Girls Academy

Founded	2020
Country	United States
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of clubs	95 (2023-24 Season)
Current champions	Chicago FC United (U13) Indy Premier (U14) Tophat Gold (U15) Syracuse DA (U16) Galaxy SC (U17) Wasatch SC (U19)
Website	girlsacademyleague.com

Girls Academy (GA) is a soccer league and development platform for female soccer players in the United States. Formed in 2020, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including National Women's Soccer League.

Competition format

Girls Academy features age groups starting at U-13 through U-19.^[1] During the regular season, teams play other members from their respective conferences. The league includes ten conferences (Northwest, Pacific Northwest, Frontier, Mid-America, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Mountain West, Southeast, and Southwest).^[2] Top teams from each conference will participate in Playoffs, and National Finals for qualifying teams based on playoff performance. Non-playoff teams will also participate in a season-ending showcase.

Different age groups will also have a varying number of national events throughout the year to provide additional talent showcase opportunities in front of college and professional scouts.

History

Citing the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced it was ending the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, leaving top boys and girls clubs to look for a new home.^[5] Former Development Academy clubs had a few options, many choosing to move to the Girls Academy,^[6][7] founded by a group of leaders from the Development Player League (DPL).^[8]

Former University of Washington women's soccer coach Lesle Gallimore served as its founding commissioner of the Girls Academy. She accepted the position in the summer of 2020, after the conclusion of her 26-year tenure as head coach of the women's soccer team at the University of Washington.

In October 2020, Girls Academy announced a strategic relationship with Major League Soccer and a partnership with USYS.^[9] According to the press release, Girls Academy will work in coordination with MLS Next, to “deliver a true pyramid for female youth players in the US, with the GA serving as the USYS premier girls platform in conjunction with MLS.” The partnership will focus on establishing academy standards for coaching and player development, improving talent identification partnerships, enhancing coaching education, and creating competitions to showcase players. While GA will maintain full autonomy over its league, they will also benefit from advice from the leaders of MLS and USYS as it aims to become the premier league for elite female soccer players in the United States.

In June 2023, Lesle Gallimore announced her resignation as Girls Academy commissioner to become General Manager of NWSL club OL Reign.^[10] Gallimore was succeeded by Patricia Hughes in September 2023.^[11]

On February 10, 2024, U.S. Soccer approved Girls Academy as a National Affiliate member.^[12][13]

League Champions

Teams

For the 2023-24 season, Girls Academy included 95 teams.^[14]

College athletics

For the 2022-23 season, nearly 600 Girls Academy committed to play college soccer. 62.8% committed to Division I, 19.6% Division II, 13.4% Division III, and 2.6% NAIA.^[15] This was an increase over the 2021-22 season, which had 551 commitments.^[16]

Sponsorship

The following organizations are a partial list of officials sponsors of Girls Academy:

• Adidas - official brand partner
• Soccer.com - official retail partner
• Gatorade - official sport beverage
• Hudl - official video analysis partner
• Veo - official video camera provider

Notable players

As of April 2024

References