User:Falastur2/New York City FC Academy

The New York City FC Academy is the youth and development program for Major League Soccer club New York City FC. The program currently consists of only one age group: under-13/14s, competing in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy league. Below this level, the academy also operates a Youth Development League serving age groups under-9, -10 and -11, serving effectively as a feeder system to the bottom of the academy proper.

History
When New York City FC was founded they did not immediately launch an academy, but instead cultivated relationships with local youth academies and kids' clubs, eventually announcing an initial partnership agreement with eight clubs in April 2014. Adding three additional affiliates in January 2015, the first actual step towards building their own youth development program came with the announcement of the New York City FC Youth Development League in early February 2015, announcing that the focus of the NYCFC academy program would start at under-9 level, several years below the scope of any other MLS club academy, and observing that the creation of an entire youth league of their own was further than any other club had ever taken their development program.

Riding on the back of this announcement, barely a week later the club announced the formal creation of their academy proper, though they announced that the academy would be built in stages, from the bottom up. With the launch of the academy they announced the creation of an under-13/14 level team which would be populated partly from the ranks of the youths picked from their youth affiliates and partly from other players recruited from further afield. No further teams were announced, though it was indicated that further teams at higher age groups would be added in the future as the academy system developed.

Under-13/14
The under-13/14 team will begin playing in the 2015-16 season of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

Affiliate Development League
The New York City FC Affiliate Development League covers age categories 9, 10 and 11 year olds and is participated in by the youth member affiliate clubs of NYCFC.

Focusing on the development of skills in young players, the Affiliate Development League will encourage players to put a positive attitude before achieving victory on the field. On each game day, every youth affiliate member club will bring a pool of players who will be arbitrarily assigned to one of two teams within their youth member club to create a balanced and competitive competition against their opponents. 9 and 10 year olds will play 7v7 and the 11 year olds will play in a 9v9 format.

There are no standings or points tables collected for the Affiliate Development League.