Toronto FC announced Thursday that it has acquired the rights to an USL-Pro franchise, a move heralded by coach Greg Vanney as vital to the MLS club’s long-term future.
The Toronto team will begin competing in the USL-Pro in 2015, and will be coached by current TFC assistant coach Jason Bent.
The USL Professional Division (commonly known as USL Pro) is the third tier of the American soccer pyramid below Major League Soccer and the North American Soccer League.
“I honestly believe this is one of the biggest moves that TFC has made,” Vanney told Sportsnet.
Why is it so important? The short answer is player development. Essentially, this is a pro farm team for the Reds.
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This past season, TFC had a partnership with the Wilmington Hammerheads, a USL Pro team based in North Carolina. The agreement allowed Toronto to send to Wilmington players on its roster who weren’t being regularly used so they can gain some playing time and stay game fit. Quillan Roberts, Jordan Hamilton and Manny Aparicio were just some of the TFC players who spent time with Wilmington in 2014.
By operating its own USL Pro team, Toronto will enjoy complete control, and can use the franchise as a tool to develop its youngsters and youth academy products, as well as giving others who aren’t featuring for the senior team some playing time.
“We’ve seen over the last few years that it’s a really difficult jump to go from the youth academy to the first team. This is a necessary and fantastic step to continue to help progress those academy players into the next level before they can make the jump to the senior side,” Vanney explained.
He later added: “It’ll help us ensure success for some of our academy players, and it’ll also help motivate some of our young players so that they have a clear understanding of what the pathway into the first team looks like.”
Vanney believes the influence of the NCAA system as a developmental tool is waning, making it more important for MLS teams to develop players on their own.
“The college game has been important to MLS [for player development], and I don’t think that disappears completely. But I think with the restrictions that are in place at the college level, it’s very difficult to see that as a developmental step when guys are only playing for three months, the focus is on results, and you have unlimited substitutions in games,” Vanney said.
“This enables us to keep our players in a true environment where they are working with and playing against other pros anywhere for most of the year, as opposed to just three months.”
Toronto FC is the sixth MLS club to own a USL Pro franchise. Others include the Montreal Impact, LA Galaxy, Portland Timbers, Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders. The Vancouver Whitecaps are also attempting to launch an USL-Pro team.
An official team name, as well as a venue for home matches, will be announced at a later date.
Also on Thursday, Toronto FC announced its official partnership with the Wilmington Hammerheads has ended.