Los Angeles (AFP)
The 2021 Major League Soccer season kicks off on Friday, with league chiefs believing the competition has grown stronger than ever after disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Just over a year after MLS chiefs ended the 2020 season as the coronavirus swept across North America, the 2021 campaign kicks off with the league welcoming a 27th team as well as a plethora of new stadiums built for this purpose.
While MLS academies are also producing a procession of young players, some of whom have recently been arrested by European clubs, it’s no wonder that MLS commissioner Don Garber is optimistic about the health of the league.
“The story in MLS is momentum,” Garber said this week on a media conference call.
“More teams, more stadiums, more supporters and more players who represent the excitement on the pitch.
“We had momentum at the start of the year, which was put on hold with the pandemic, but now that momentum has picked up.”
Nowhere is that sense of momentum more evident than with the arrival of expanding Texas franchise Austin FC, which debuts in a nationally televised away game on Saturday. against Los Angeles FC.
Austin, which will play its home games in the new 20,500-seat Q2 stadium, has already sold 15,500 season tickets with an additional 15,000 fans on a waiting list.
“It’s a booming city that blends perfectly with a booming league,” Garber said. “There is so much energy and pent-up demand out there.
Preparations for Austin’s inaugural season received an explosion of star power via Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, a minority partner of the team’s ownership group who is keen to help shape the culture of the franchise.
“I’m not interested in being a mascot,” the 51-year-old said this week.
“How much success can we have in the first year? We will see. But we didn’t build Austin FC in a day, and we’re not going to be a fad.
“It’s the beginning. The seed has been planted and we want to be a big strong oak tree. It’s a 100 years war. ”
Existing teams will lift the veil on new football-specific venues.
Defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew will move to the 20,000-seat Astor Park, while FC Cincinnati will present their state-of-the-art West End stadium, which can accommodate 26,000 supporters.
“It’s a league we’ve built brick by brick,” Garber said. “It all started with the question” How do we create a professional league? ”Right after the World Cup in 1994. Twenty-five years later we have many teams and we have built a culture of supporters. But the real story is the stadiums. “
– Youth movement –
Long-term investments in coaching and player development are also starting to pay off. In 2013, the MLS forged a partnership with the French Football Federation aimed at training academies coaches through the famous Clairefontaine training center.
The success of the program has led to a constant flow of young talent trained in MLS academies to Europe.
FC Dallas youngster Bryan Reynolds completed his move to Roma in Serie A in February, while Union Philadelphia’s Brenden arrived at Red Bull from Salzburg in Austria in January.
“The history of Major League Soccer today is about the youth,” Garber said. “We’re now at the youngest middle age we’ve ever been in league history. We invest deeply in the development of players and academies.
“And now you have programs that provide opportunities for young players.”
Local academy players now make up 21 percent of MLS first-team players, while academy product playing time has doubled in five years.
MLS’s recent trend of attracting young South American talent to the league is also expected to continue, with FC Cincinnati snatching Brazilian forward Brenner from Sao Paulo for $ 15 million in February.
© 2021 AFP
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