For many young players in the United States, signing for an MLS academy feels like a dream come true.
The professional environment, elite facilities, and clear pathway to the pros make it seem like the perfect next step.
But beneath the excitement lies a structural problem that few families fully understand — one written into the very rules that govern global football.
These rules, combined with how player registrations are managed in the U.S., often make it far more difficult for MLS academy players to move abroad than anyone realizes.
A Firsthand Look at the Problem
Over the past year, I’ve taken several talented U.S. players to England to explore professional opportunities.
They were technically strong, mature beyond their years, and — in some cases — even held British passports, meaning they could live and work in the UK without visa restrictions.
They trained well, impressed coaches, and earned genuine interest.
But every conversation ended the same way — the moment the English clubs checked their registration status.
Because those players were registered with MLS academies, their MLS clubs held the rights to their registration and were entitled, under FIFA regulations, to request training compensation if a European club wanted to sign them. That single technicality — buried in international transfer rules — was enough to end any possibility of a move.
1. FIFA Article 20 — Training Compensation
Under FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), Article 20 entitles professional clubs to receive compensation when a player they’ve developed signs his first professional contract or transfers between professional clubs before the end of the season of his 23rd birthday.
Because MLS academies sit within a professional structure, they qualify. So even though these players had never earned a wage, their MLS registrations triggered a financial claim that most European clubs are unwilling to pay for an unproven youth player.
2. FIFA Annex 4 — The Solidarity Mechanism
Annex 4 expands this framework by granting up to 5% of any future transfer fee to the clubs that trained a player between ages 12 and 23.
Again, the intention is positive — it rewards clubs that invest in youth development.
But in the U.S., the system disproportionately favors MLS academies. Because they’re recognized as professional entities, they can benefit from these payments. Meanwhile, independent academies and grassroots programs — even those that coached the player for years — are effectively excluded from the process.
3. The U.S. Soccer Registration Problem
This imbalance exists largely because of how U.S. Soccer classifies and records player development. For a club to claim training compensation or solidarity payments, it must be recognized by U.S. Soccer as a professional training club and listed on the player’s official “passport.”
In practice, only MLS academies fit that description. Non-MLS clubs — regardless of coaching quality or developmental record — are not categorized as professional under FIFA’s system. So when one of their players signs abroad, there’s no official record linking that club to the player’s training history.
At the same time, MLS players’ registrations are fully professionalized, which means they can’t move abroad without triggering compensation.
That combination — protection for one side, exclusion for the other — creates a development environment where player freedom becomes the unintended casualty.
The Impact on Players
For the players I’ve worked with, this meant that even with the talent, dual nationality, and genuine interest from English clubs, the move couldn’t happen.
Their MLS registrations automatically triggered compensation obligations that European clubs were unwilling to pay.
Unless an MLS academy is willing to completely forgo its right to training compensation and fully release the player, any move abroad becomes extremely difficult. And understandably, few MLS clubs are prepared to give up a potential financial claim on a player they’ve invested in — even if it means blocking the player’s next step.
The rare exceptions are the headline-making transfers — like Cavan Sullivan, the Philadelphia Union academy graduate who recently signed with Manchester City. When a player is of truly exceptional quality, a Premier League club can afford to absorb the cost and take the risk.
But for the vast majority — the players who might fit better at a Championship, League One, or strong European club in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe — those clubs simply don’t have the financial margin to navigate compensation claims. And that’s a real loss, because those are exactly the types of environments that can transform a player’s career.
For many young Americans, arriving in Europe at that level — where the daily training intensity, tactical education, and competition are uncompromising — sparks an immediate jump in development.
Progress often accelerates rapidly, particularly in the first six months, as players adapt to a truly professional culture and environment. Clubs at this level can also serve as ideal stepping stones — giving U.S. players the platform to prove themselves, develop quickly, and ultimately progress into bigger clubs and higher levels of competition once they’ve shown they can thrive in a professional setup.
Players at non-MLS academies, independent academies, and grassroots clubs still retain a degree of freedom.
Because their registrations remain outside the professional system, they are not bound by the same compensation mechanisms, meaning opportunities abroad can be explored more easily when they arise. That freedom matters — because for many talented young players, the chance to train and compete in a professional environment overseas, without restriction or negotiation, can be life-changing.
It’s in those moments — when doors are open and development accelerates — that potential truly turns into progress. It’s an odd paradox: the players closest to the professional environment are often the least able to move within it.
And that’s not a reflection of ability — it’s a product of how the system is built.
The NCE Difference — Freedom by Design
At NCE Soccer, we’ve built our programs deliberately outside that system.
Our independence means every player who trains with us keeps full control over their future.
We don’t hold registrations. We don’t claim compensation. We don’t restrict opportunity.
Through our Pro Pathway Camps and International Tours, we connect players directly with professional coaches and clubs across Europe and the U.S., helping them experience what a professional environment feels like — without the fine print that can later hold them back.
Our mission is simple: to create opportunity, not control it.
A Final Thought
The clauses in FIFA’s rulebook were designed to reward clubs that develop players — but in the U.S., the way those rules have been applied has created barriers that limit players instead.
Until that changes, awareness is everything.
Parents and players need to understand what signing for an MLS academy really means — and what freedoms might quietly disappear in the process.
Because in youth development, true opportunity comes from independence — and at NCE, that’s the foundation of everything we do.
