excited to take the next step and participate in the inaugural season of the USL Academy League in May of 2021. Legion FC will field a boys U-17 academy team that’s an augmentation of the great youth clubs in Alabama and is designed to coordinate with these clubs to further help the development of young soccer players in Alabama.”
Tryouts for the Legion FC USL Academy team will be conducted in the spring of 2021, and parents and players are encouraged to keep an eye on bhmlegion.com for more information moving forward.
USL Academy Player Development Model
The structure of the USL Academy League provides USL clubs a progressive model to develop local players for their Senior Team, at a lessened cost of traditional pre-professional academies. Doing so will also enable far more clubs and communities to participate, allowing for the regional division format which limits travel demand to teams and families.
The six clubs set to compete in the Southeast Division of the inaugural USL Academy League are as follows:
Birmingham Legion FC: Birmingham, AL (USL Championship)
East Atlanta FC: Atlanta, GA (USL League Two)
Peachtree City MOBA: Atlanta, GA (USL League Two)
South Carolina United: Columbia, SC (USL League Two)
South Georgia Tormenta FC: Statesboro, GA (USL League One)
Southern Soccer Academy: Atlanta, GA (USL League Two)
The Northeast and Atlantic Divisions were announced this week, and regional alignment announcements continue on Monday with the unveiling of the Florida Division. For more information on the USL Academy League, visit usl-academy.com/academy- league.
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