The Union will host a youth tournament in February with teams including Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund
The tournament, called "The Snow Bowl," will give the Union a chance to test their top prospects against big-time opponents, and show off the club's facilities.
It’s hard to think about going outside right now with the sub-freezing temperatures in town, but here’s another reason to hope things will be better in a few weeks.
The Union announced Tuesday that they’re going to host a youth soccer tournament with teams from around the world, including some big-time European clubs, from Feb. 9-14 at their training facilities in Chester. Fittingly for the time of year, it will be called “The Snow Bowl.”
There will be under-15, under-16, and under-18 age groups, with Union teams competing in all three. The under-15 group has the biggest visiting headliners: England’s Manchester United and Newcastle United, Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, and Mexico’s Monterrey.
The under-16 division is headlined by Germany’s Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Netherlands’ PSV Eindhoven, and Portugal’s Benfica.
PSV’s sporting director is former Union and U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart. Its youth academy chief Aloys Wijnker worked for U.S. Soccer at around the same time Stewart was in Chester.
Benfica is in the under-18 group too, and Denmark’s Lyngby is in both of those age groups as well. That’s notable since the Union have an ownership stake in Lyngby.
Another team in the under-18 group will bring a familiar face back to Chester. Former Union midfielder Roland Alberg now runs a youth soccer program in South Africa, and has entered one of his squads.
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“This event is about high-performance preparation and showcasing our Academy’s elite youth development environment,” the Union’s director of academy and professional development Jon Scheer said in a statement. “It provides our Union Academy players with the opportunity to test themselves against the very best ahead of the upcoming Generation adidas Cup and MLS Next playoffs, while also highlighting the world-class facilities we have built here at the Sportsplex.”
The tournament will give the Union a chance not just to show off their facilities and youth teams, but the full scale of its development setup. One of the title sponsors is The SWAG, a no-cost, year-round soccer training program underprivileged players ages 4-11 that the Union help promote.
“With all eyes on soccer this summer, especially here in Philadelphia, the Snow Bowl is designed to inspire the next generation of youth soccer players and introduce them to the highest level of international youth competition,” said Richie Graham, Union part-owner and academy financier, whose brother Steve helped launch The SWAG in 2022.
All of the games will be played on the indoor turf field at the Union’s complex (one concession to the time of year), and they’ll all be streamed live on the team’s website. The schedule, streaming links, and more details are available at philadelphiaunion.com/snowbowl.
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Here’s the full list of teams participating:
U-15 division: Union, Manchester United (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Newcastle United (England), C.F. Monterrey (Mexico), Chicago Fire (USA).
U-16 division: Union, S.L. Benfica (Portugal), Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Lyngby Boldklub (Denmark), Chicago Fire.
U-18 division: Union, S.L. Benfica (Portugal), Lyngby Boldklub (Denmark), Alberg Next Gen (South Africa).