Euro clubs expand brand with U.S. academies
A growing number of elite European soccer clubs are bringing their brand to the USA and attaching it to existing club structures to form a bona fide youth academy or, in one case, building a full operation.
Most recently, FC Barcelona, the reigning European and Spanish champion, and Arsenal FC, one of England’s largest and most established clubs, have announced they will be opening academies in the USA in the coming months as the evolution of elite-level soccer training for young Americans continues.
Arsenal is scheduled to host tryouts this week for the first Arsenal Soccer School in the USA. The tryouts and academy will be based in Mount Olive, N.J., and operated by a New York-based company called Summerfuel.
In its first year, the Arsenal School said it plans to have teams from the under-6 to under-10 divisions.
Meanwhile, Barcelona has partnered with consulting group ISL Futbol to open its newest fully recognized academy in Charlotte under the name FCB Escola. ISL Futbol was co-founded by Marc Segarra, Alex Isern and Mac Lackey. Segarra is the son of legendary Barcelona club captain Joan Segarra, while Lackey is an American entrepreneur.
The ISL partners have operated summer camps in a number of locations across the USA, enrolling about 3,000 players. Officials said the new ISL academy is expected to reach 350 to 400 players in its first year across all age groups up to the high school level.
“We have been operating in camps. That’s short. It’s intense, but it’s in your system,” Segarra told USA TODAY Sports. “We want to turn those short interactions into long ones. We want the players and families to really enjoy our system, and we want to have an impact on those players for a full year.”
Barcelona and Arsenal join more established affiliates from European powers such as Liverpool FC and Bayern Munich, all of which are competing against traditional American developmental academies to attract the most talented, young — some- times very young — soccer players in regions across the country.
Liverpool FC International Academy America began in 2006 in Dallas and has brought on partner clubs that have assumed the Liverpool name in the San Francisco Bay Area, Michigan, South Carolina and west Florida. In total, the locations enroll 4,000 to 5,000 players from under-6 to high school, said Peter Brody, the chief executive officer of Liverpool FC International Academy America.
Bayern Munich partnered with Global Premier Soccer, a Massachusetts-based soccer academy system that has academy operations in 15 other states. The Massachusetts base serves as the hub of FC Bayern’s American academy operations and features teams across all age divisions.
“It’s another waypoint on the development timeline,” American Youth Soccer Organization acting executive director Mike Hoyer said. “There are people that will be attracted to that European brand. Will it make for a better soccer experience? That still comes down to the coaching that is delivered in that club.”
Hoyer said he hasn’t seen any impact in player numbers or level of competition because the European brands have taken over existing clubs in what he termed a form of corporate consolidation. “For us, it’s not a big concern,” he said. “They’re trying to attract parents that will open up their checkbook to any big name that comes in front of them.”
Like most elite soccer academies, the European club subbrands come with a premium price tag. Only one academy was willing to disclose its annual fees, with the new FCBEscola in Charlotte planning an average cost of roughly $2,000 a year.
None of the American academies has explicit rights to sign any potential stars unearthed in their academy teams, but the academies said there will be a chance for players to get exposure overseas and in front of academy decision-makers.