Salem City FC is opening tryouts for its USL Academy summer program, and for the right player, this is the most important opportunity in Winston-Salem soccer.
The USL Academy is not a youth league. It is the official pre-professional development platform of the United Soccer League, designed with one purpose: to create the clearest possible pathway from youth soccer to professional play. Players selected for Salem City FC’s USL Academy summer program will train and compete at a level directly connected to our USL League Two senior team, with opportunities for the best performers eligible to earn USL Academy Contracts, allowing them to train and play alongside high-performing collegiate and pre-professional players without sacrificing collegiate eligibility.
This is what that means in practice: A player who impresses in the program can be training and competing at the pre-professional level. Not in a few years. Now.
The USL Academy summer season runs from May through August, with competition regionalized to limit travel and the program built around the same standards (staffing, sport science, nutrition, analytics) that govern professional clubs across the USL system.
At Salem City FC, the Academy sits at the top of a development pyramid that begins with our youth programs and runs all the way to our USL League Two first team. Every level of that structure is intentional. Every level is connected. The USL system has produced more professional players than any other platform in American soccer, and that pipeline runs directly through clubs like ours. The summer Academy program is where the most talented and dedicated young players in our region take the step from competitive youth soccer into a genuine pre-professional environment, and where scouts, coaches, and clubs at every level of the USL system are paying attention.
Tryouts are open. The pathway is real. If you believe you are ready, come show us.