Super-20 League News Release
Monday, January 13, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. – The Super-20 League, the longest-running U20 men’s North American amateur league, has added six new teams for the 2014 season with additional announcements expected in the coming weeks. The 2014 Super-20 League season will kick off in mid May with teams competing for a spot at the 2014 Super-20 League Championship presented by Nike in July at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Among the additions for 2014 are the Grand Rapids Crew Juniors, the Football Club of Philadelphia, the Football Club of New Jersey, Elite Training Academy (Virginia), Jacksonville Youth Soccer Club (Fla.) and Samba FC (Texas).
“We are happy to welcome the six new teams that have joined the Super-20 League for the 2014 season thus far,” PDL and Super-20 League Senior Director Ryan Brooks said. “The quality of new additions to the league is a reflection of the pedigree of the existing teams, and we look forward to announcing more quality additions soon."
Many Super-20 League teams serve as part of reserve team systems for MLS, USL PRO and PDL teams. The league features teams competing in regional divisions and playing in 8-12 regular season matches throughout the summer months.
The Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer have been part of the Super-20 League since 2007 and consider it to be a valuable part of the club’s full development pyramid. The most recent example of this was the recent signing of Homegrown Player Harrison Shipp, who trained with the club’s Super-20 League and PDL teams from 2010-13 before joining the senior squad early in the new year.
“The Super-20 League provides another platform of our player development pyramid, providing a link between our MLS Academy and PDL programming for not only our Academy alumni in college, but also for our age 16 through 18 Academy players that we want to expose to the next step in our pyramid in a highly competitive college-age platform,” Chicago Fire Director of Player Development John Dorn said. “We have been a proud member of the Super-20 League since 2007 and look forward to the continued evolution of the league within our MLS player development system.”
Other returning teams for 2014 include USL PRO’s Harrisburg City Islanders, who saw former U20 player Tom Brandt compete for the club’s senior team in the past two seasons, and IMG Academy Bradenton, Reading United AC and the Westchester Flames of the PDL.
The Super-20 League Championship serves as an important player identification event for MLS, USL PRO and the PDL, as well as for U.S. National Teams. Sixteen teams traveled to IMG Academy in 2013, with Force FC Academy of Michigan defeating Pacesetter SC of Ohio 2-0 to capture the title.
The application deadline for the 2014 Super-20 League season is February 28 (Super-20 Application).