Preparation is well underway for San Diego FC ahead of their debut in Major League Soccer in 2025, and the latest development has come in the reveal of the club’s cutting-edge training facility and its highly anticipated Right to Dream Youth Development Academy.
San Diego FC has been named as the 30th franchise in Major League Soccer, and ahead of their 2025 debut, the club broke ground on the cutting-edge training facility and its highly anticipated Right to Dream Youth Development Academy. The groundbreaking ceremony took place at the site of the future facility in El Cajon on the Sycuan Reservation and it saw a number of influential figures in attendance as renderings of the finished 28-acre project were unveiled before the first steps in its construction took place.
“This is a foundational moment for our Club. Our performance centre and Right to Dream Academy will enable us to develop future generations of world-class players across greater San Diego,” said Tom Penn, CEO, San Diego FC. “This groundbreaking initiative reaffirms our commitment to create opportunities for young talent to flourish and our vision to become the epicentre of football excellence and innovation in North America.”
The Right to Dream Academy San Diego will be an integral part of the Club’s 125,000 square-foot campus that will feature a 50,000-square-foot state-of-the-art sports performance facility shared by the first team and academy teams, and five full-sized soccer fields, including three natural turf fields and two synthetic turf fields.
The residential academy will accommodate male students between the ages of 12- 18, spanning grades six through 12. The first group of residential athletes will be enrolled in Fall 2025. Additionally, San Diego FC will create a non-residential girls pathway at the academy, making San Diego FC the first MLS club to develop emerging female talent.
“The groundbreaking is a historic moment for sports in the U.S.,” said Mohamed Mansour, Chairman, San Diego FC. “San Diego FC is the first major sports organisation in America to be jointly owned by a Native American tribe and now we are the first major club to build a training facility and Right to Dream academy on Native American land. Singing Hills is hallowed ground, and we hope that what we build here will do it justice and create a lasting legacy.”
The Right to Dream Academy offers a unique model of talent development by way of its holistic approach of character building, football development and focus on education. Unlike the traditional U.S. pay-to-play model, Right to Dream San Diego is a scholarship-based academy whereby all enrolled, residential athletes will receive full five-year scholarships regardless of football performance. Upon completion of the project, San Diego FC will become the first MLS club to offer a privately operated school combined with a residential football academy.
"Right to Dream San Diego will offer a number of firsts in the U.S. and MLS footballing landscapes, including a fully-funded school, residences and football academy that offers pathways for young talent to flourish both on and off the field,” said Tom Vernon, Founder/CEO, Right to Dream. “As we have in Ghana, Denmark and Egypt we will provide opportunities to student athletes to reach their academic potential, affect positive change in their communities and become world-class football players.”
