Keisuke Honda’s Youth Club Soltilo FC Partners with USL’s Orange County Soccer Club
The importance of having a dream.
Soccer News: Usually the time between Christmas and New Years is slow but today Orange County Soccer Club held a press conference to celebrate their new partnership with Japanese soccer superstar Keisuke Honda’s company Soltilo FC to create a professional pathway for Soltilo’s most talented youth soccer players.
The pathway to professional soccer in Southern California deepened as Soltilo FC and Orange County SC announced a wide-ranging partnership in a press conference held today at the Championship Soccer Stadium at the Orange County Great Park.
The partnership will focus on solidifying Orange County as the premier youth soccer development community in the United States and on reaching out to the extensive Asian-American communities of Orange County and the surrounding areas.
Orange County SC will provide youth soccer players in the Soltilo network in Southern California and its five youth academies around the globe with a direct pathway to play professional soccer in the USL and beyond.
“Southern California has historically been among the largest providers of players to both US National Teams and Major League Soccer,” said Orange County SC General Manager & Executive Vice President Oliver Wyss.
“The union of our two organizations will create a magnet for youth soccer talent in a region with a population of nearly 12 million people,” said Wyss. “This is perhaps the largest number of youth soccer players anywhere in the United States, each with an eye towards becoming the next Christian Pulisic, Landon Donovan or even Keisuke Honda.”
“I am so excited about soccer in Orange County and about this partnership,” said Honda. “We spent a long time looking for the right partner that shares our values and is committed to the common vision of the power of soccer to help young men and women reach their full potential on and off the field. When I came here this summer to train, I knew we found our perfect match in Orange County SC.”
The two clubs will partner in numerous development projects, including the identification of domestic and foreign soccer talent with financial incentives to be shared by Soltilo FC and Orange County SC.
Orange County SC is committed to partnering with all youth clubs in Orange County and Southern California to ensure that the benefits of elite youth player development are shared between the professional club and the amateur youth clubs.
In addition, the two organizations will host clinics each year with Keisuke Honda in attendance and partner on elite youth club tournaments. The clinics and youth tournaments will take place at the Great Park in Irvine, CA.
The first tournament is scheduled for July 15-16, 2018, with enrollment beginning in early 2018.
The affiliated youth teams of Soltilo will employ the same tactical game approach as the professional USL team, playing the Orange County SC way as developed under the technical guidance of Orange County SC Technical Director Frans Hoek, a European coaching legend with decades of coaching experience at FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, AJAX, and the Dutch National Team.
Did you know?
Soltilo is a soccer management company with over 4000 students in Australia, Cambodia, China, Japan, United States, and Uganda. Soltilo also has ownership in now four professional teams: SV Horn (Austria), SOLTILO Angkor FC (Cambodia), Bright Stars FC (Uganda), and Orange County Soccer Club (United States).
As a soccer player, Honda has participated in two FIFA World Cups, UEFA Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup. Honda has also established the Yume Foundation, a non-profit with the mission to provide educational opportunities for the youth.
The Orange County Soccer Club is Orange County’s only professional soccer team and official affiliate partner of the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) of Major League Soccer (MLS).
Orange County SC is a part of the United Soccer League (USL), the fastest growing Division II professional soccer leagues in the world comprised of 34 teams across the United States.
Team owner and Chief Investment Officer of LARO Properties, James Keston, purchased and rebranded the team in 2017. Keston actively oversees all operations of the team and is dedicated to providing a pathway to professional soccer and a world-class soccer organization that focuses on the fans, players, and youth clubs of Orange County.
The team plays their home games at the Orange County Great Park’s Championship Soccer Stadium located in Irvine, CA. Orange County SC was one of 12 founding members of the USL during its inaugural 2011 season.
