It’s amazing what can happen in two years.
Just a little more than two years ago, at the conclusion of the 2018 MLS season, Orlando City had just one Homegrown player on its roster – goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar, signed as a teenager in 2016. The Club had only signed four Homegrowns in total since joining Major League Soccer in 2015.
Then, the Club’s top soccer personnel changed, and so did the philosophy. Luiz Muzzi arrived from FC Dallas as Orlando’s new Executive Vice President of Soccer Operations. Shortly afterwards, the Club announced that its Academy would join the First Team at the Orlando City Training Ground at Osceola Heritage Park, along with the hiring of Marcelo Neveleff from New England as the new Academy Director.