The Sporting Kansas City Academy kicked off a momentous new chapter on Saturday as five teams took the field at Swope Soccer Village for their inaugural matches in MLS NEXT, a new elite youth development platform created by Major League Soccer in collaboration with the best youth academies in the U.S. and Canada.
Consisting of 489 teams across 113 clubs, the new platform launched Saturday and Sunday with matches from coast to coast. The Sporting Kansas City Academy opened its fall season against cross-state rivals Saint Louis FC, with the U-19s, U-16s and U-15s all posting 1-0 victories.