MLS clubs are taking a variety of approaches in response to the league's Youth Development Initiative, which requires them to have youth programs in place this year.
David Beckham signed a contract with Manchester United on May 2, 1988 — the day he turned 13. Cristiano Ronaldo left home at age 11 for Sporting Lisbon. Wayne Rooney signed with Everton at 9. At age 7, Ronaldinho joined Gremio.
Such players made their professional debuts for the clubs they joined as boys because soccer clubs in the rest of the world field youth teams to feed their first teams.
And when those players eventually moved on, their original clubs profited handsomely — rewarded with transfer fees for having ''developed'' the youngsters into stars.
The clubs see the investment in player development pay off even if just a handful of the thousands of players from their youth ranks reach the first team.
It's a system that is figuratively and literally foreign to American sports, but is now being adopted by MLS, whose Youth Development Initiative requires its clubs to field youth teams and gives them rights to the players they nurture.
''Those clubs which develop the best programs will reap the rewards on their senior roster,'' said MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis. ''This new focus on youth development at the local level will provide tremendous additional opportunities for the best young American players and will better connect our clubs to their communities.''
This year, MLS clubs will be required to field at least two teams, in the U-15 and U-18 age groups — and they may field U-25, U-20, U-18, U-16, U-15, U-14 squads. Players who are registered with the club for two years and meet annual training/game day requirements — e.g. 100 days for U-15 to U-18 players — can be added directly to the team's first-team roster instead of going into the draft.
MLS clubs are responding with a variety of approaches. As to be expected, the 13 teams won't duplicate the international models overnight.
With two facilities, in Bell Gardens and San Bernardino, amid a large Mexican-American community full of Chivas Guadalajara supporters eager to see their children wear the red-and-white stripes, Chivas USA comes out of the gates with the most ambitious program.
Dutchman Dennis te Kloese, who ran the player scouting department at Chivas Guadalajara in 2003-04, oversees 17 coaches and coordinators at its Bell Gardens Academy and San Bernardino Academy.
Since its inaugural season of 2005, Chivas USA has fielded a U-19 squad, from which three players have moved to the first team on ''developmental'' contracts.
Chivas USA has also forged partnerships with Real So Cal — ranked No. 4 in Soccer America's 2007 rankings of the nation's top boys clubs — and five teams that compete in the PDL, the USL's men's amateur league.
Chivas USA covers the costs of its U-19 players, but the rest pay monthly fees and for registration. Indeed, most of the MLS clubs will charge their players.
Chivas USA's Southern California rival, the Los Angeles Galaxy, has not formalized its plans. The Galaxy has been offered a partnership by the Coast Soccer League whereby select players make guest appearances for the Galaxy while remaining with their CSL clubs. But if the Galaxy goes its own path, CSL Premier Competition chairman Gary Sparks says their teams will not be welcome in the CSL, the area's most competitive league.
Moreover, Sparks says the Galaxy would risk losing 40,000 competitive youth players and their families as Galaxy customers if it recruits players from CSL teams.
''The coaches in California make a living by how well they do in state competitions, national competitions, tournament competitions,'' says Sparks, ''and if their best players are continuously recruited away by MLS, their chances of winning reduce, their income reduces. They won't be happy.''
Indeed, a feared backlash from the youth soccer community — a prime ticket-sales target — has made some MLS clubs cautious, even though one would expect that a successful feeder system needs to capture the area's top players.
The Houston Dynamo's program is a compromise designed not to compete with the area's established youth clubs. It is partnering with the South Texas Youth Soccer Association. Players will remain with their clubs, but play under the Dynamo banner in weekly training sessions and tournaments. There will be no charge to the players. But because the Dynamo doesn't want its activities to conflict with the players' existing clubs' dates, participating youngsters will face a demanding schedule if they're to meet the ''Home Grown Player'' requirement — 100 days with the Dynamo plus play for their own clubs.
FC Dallas jumped right into the middle of the North Texas' youth soccer setup by taking over an existing club, Dallas Inter SC, in 2005. It's now FC Dallas and is one of the area's largest clubs, with teams at every age group — 70 boys and girls teams and another 40 ''academy'' teams at the U-7 to U-10 age groups. It lays to claim to the ''first fully integrated vertical player development system in MLS.'' The FC Dallas teams train at Pizza Hut Park, and its top teams compete in the Classic League.
The Chicago Fire took a similar path before the Initiative, taking over an existing club and renaming it the Chicago Fire Juniors in 2003. But it now has plans to create an academy team, in a joint venture with Illinois YSA ODP, that will be based at the Fire's Toyota Park home. The first academy team will be comprised of 40 U-14 to U-18 players selected from ODP tryouts this summer.
MLS teams in youth soccer-rich areas like Chicago will compete for the best players with established clubs, like the Chicago Magic and Sockers FC. Teams in areas were youth soccer isn't as competitive face a different problem. So MLS is allowing Real Salt Lake and Kansas City to stake ''Home Territory'' claims far outside the 75-mile radius it is limiting most clubs to.
Real Salt Lake has adopted the Tampa Knights and turned them into RSL Florida. It will also have former MLS star Robin Fraser create a Real team with select players in Arizona, and is looking into creating a Super Y-League regional league for its Utah-based teams that would include teams from Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho and New Mexico.
On the distant horizon in Salt Lake is a residency academy in partnership with Real Madrid that would aim to lure talent from around the nation to Utah.
The Kansas City Wizards are in the early stages, but have hired former U.S. international Peter Vermes as technical director, and he will oversee the KC youth program. Vermes, who was 2000 MLS champ with the Wizards, most recently ran the Blue Valley youth club in Kansas.
Also starting from scratch and yet to create a master plan are Toronto FC, New England and Colorado, while Columbus Crew Juniors will compete in Ohio's USYS leagues.
D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls, however, have had youth teams since 2002 and 2003, respectively. Their teams competed in the Super Y-League and other tournaments. They'll continue playing in the Super Y-League while seeking other competitions for their year-round squads. Some Red Bull teams will, for example, compete in state cup and the Region I league.
''Now that we can bring players into our first team, our work really has a purpose,'' says Giovanni Savarese, the New York Red Bulls director of youth soccer and player development.
(This article originally appeared in the March 2007 issue of Soccer America Magazine.)