New York City Football Club has recently announced the launch of their Girl’s Soccer Academy, making strides toward increased investment in the women’s game. The academy will launch this spring, according to a press release on New York City FC’s website.
In this elite training program, New York City FC will be working with NYCFC Youth Affiliate World Class FC to join the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, according to the press release. The academy will include U-14 through U-18/19 age groups. These types of training programs are meant to identify talented young players who could eventually end up on national soccer teams.
Kazbek Tambi, a former U.S. U-17 women’s national team coach, will be leading the academy.
“I’m very excited for the girls in the Metropolitan area to have NYCFC taking on the girls academy and entering into the girls arena,” she said in a statement to Empire of Soccer. “Obviously, we’ve seen that the organization has been fantastic and I expect that they will be doing wonderful things for the top girls coming out of the area.”
This academy will serve as a pathway to U.S. Youth National soccer teams, Sporting Director Claudio Reyna said in the press release. The coaches also plan to offer the coaching necessary to prepare players for elite collegiate soccer programs.
“This is a significant moment in the history of our club as NYCFC make a commitment to girls soccer and announce an Academy which we believe will contribute to the bright future of the women’s game in the tri-state area,” he said.
There are more than 200,000 girls playing soccer in New York City, according to Reyna, and 1.5 million in the United States. These young women join the 25 million children around the world who play soccer, or “football.” City Football Group, the organization that owns New York City FC, also owns women’s clubs internationally.
“City Football Group has demonstrated its dedication to the women’s game with the launch of Manchester City Women in 2014 and Melbourne City Women in 2016,” NYCFC President Jon Patricof said. “Both teams have since gone on to win their league titles, and we are so happy to build on that success with the launch our own girls Academy program.”
