Jacob Labovitz in Spain

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ates-europe-in-search-of-a-pro-soccer-career/

Seventeen-year-old American Jacob Labovitz navigates Europe in search of a pro soccer career



The precocious striker had heard about Marbella United FC, an American-run soccer academy in southern Spain that competes in premier amateur league play and participates in professional tours around Europe. He wanted to take a risk. He wanted to get better.

And off Labovitz went last summer, equipped with a student visa that granted him temporary stay in Spain.

Hungary could represent Labovitz’s best avenue to a more permanent stay in Europe. His great great grandfather was Hungarian, giving him the chance to obtain a Hungarian passport that would grant clubs based in the EU the opportunity to sign him. Labovitz returned to the States earlier this month, but he continues to study Hungarian with the hope of demonstrating intermediate fluency on the citizenship test sometime in the coming months.

Labovitz, who spent a week earlier this year training with third-division club VFL Osnabruck in the outskirts of Dortmund, is four days older than Pulisic.

He doesn’t know how long he’ll be home or whether he’ll return to Europe at all. The only thing clear to him now is his dream.

 

Former Langley forward Jacob Labovitz, right, scored eight goals during a 10-game span in the Netherlands in March.