Atlanta United Academy Makes History With Four Teams at MLS NEXT Cup

For the first time in club history, Atlanta United is sending four academy teams to postseason play at MLS NEXT Cup. The U-13, U-14, U-16, and U-18 squads will all compete in Salt Lake City from May 23-31, a milestone that Director of Methodology Javier Pérez says reflects exactly where the program is headed.

"This is the first time in the history of the club that we are going to have four teams in the MLS playoffs fighting for the cup," Pérez said. "Atlanta United strives for being a reference, not only the first team, but as well in player development. And I think in the last couple of years, we made big steps towards that objective."

The Tournament Picture

Atlanta United academy products Luke Brennan and Dominik Chong Qui have multiple appearances this season in the professional teams at the club. (photo: Vanessa Angel for the SDH Network)

The U-16 squad opens its NEXT Cup run against Cedar Stars Academy Bergen U-17 on Sunday at 8:15 a.m. ET. The team finished second in the Southeast Pro Player Pathway Division with a 10-5-2 record, but locked up postseason qualification through MLS NEXT Flex in April after winning the group with a perfect 3-0-0 record. atlutd

The U-18 squad faces Indy Eleven U-19 on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. The team, which went 7-7-3 in the regular season, earned its NEXT Cup spot by going unbeaten in MLS NEXT Flex with a 1-0-2 record.

The U-13 and U-14 teams open their Championship bracket runs on Thursday, May 28, at 9 a.m. ET, against Cincinnati United SC and Weston FC respectively. Both squads earned top-bracket berths through Quality of Play scores, with the U-13s posting an 85.9 mark to lead the Southeast Division and the U-14s checking in at 85.5 for third.

The U-16s: Rock and Roll Football

Colby Childress took over the U-16 group midseason, stepping in when Will Bates moved to the second team staff. He quickly set about learning a group he described as both deeply motivated and supremely talented, one carrying the specific memory of losing in the national finals a year ago.

"Getting back to the final has been on the back of their mind for a long time," Childress said. "I haven't really had to push that agenda. That's been something I've been fortunate enough to have a group of players that just pushes that themselves."

Childress's approach with them has been deliberately process-focused rather than outcome-driven. "My challenge to the players every day is just be the best version of yourself every single day that you can be," he said. "And the talent in this room will take us pretty far."

Anyone watching this group play will immediately understand why he trusts that talent. Childress described a style built entirely on aggression and relentlessness: pushing the ball into the opponent's half early, creating chances from multiple areas of the pitch, and an all-court press mentality that never lets up.

"Almost a little bit of like rock and roll football," he said. "We're gonna push the game. We're gonna be in your face. We're gonna fight. We're gonna battle. A really, really entertaining style of football."

The group's personality off the pitch matches what it puts out on it. Childress, a self-described big personality himself, embraces the friction that comes with a squad full of competitors.

"These guys love each other. They care about each other. They've been together for a long time. And it all stems from this competitive spirit where, ultimately, they want to win not just every game. They want to win every repetition in training."

The U-18s: Process Under Pressure

U-18 head coach Steven Turek, who previously led Hannover 96's U-16 and U-17 teams in the Under 17 Bundesliga, framed his team's NEXT Cup run in terms of what the season has been building toward all along.

"Over the course of the season, the result was never the first priority," Turek wrote ahead of the tournament. "It was about daily work, standards, relationships, accountability, and growing as a team and an individual every single day."

For Turek, the playoffs represent a specific kind of test. "Pressure is not created only on matchday or tournaments," he wrote. "It is built through training, difficult moments, and the consistency with which a group commits to a shared process. That is why the playoffs mean more to us than just another event."

For many players in this group, the postseason also carries a particular weight. Some will pursue college programs after this run ends. Others are knocking on the door of professional contracts. Turek acknowledges that reality while keeping the collective at the center: "No matter what comes next, the shared growth of this group remains the most valuable part of the season."

What Four Teams Means for the Academy

Jonathan Ransom is another homegrown signing climbing the ladder at Atlanta United after a stellar career in the academy. (photo: Vanessa Angel for the SDH Network)

The record representation at NEXT Cup is the product of a deliberate system Pérez has spent years constructing. The pathway runs from the U-13s and U-14s, where the focus is on principles of play and development, up through the U-16s and U-18s, where performance takes a more prominent role.

When players show they're ready, they don't just move up one rung. Pérez said the best-performing U-16 players now go straight into the second team environment rather than waiting for the U-18s. The goal is to expose them to professional-level speed of play in a controlled way, then send them back to integrate what they've learned.

"We bring them with the second team, then we send them back with the 16s, and they integrate that experience without having a major stress in their development," Pérez said.

The proof of that system is visible in the first team right now. Cooper Sánchez, Matt Edwards, Will Reilly, Luke Brennan, and Jay Fortune are playing first-team minutes as academy products. Veteran homegrowns like Fortune, who know exactly what the U-16s are going through because they lived it, are still connected to the program they came from. Pérez described arriving at the training ground one morning to find Fortune walking through the door at 8 a.m. just to be in the building.

"I stop for a second and I say, look, I want to thank you for coming here," Pérez recalled. "And he's like, 'What are you talking about? This is where I come from. This is my place.'"

That connection, from the youth teams in Salt Lake City all the way to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, is what four teams at MLS NEXT Cup actually represents.