SKC Academy wins U.S. Youth Futsal national championship

It's been a strong few months for the Sporting Kansas City Academy. The U-18s are unbeaten in their last three League matches including a 7-1 victory over the San Antonio Scorpions Academy. The U-16s are unbeaten in five League matches and clinched a berth in the international bracket at the Generation adidas Cup. And the U-14s have won four straight League matches with 25 goals scored during that span.

Last weekend, the Academy's success went from the outdoors to indoors at the annual U.S. Youth Futsal national championship, held at the New Century Field House in Gardner, Kansas. The Sporting KC Academy won the U14 and U-18 brackets and lost in the championship match of the U-16 division.

"We are very proud with how all of our teams performed," Sporting KC Academy Director of Coaching Jon Parry said. "With our U-16s competing at the Generation adidas Cup last weekend, we had to mix and match our teams and many of our players were playing up a few age groups."

The U-18 division championship match featured an all-Sporting KC showdown as Team Indigo defeated Team Argyle 8-7. Indigo won the group stage with a 4-0-0 record and a +19 goal differential. Argyle finished in second place with a 2-1-1 record and a +6 goal differential.

The U-14s scored 14 goals in their three group-stage matches and defeated BW Gottschee 4-2 in the semifinal match before beating Ginga Academy 4-1 in the championship match. The only loss for the Sporting KC Academy U-14s came in the final group stage match against Sporting Blue Valley, a Sporting KC Academy Affiliate.

The Sporting KC U-16s finished the group stage in first place with a 2-1-0 record and a +7 goal differential. They defeated Challenger Crew Heart & soul 6-5 in the semifinal round before falling to Samba Black Boys 6-0 in the championship match. The U-13s finished the group stage 1-2-0 including a 4-0 win over Ginga-CHILL.

"Futsal is a huge part of the Sporting KC Academy development program," Parry said. "There were a lot of great teams in the tournament last week and to see four of teams make it to the championship match, with two winning their respective titles, is a testament to our players and the hard work they put into their training, day in and day out. It's icing on the cake that we were able to be victorious in our backyard."