Came across this academy in Yorkshire, England featuring several American players. American players on the roster: Chip Northrop California Alex Sanchez Nevada Kevin Acevido Virginia Joey Spivak New Jersey Akil Howard New York CJ Lyle Connecticut Brandon Roane Texas Justin Saul California Ryan Hungerford Nevada Drew McPartland Nevada Eden Spinks New York Zach Hathaway Massachusetts Fong Her Minnesota Nick Pastuhov California Delano Brown Massachusetts Juan Palacio California Andy Caesar Texas Justin Casanovas New Jersey Kjell Stray-Gunderson Texas http://internationalasa.com/index.php New York Post article about the program and some of the players. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/going_to_england_hQpSE5hB2fOYcwwjkmQmqL
Assuming that's cut and pasted from the official website, the misspelling of a couple of clubs is a huge red flag that it's not the most professional operation in the world. But Manchester "Untied" is worth a chuckle. Fong her? I don't even know her!!!
It is all copied directly from their website. I have to admit I chuckled while typing up that list of players.
Chip Northrop is Charles Northrop formerly of Nomads SC http://www.nomadssoccer.org/teams/14189837/18780779-14189920/20064581.html Alex Sanchez was at Heidelberg University for a while and apparently plays as a defender, midfielder, and forward http://www.heidelberg.edu/athletics/teams/msoccer/bios Kevin Acevedo is a midfielder from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. http://uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/acevedo_kevin00.html Akil Howard is a defender that plated with the University of Buffalo. http://uwmpanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/acevedo_kevin00.html Spivak and Roane were discussed in the RRFCM thread. CJ Lyle is from the NYRB academy http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/news/2010/04/red-bulls-academy-update-april-26 Justin Saul I'm not sure about. Perhaps this guy: http://profiles.berecruited.com/athletes/279462 Drew McPartland a defender, went to HS in Nevada, not much else: http://profiles.berecruited.com/cgi...=10&orderby=created&order=DESC&photo=50495976 Not much on Hungerford, Her, Palacio, or Casanovas Eden Spinks was a forward in HS in New York. Part of regional ODP squad. Zach Hathaway is a MF. Story on him from his local paper: http://www.wickedlocal.com/ipswich/...y-to-develop-skills-at-English-soccer-academy Pastuhov played MF in HS, otherwise not much. Delano Brown MF/F who was prolific goal scorer in HS in Boston. Andy Caesar is a GK Stray-Gundersen is a MF/F http://trainer.scoutingsolutions.com/websitefiles/1/file/TFC%2091_92%20Player%20Profiles/Kjell%20COLLEGE%20PROFILE.pdf
Interesting radio interview with one of the founders of IASA from earlier this year. Sounds like the guys will get around 3 times more games than they would at a typical US university. They also talk some ODP and NCAA vs academy system. http://www.richmond.ac.uk/news/international-academic-soccer-academy-radio-interview.aspx
I know Brandon Roane and Andy Caesar personally. From what I know the academy is located in Leeds, England. I'm not sure about the spelling mistakes, but the group is given a good opportunity to play against many high quality teams. Not only that, but they will be able to be scouted by MANY clubs. I agree there is some allure to playing in Europe while schooling so they can really take advantage of Americans who love soccer. Roane is a forward - Caesar is a GK who played with a professional club in Panama City last year (did not sign a contract so he did not ruin eligibility with NCAA Incarnate Word). He also made the U-20 (I think?) Panama team. I think he is an American citizen, though. I'm not sure....
Thanks for posting this. My inclination would be not to add these guys to the Yanks Abroad list unless they are playing in some kind of national competition, which it looks like they aren't. (The RRFCM reserves played in an actual Belgian league, I believe, which arguably made them a bit more relevant.) Programs like this, and barnstorming squads, and others that basically get American players in front of foreign clubs, are increasingly common. I haven't seen loads of examples of players getting signed in unusual numbers as a result of their participation, but that may just be because I'm not looking in the right places. Still, it's an interesting phenomenon.
It is interesting and seems to happen more and more. There is a YA playing in Romania that went to some type of intense training in Romania and ended up signing with a pro team.http://www.intensesoccer.com/home.html The problem with this one, in terms of any kids signing, are work permits unless they want to keep the kids in the country for 5 years. I think this could be why they aren't playing in a league but I could be wrong. I know the rules for pros, even semi-pro, is that you can't play for any team that charges admission unless you have a wp or EU passport. I know it may surprise some people but admission is charged pretty much to right above Sunday League. I don't know how old a lot of these kids are so they could play in youth leagues, age permitting, youth league teams wouldn't charge admission obviously. Edit: This seems to be a very new program according to the website it was started in 2010. They do play in a league according to the website I'll look for more info.
Another CJ? CJ Clifford? Clifford played at NYRB, Liverpool, and with the youth nats at Nike Friendlies. http://www.richmond.ac.uk/news/socc...sign-blue-chip-football-recruit-from-usa.aspx Edit: All right I'm learning more. Apparently the visa they get allows them to work 20 hours a week so they can play semi-pro football if they want and are good enough to do so. Club name: IASA Richmond F.C. League: West Yorkshire League (11th division)
I agree with the decision not to place them on the YA master list. I know absolutely nothing about levels as low as the West Yorkshire League (minimal knowledge down to the 8th division). It seems to be more of a college-type system and less so a real league team. Therefore, I have decided not to add them to the transfer list even though this is a new program and many are arriving this summer and will start playing the next season. The thing I liked about the RRFCM program in Belgium was that the residency requirements there gave them access to citizenship by the time they graduated. This makes it much easier to move straight to a professional club in Europe. As far as I know only Niko Gkionis has gone on to play in Europe though, and he is currently without a club. One or two others are with USL teams, and most have dropped off the radar. Does anyone know if having a UK student visa and getting a degree with a British university provides an advantage to getting a work permit there? At the very least, it seems like a great opportunity to study abroad, play soccer against some decent competition, make connections that could help with a future career, etc. If the soccer career doesn't work out they have a degree and some great experiences.
I don't think it would help as british citizenship requirements are pretty strict. The only way I know of getting citizenship without any family ties to the country is through residence. It takes 5 years of residency in England to become a british citizen. Visa's can be renewed and given the fact that they will/are students there shouldn't be a problem getting one. So if its a traditional university in terms of length it would be 4 years long for a degree. So a kid would only have one more year of residency left to become a citizen assuming they stay that long. Edit: Actually I looked it up and the law was changed to 6 years of residence.
Since this is new, we would appreciate any inside info on the program, who you guys will be playing against, what you hope to get out of this regarding future career (WP stuff, etc).
Just to clarify wp= work permit. You need one to play professional full time football in England. As you can see from my post above if you don't have family ties to the country (grandparent, parent,) born there or in another EU country the only other way to get one is through 6 years of residence. Good luck. It certainly sounds like an interesting program. These programs seem to be popping up more and more.
well we are playing most premier league youth teams, some championship, some league one and two. we also have league games in the english 11th division. we will also have scouts at all our showcase games from connections our coaches have made. you don't necessarily have to play and stay for 4 years most people hope to get signed to a team in a year or two. if it doesn't work out we can go back and play divison 1 soccer in the states since almost all players had offers. so its a win win, and you can get your uefa A and B License in Coaching
well with a degree i believe helps with getting a permit also we also have teams scouting us from different countries in UEFA with not so strict laws
I was somewhat dubious this program would lead to much; however, it appears that some players are already getting opportunities to play with various teams: and http://internationalasa.com/headlines.php
Their 1st match in the West Yorkshire Football League which was against Great Preston ended 0-0. http://full-time.thefa.com/DisplayFixture.do?id=10256964
Joe Spivak scored for Eccleshill: http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....8333155.American_Spivak_seals_win_for_Eagles/ And an article about Eccleshill getting some academy players: http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....uits_make_an_impression_at_Eccleshill_United/