24/25 MLS Next Season Preview

The 2024/25 season is quickly approaching. Here is a complete guide of teams and players to watch this upcoming season.

Teams To Watch In 2024/25

U15 teams to watch next season

The U15 division provides the first real look at the 2010 group of players. Some of these guys played up last year, but the majority will be new faces who will get the opportunity to show out at a premier age group. Our first team we will be watching is LA Galaxy U15s. It will be interesting to see how may of their best 2010 players actually play at the U15 level, but if they do this team will be very good. Vincente Garcia and Juan Martinez are both big names who can take over the game at any given moment. It is also important to mention FC Cincinnati U15s. FC Cincinnati took three 2010 players to Generation adidas Cup, and they have just signed one of the best ECNL payers in the country from Crossfire Premier. Cincinnati is an academy on the come up, and do not be surprised if they cement themselves as one of the best academies in the country following next year.

U16 teams to watch next season

The U16 age group is the second of three premier age groups headed into next season. It is still unclear as to if they will play at Generation adidas Cup, or if that will still be a U15 tournament. The Chicago Fire and LA Galaxy come to mind first as they both reached the MLS Next Cup final. We will go for two under the radar teams to watch though. The New York Red Bulls are the top team on our list. They have multiple USYNT players, and four of their 2009s are currently training at German club RB Leipzig. The Red Bulls were knocked out in the RO32 to Atlanta United at MLS Next cup after receiving two red cards. This leads us into the second team to watch, Atlanta United. Atlanta United will be an exciting team next year if they play all their 2010 players at this level. Last year they had the youngest team in the country, and were able to make it all the way to the semifinals of MLS Next Cup. Atlanta has the likes of Ivory Covington and USYNT goalkeeper James Donaldson.

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U18 teams to watch next season

The U18 age group is a new addition to the MLS Next age groups. This age group now provides players with an easier path to college as they can stay with the academy the entire time until they graduate. Teams from this age group to watch are names pretty much everyone knows. LA Galaxy and Philadelphia Union were the two best teams last season, but once again we will go for some lesser known teams that could make a difference. Two teams that come to mind are Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas. These two squads did not make it to any finals last season, but they have all the talent to do so this time around. Salt Lake has a ton of extremely high level 2008 players, and a high level 2007 group. Aidan Herzarkhani and Zavier Gozo will likely be key players, and the 2008s have the likes of Luca Moisa, Omar Marquez, and Gio Villa. Moisa may have already graduated from this level as he looks to be a key player for Real Monarchs this season. FC Dallas have signed multiple 2007s and 2008s to professional contracts. They are coming off a solid performance at the Liga Mx tournament last month, and they will look to build off that heading into next season.

Players To Watch In 24/25

We released a list of a ton of names earlier this month who we thought would be important names to keep track of ahead of the 2024/25 MLS Next season. These names include players from the U15, U16, and U18 levels. We will go in-depth on a few players in this article. Beginning with the U15 we are going to go with Santiago Suarez from Atlanta United. Suarez is actually born in 2011, and he was an impact player off the bench for Atlanta United U15s this year. Suarez will likely be a key player for the Atlanta United U15 team this upcoming season. It is possible Suarez plays U16, but we wouldn’t bet on it. The U16 age group is filled with a ton of very good 2009 players. We are going to go with Max Steelman from LA Galaxy. Steelman will be an interesting name to watch. He is a pacy forward, and he has received multiple callus to the USYNT. Steelman will be one of the early picks to make a big impact on the division next season. For the U18 age group we are going with another player born in 2009. Kaedren Spivey is a number 10 for the San Jose Earthquakes. He began to play up with the U17s at the end of last season, but he is way too good for the U16 level. It will be interesting to see how much he can impact the league while being one of the youngest players.