1st European Professional Soccer Academy in Las Vegas
Villarreal Las Vegas Academy is an official partner academy of professional soccer club Villarreal Club de Fútbol. Through the Villarreal Academy international expansion project, Villarreal CF partners with a select number of soccer academies around the world.
As an official partner academy of Villarreal CF, Villarreal Las Vegas Academy is connected with the Spanish soccer club at all times in every aspect of our academy. Villarreal CF provides support for its partner academies in all areas, predominantly on a sporting level but also with marketing, communications and administration assistance to help each academy reach new heights. The link between Villarreal CF in Spain and its partner academies around the world is strong and therefore provides a real pathway and opportunities for players to achieve their full potential.
How our Coaching Methodology Benefits our Players
While most of the soccer world knows of the success of our Villarreal CF professional team, many questioned, how? After a fantastic season reaching the UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals in 2022, the world saw how a team from Spain reached great success by investing in their youth academy and building on our Villarreal CF methodology.
Our Las Vegas Academy's technical philosophy is based exactly on our Villarreal CF methodology. Our possession-based methodology focuses on building well-organized teams that control the pace and tempo of every match by maintaining player composure and teamwork. Our goal is to develop creative self-sufficient players that understand how to play as a team.
Our Villarreal methodology is taught to all our coaches by our professional staff in Spain. On a weekly basis, our coaching staff receives online education from professional Villarreal CF coaches in Spain. Within our weekly coaching classes, our staff learns new tactics and drills focused on maintaining our possession-based methodology. Our staff is then trained on the psychological aspects of how to implement these teachings to all types of players.
Professional Scouting & experience opportunities
In conjunction with our professional affiliate Villarreal CF, Villarreal Las Vegas offers several incredible opportunities for our youth players to trial, train and even compete with and our professional academy in Villarreal, Spain.
Player Training Week Prospect Selections
With our partnership with La Liga’s Villarreal CF, Villarreal Las Vegas offers four full scholarships annually to travel to Spain and trial with our professional academy at Villarreal CF. For one full week, four Villarreal Las Vegas players are invited during the season to trial at Villarreal’s training complex in Spain.
Players are given the invaluable opportunity to train and compete with exceptionally talented players who are ranked amongst the best in Spain. The young players are provided free room and board during their week-long stay in Spain. This highly valuable opportunity earned by our most exemplary athletes provides a true professional pathway for the young boys and girls of the Las Vegas community.
VIllarreal International Tournaments
After a fantastic season, our U10, U12 & U16 teams from Las Vegas will be traveling to Spain's beautiful east coast of to compete in the most exciting footballing and cultural experiences they could ever have - the international Villarreal Summer Experience. The Villarreal Summer Experience includes two incredible tournament competitions, Villarreal Academy Cup & Villarreal Yellow Cup Summer, from June 24th - June 30th 2024.
Held at the Ciudad Deportiva José Manuel Llaneza & the Ciudad Deportiva Pamesa Cerámica sporting facilities, home of Villarreal Club de Futbol, the Yellow Cup Summer is a youth international soccer tournament that will offer all of our Las Vegas players the unforgettable experience of competing as a team against some of the best professional youth soccer academies in the world.
Villarreal North America National Select
The Villarreal North America Select National Team program brings together the most talented prospects and coaches from across all Villarreal CF academies in the USA, Canada & Mexico to compete together as national teams in tournaments across the world. Coached and run by Villarreal CF professional scouts, selected prospects have the chance to not only compete with the best Villarreal CF prospects from across North America, but also learn from some of the top youth coaches in the world.
Every December, selected prospects from across the Villarreal CF international academy project are invited to Las Vegas to trial for our VNA National teams at the Villarreal CF North America ID Camp.
Collegiate Path
As you make your mark on the field and in the classroom, it's time for you to stand out in front of college coaches. All Villarreal academy players are provided with pathways to reach their collegiate soccer careers. With our deep-rooted connections with NCAA college coaches all around the country, our players will have the chance to showcase their skills in front of colleges on a weekly basis. Each year, our staff creates scouting profiles with all of our players to send out to college coaches from D1, D2, D3, and NAIA universities all over the U.S.
Professional Path
Each week, Villarreal Las Vegas Academy players have the chance to be scouted by Villarreal CF, a Spanish professional soccer club (La Liga Primera Division). Using our high-tech Veo Camera software, our partners in Villarreal, Spain are able to view the progress of each players' development at every practice and game. The staff at Villarreal CF collaborate with our coaches to provide: video review sessions, coaching techniques, highlights from our games, and more. The opportunity to be scouted by a professional team in Spain is unique amongst club soccer teams in Nevada. If your dream is to play international soccer, then there is no better club to join than Villarreal Las Vegas Academy.
“Nevada is packed with untapped soccer talent and we are sure that our unique approach to the beautiful game will have an extremely positive impact on the players and the community. Villarreal has one of Europe’s top development programs in professional soccer and our Academy is the cornerstone of our success. We cannot wait to get things started here.”
-Juan Antón, Villarreal CF Director of International Business.