Major League Soccer has announced it will again partner with the Caribbean Football Union to host the second Caribbean Player Combine on Jan. 2-5, 2015, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The event will feature players age 18 to 21 from around the Caribbean who will compete in front of league scouts for the opportunity to earn an invitation to the 2015 adidas MLS Player Combine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., days later.
Twenty-four players from the region took part in the inaugural Caribbean Player Combine in 2014 held in Antigua and two moved on to feature in the MLS Player Combine. This year, the four-day event will take place at Bayamón Football Club facilities and will include training sessions and games against local clubs.
“We’re excited to be returning to the Caribbean with the prospect of identifying some of the area’s top young talent,” MLS Executive Vice President Todd Durbin said in a statement. “Our league currently features more than 25 players from the Caribbean Islands, including Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago.”
"The Caribbean Football Union is extremely ecstatic about the second edition of this wonderful collaboration. Players throughout the union have now placed this event high within their calendar and see it as a major avenue in realizing their dream as a professional player," Gordon Derrick, President of the Caribbean Football Union, said. "Providing meaningful advancement opportunities for our young talented players is one of our major corner stones and the MLS Caribbean Combine is that critical component in realizing this."
The annual adidas MLS Player Combine gives professional soccer scouts the opportunity to see top players in action prior to the annual MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas. Participants have moved on to successful professional careers as well as participation in their national teams.
