Indy Eleven inks deals to create youth soccer academies

The Indy Eleven on Monday announced plans to further grow the club’s involvement in youth soccer across the state with entry into top-tier academy programs starting this summer.

The Indy Eleven Pro Academies program plans to compete with multiple clubs in the MLS Next and Elite Clubs National League starting July 1 through a partnership with Carmel-based Indiana Fire Pro Academy. The move builds on existing opportunities the Eleven has created in the United Soccer League Academy League and USL Academy Cup.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The deal comes just a week after Indy Eleven announced that it acquired rights to a professional women’s franchise in the upcoming USL Super League starting in 2025.

In addition to its academy programs, Indy Eleven has established partnerships with recreational leagues in cities across the state—including Bloomington, Terre Haute, Noblesville and Fort Wayne—that serve more than 16,000 children.

Both MLS Next and ECNL are considered among the top echelon of youth soccer, with many players who compete in the programs presented an opportunity to continue their careers either through collegiate programs or in professional leagues. The Indy Eleven’s plan is to have the MLS Next academy serve boys, while the ECNL program will work with girls.

Greg Stremlaw, CEO of Indy Eleven, said the franchise’s strategy is multifaceted, with a goal to help youth not only build a connection to the Eleven, but also to create a stronger avenue for professional growth.

“The reason that we’re doing this is really to provide as comprehensive an overall model, from those early stages of six-year-olds playing in [recreational] soccer all the way through to professional soccer, both men and women,” he said.

The Indy Eleven Pro Academy teams will be based at Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, which is also where the professional men’s team and current USL W League team train. Much like the USL academy teams, MLS Next and ECNL will offer multiple age divisions, including under-13, under-14, under-15, under-16, under-17 and under-19. Each age group will have one team for boys and one team for girls.

The teams are considered elite traveling programs that will compete with other academy teams in their league across the Midwest and United States. MLS Next features about 130 clubs overseeing nearly 600 teams. The ECNL features more than 750 teams across more than 115 clubs.

Stremlaw said he’s optimistic the new programs will see similar success to those competing in the USL Academy. The Eleven’s USL Academy Cup under-19 team won the championship in both 2022 and 2023. The U-15 team won the championship in 2023 after finishing second the year before. The U-19 USL Academy League team won the national championship in 2021.

He said players in the new academies, depending on their skill level, could ultimately be offered an opportunity to compete on the Indy Eleven professional team, including the upcoming women’s team.

Indy Eleven is one of just a handful of USL Championship teams to have a stake in the MLS Next system, but club officials said it’s not necessarily an indication of future aspirations to move the team to Major League Soccer.

“The intention with this is really to to grow our footprint across the state of Indiana and to provide appropriate levels of competition for the most comprehensive development strategy that we’ve had to date and, and we’re excited about that,” Stremlaw said. “It’s important to us, and to soccer in the city and across the state [to have that]. We’re doing it because we think it’s the right thing to do in the Hoosier state, to really be a best-in-class platform from the grassroots all the way through professional soccer.”

In addition to growing its developmental ecosystem, Indy Eleven is set to break ground on its new stadium development, Eleven Park, on May 31.