Press Release

For Immediate Release: Monday, June 29, 2020

Announcement: Launch of Elite Academy League (EA LEAGUE)

San Diego, June 29, 2020 -The Elite Academy League is announcing its launch today. Created in the Western US Region and playing inside USYS and Cal South, the new league is representing the Southwest Division and each club’s total player pool, serving as a supplemental league to the “MLS Elite” Clubs. Committed to developing top players across the platform, the league is built off the former DA standards and now the “MLS Elite”, keeping the prestige and top tier program that the former USSDA represented for the past decade. This league was developed to address the needs of the member clubs, primarily assisting with developing top players inside the Elite Club’s player pools.

The Elite Academy League is composed of member clubs primarily from the new “MLS Elite” Academy and other top competitive clubs; recommended by the conferences, and admitted by the Elite Academy League Technical Group. Albion SC, City SC, LAUFA, TFA, CVFC, Surf Murrieta, Laguna United, Liverpool, Santa Monica Surf, and Santa Barbara SC will be participating in the 2020-2021 season.. These clubs will be participating with boys teams U11-U19. The U11 and U12 age groups inside the Elite Academy League will be the top teams in their respected clubs and will be considered pre “MLS Elite” League teams and will be preparing to move into the league at U13. Currently, there are discussions around formation of a girls side within the Elite Academy League for these Elite Academy Clubs that are not part of the GA/DPL model.

This new league allows the member clubs of the “MLS Elite,” to work together to promote the highest standards in competitive soccer, and integrate both leagues with this common goal and direction. Unifying clubs from within the conferences helps maintain the defining standards of the former USSDA, along with the new, enhanced standards of “MLS Elite.” This integration further presents long needed flexibility in two key areas; (1) permission for all players to participate in High School Soccer and, (2) revising the substitution rules to encourage clubs to better utilize their player pools, especially when showcasing their players to pro scouts and college coaches.

“We are extremely excited to be a founding member & compete in the Boys Elite Academy League. This league will raise the level of competition for all of our boys teams at Murrieta Surf.” Matt Hocking, Murrieta Surf

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The Elite Academy League will start in September 2020.

For more information, visit www.eliteacademyleague.com            info@eliteacademyleague.com

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This means Murrieta Surf will now have a full pathway for players to transition and develop into the Full Major League Soccer (MLS) Boys Academy teams.

We will have teams in the Elite Academy League in the following age Groups –

U18/U19 – 2002/2003

U17   2004

U16 – 2005

U15 – 2006

U14 – 2007

U13 – 2008

U12 – 2009

U11 – 2010

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Murrieta Surf will be looking to recruit the very best players in the Inland Empire to compete in this new Professional platform. If you are interested in training and competing with the very best players in the U.S.A on a daily basis, please register for our Try-outs.

Register for MLS Tryouts