Opening and growing the market of player development in the United States took a hit on Thursday when a legal case against the MLS Players Union was dismissed by the order of the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division. 

The case was brought to the courts by Crossfire SC (Washington), Dallas Texans (Texas), and Sockers FC (Illinois). The three major soccer clubs were seeking a path to training compensation and solidarity payments after developing U.S. Men’s National Team stars DeAndre Yedlin, Clint Dempsey, and Michael Bradley. 

While training compensation and solidarity payments are a regulated practice in the international game via FIFA bylaws, youth clubs under USSF jurisdiction have not been entitled to the same benefits. MLS, the de-facto top flight of soccer in the U.S., has refused to pay these fees to American clubs or for players brought in from abroad. 

The dismissal on Thursday does not mean the end of the road for the quest to open the market for player development in the United States. The three youth clubs also brought up the case in front of FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Center with hopes of collecting fees entitled to them under the rules. 

TopDrawerSoccer’s Will Parchman laid out the case and justifications in great detail last year. The crux being that this blow to the youth club’s plea is just the start and not the end of the quest for U.S. clubs to get on level footing with the rest of the world in the player development model.