U.S. Soccer’s decision to permanently shutter the Development Academy in mid-April has ramifications at a number of levels on the girls side of the game.
There’s the immediate, obvious fallout. Clubs and players that were committed to the DA suddenly had no platform to compete when soccer resumed. For the most part, that’s been rectified, as the Girls Academy League joins the ECNL and National League as prominent leagues.
That also means college coaches will still have (at least) three leagues to scout from, even as the coronavirus likely places constraints on collegiate athletic budgets.
Then, there’s the process of scouting players for U.S. women’s youth national teams.
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