North Charlotte Today

Charlotte FC’s Academy has officially kicked off its 2024/2025 season, marking a significant milestone as they enter their fifth year. The series "Next Up" focuses on highlighting the next generation of Charlotte FC players.

This edition features a recap of the 2023/2024 season, a preview of the upcoming season, and the latest roster updates. The 2023/2024 season was pivotal for Charlotte FC’s Academy, which continued to strengthen its clear pathway to professional soccer—the cornerstone of the Academy’s mission. Their primary goal remains preparing players for a professional future, transitioning talent into the Crown Legacy FC system.

This year saw an evolution with the introduction of U-16 and U-18 teams, replacing the U-17 and U-20 teams. It was a successful season across all age groups, with the Academy meeting and exceeding many goals set at the beginning of the previous year. The U-17 team reached the final of the MLS Next Cup, defeating strong teams like Inter Miami and LAFC along the way.

The U-15s also impressed by advancing to knockout stages in both the Generation adidas Cup and MLS Next Cup before being eliminated by eventual finalists in both tournaments. While winning isn’t youth soccer's primary focus, steady growth in talent led to consistently strong results across the Academy.

“The results typically come when you have good players,” said Executive Academy Director Bryan Scales. “We feel like across the Academy we’ve raised competitiveness levels. We have more depth and more talent.”

A critical aspect of player development is stepping outside familiar environments to face new challenges. Competing against MLS teams is vital, but last season saw opportunities against top foreign academies providing invaluable experience.

The Academy faced international powerhouses such as Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Monterrey (Mexico), Toulouse (France), among others. One standout moment was when the U-16 team traveled to France and secured a thrilling 3-2 victory against Paris Saint-Germain’s U-16s.

While competitive results are encouraging, nurturing players capable of transitioning into professional ranks remains paramount. Since establishing Crown Legacy FC as Charlotte FC’s MLS Next Pro team, around 3,200 minutes were racked up by Academy players with this professional team during its first season; this ongoing second season has already seen over 5,000 minutes accumulated.

“Our job is first and foremost to produce players,” Scales explained. “If you see players moving up to Crown Legacy it means they’re being selected because of their potential.”

Academy graduate Aron John has thrived at professional level currently boasting second-highest goal contributions in league while James Nyandjo and Simon Tonidande recently made professional debuts.

For new season focus is on building momentum continuing feeding talent into Crown Legacy FC environment “Now challenge is keep making incremental gains every single day pushing more players into Crown Legacy environment” said Scales

This will be Academy’s second season at Atrium Health Performance Park with much coaching staff returning offering stability which according to Scales provides competitive edge going into new season “I think consistency stability are real competitive advantages long run” he said

Academy started 2024/2025 strong each age group securing victories opening matches facing local club Queen City Mutiny next

Stay tuned "Next Up" latest updates on Charlotte FC’s Academy journey developing stars tomorrow

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