The FC Cincinnati academy announced on Wednesday the expansion of the club’s player development pyramid with the launch of three new youth teams ahead of the 2020-21 season: pre-academy Under-13 and Under-14 teams, and an Under-19 team.
Additional information will be released in the coming weeks, including staff, discovery and program information.
“Adding these three programs to our established Under-15 and Under-17 teams provide increased opportunities for players to aspire to, and train for, a different level of soccer,” FC Cincinnati director of player development Larry Sunderland said in a statement. “We’ve always held the belief that we need to be the ones to push soccer to a higher level in our region. Expanding our development pyramid allows greater access to our system for more players, families and coaches in our region."
All FC Cincinnati academy (U15, U17, U19) and pre-academy teams (U13, U14) will compete in MLS’ recently-announced elite player development platform. Sixty-five academy clubs will join the MLS club academies to form the new national development partnership. During the 2019-20 season, these clubs played in the now dissolved US Soccer Development Academy.
