The Sporting Kansas City Academy is set to compete in the inaugural LA Galaxy Cup, facing world-class academy teams from across the globe in a tournament that runs from March 28 to April 1 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.
Four MLS academies will participate in the high-profile youth competition, with Sporting KC joined by the LA Galaxy, LAFC and Real Salt Lake. Elite international opponents will include Manchester United and Swansea City of the English Premier League as well as Mexico’s Club Tijuana and Portugal’s FC Porto.
The LA Galaxy Cup will showcase boys’ and girls’ teams from the U.S. Soccer Development Academy and international clubs at the U-12 through U-19 levels. Matches will be played across 18 fields at Great Park, which also features a 5,000-seat soccer-specific stadium for marquee matches throughout the tournament.
Sporting KC will use the LA Galaxy Cup as a high-level addition to a busy 2017-18 schedule, with the U.S. Soccer Development Academy regular season and Generation adidas Cup highlighting the spring slate.
The Sporting KC Academy is amidst a highly successful winter, as six separate teams were crowned champions last weekend at the U.S. Youth Futsal Central Region Championships. As a result, the Sporting KC U-12s, U-13s, U-14s, U-15s, U-17s and U-19s qualified for the U.S. Youth Futsal National Championships, which will run from Feb. 16-19 at nearby New Century Fieldhouse and Roeland Park Sports Dome in Johnson County, Kansas.
