Generation Adidas

Generation Adidas official logo

Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States.^[1] The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S. developmental system not yet eligible for the MLS SuperDraft early entry, allowing MLS to compete with foreign professional clubs without comparable restrictions on player signing.^[2] From its establishment in 1997 to 2005, the program was sponsored by Nike and was called Project-40.^[3] Originally intended to improve the U.S. national team player pool, American national team eligibility is no longer required for program entry.

Carlos Parra was the first Project-40 player when he signed with the league and was allocated to the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in 1997. Since then, the program has included players such as Tim Howard, DaMarcus Beasley, Maurice Edu, Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Ben Olsen, Sacha Kljestan, Freddy Adu, Brad Guzan, Michael Bradley, Nick Rimando, and Kyle Beckerman.

Generation Adidas players do not count against the MLS senior roster and usually earn a much higher salary than the league minimum. Entering into the program automatically classifies a player as professional, and thus disqualifies them from playing college soccer. As a result, Generation Adidas players are also guaranteed scholarships to continue their college education should their professional career not pan out.

From 1998 to 2000, MLS entered a team of Project-40 players, supplemented by other MLS players who did not get much playing time, into the A-League in the USL.

Players

Generation Adidas graduates are announced at the end of the MLS season (prior to 2008,^[4] 2009,^[5] 2010,^[6] and 2011^[7]) so in the charts below the graduation year represents the season after which the player was announced by MLS as a Generation Adidas graduate.

1997

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Assigned Team	Current club
Ubusuku Abukusumo	19	D	Albuquerque, NM	North Carolina State	Columbus Crew	retired
Jose Botello	20	M	Los Angeles, CA	East Los Angeles (Comm) College	Los Angeles Galaxy
Nino Da Silva	17	M	Hoffman Estates, IL		Kansas City Wizards	retired
Joey DiGiamarino	19	D	Corona, CA	Fullerton State	Colorado Rapids	retired
Brian Dunseth	19	D	Upland, CA	Fullerton State	New England Revolution	retired
Carlos Parra	19	M	West Haven, CT		MetroStars	retired
Eric Quill	18	F	Missouri City, TX	Clemson	Tampa Bay Mutiny	retired
Esmundo Rodriguez	19	M	Dallas, TX	Indiana	San Jose Clash	retired
Tim Sahaydak	19	D	Bethlehem, PA	North Carolina	Columbus Crew	UCF Knights (associate head coach)
Juan Sastoque	19	F	Brooklyn, NY	CSUN	Dallas Burn	retired

1998

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Assigned Team	Current club
Jamar Beasley	18	F	Fort Wayne, IN		New England Revolution	Cedar Rapids Rampage (indoor)
Judah Cooks	21	M	Bethesda, MD	Maryland	D.C. United	D.C. United U-18 (head coach)
Tim Howard	18	GK	North Brunswick, NJ	US Under-20	MetroStars	Colorado Rapids
Andy Kirk	20	GK	Milwaukee, WI	Maryland	San Jose Clash	retired
Chad McCarty	20	D	Clovis, CA	Washington	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Clovis North Educational Center (director)
Matt Napoleon	20	GK	Feasterville, PA	Columbia	Miami Fusion	retired
Ben Olsen	20	M/F	Middletown, PA	Virginia	D.C. United	D.C. United (head coach)
Barry Swift	20	F	Port-of-Spain, Trinidad		MetroStars	retired
Scott Vermillion	21	D	Olathe, KS	Virginia	Tampa Bay Mutiny	retired
Brian West	19	F	Columbia, MD	Virginia	Columbus Crew	retired
Josh Wolff	20	F	Stone Mountain, GA	South Carolina	Chicago Fire	Columbus Crew SC (assistant coach)

1999

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Assigned Team	Current club
Chris Albright	20	F	Philadelphia, PA	Virginia	DC United	retired
DaMarcus Beasley	16	M	Fort Wayne, IN	Bradenton Academy	Los Angeles Galaxy	Houston Dynamo
Scott Bower	20	F/M	Tampa, FL	Clemson	San Jose Earthquakes	retired
Sergi Daniv	23	M	Lviv, Ukraine	Wake Forest	Chicago Fire	retired
Francisco Gomez	19	M	Watsonville, CA	California Jaguars	Kansas City Wizards	retired
Michael Green	20	D	Columbia, MD	Virginia	Kansas City Wizards
Dema Kovalenko	21	M	Rochester, NY	Indiana	Chicago Fire	retired
Alen Kozić	22	D/M	Tampa, FL	Florida International	Miami Fusion	retired
Matt Nyman	22	G	Westbrook, CT	Dartmouth	Tampa Bay Mutiny
Antonio Otero	21	M	Tampa, FL	American	DC United
Marvin Quijano	19	F	North Hollywood, CA	Rio Hondo Comm College	Los Angeles Galaxy
Maurizio Rocha	22	M	Santa Cruz, Bolivia	Connecticut	Miami Fusion	retired
Scott Vallow	21	GK	Naperville, IL	Bowling Green	Dallas Burn	retired

2000

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafting Team	Current club
Shaker Asad	20	M	Raleigh, NC	North Carolina State	New England Revolution	retired
Kyle Beckerman	17	M	Crofton, MD	US Under-17	Miami Fusion	Real Salt Lake
Carlos Bocanegra	20	D	Alta Loma, CA	UCLA	Chicago Fire	retired
Danny Califf	19	D	Orange, CA	Maryland	Los Angeles Galaxy	retired
Bobby Convey	16	M	Philadelphia, PA	Bradenton Academy	D.C. United	retired
Micah Cooks	18	M	Washington, DC		D.C. United	Capital FC (coach)
Nick Garcia	20	D	Plano, TX	Indiana	Kansas City Wizards	retired
Mario Longo	19	M	Apex, NC		Columbus Crew
Rusty Pierce	20	D	The Woodlands, TX	UNC Greensboro	New England Revolution	retired
Nick Rimando	20	GK	Montclair, CA	UCLA	Miami Fusion	Real Salt Lake
Seth Trembly	17	M	Littleton, CO	Bradenton Academy	Colorado Rapids	UC San Diego Tritons (assistant coach)
Sergio Salas	18	F	Falls Church, VA		D.C. United

2001

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafted Team	Current club
Devin Barclay	17	F	Annapolis, MD	US Under-20	Tampa Bay Mutiny	retired
Isaias Bardales	21	F	San Jose, CA	San Jose State	Los Angeles Galaxy	retired
Edson Buddle	19	F	New Rochelle, NY	State Fair Comm College	Columbus Crew	retired
José Burciaga, Jr.	19	D	Duncanville, TX	US Under-20	Kansas City Wizards	retired
Chris Carrieri	20	F	Stafford, VA	North Carolina	San Jose Earthquakes	retired
D.J. Countess	19	GK	Sacramento, CA	UCLA	MetroStars	retired
Nick Downing	20	D	Redmond, WA	Maryland	New England Revolution	retired
Eddie Johnson	16	F	Palm Coast, FL	Bradenton Academy	Dallas Burn	retired
Martin Klinger	20	F	Kearny, NJ	MetroStars Black	MetroStars	retired
Santino Quaranta	16	F	Baltimore, MD	Bradenton Academy	D.C. United	retired
Miguel Saavedra	17	M	Milwaukee, WI	US Under-18	Dallas Burn	retired

2002

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafted Team	Current club
Nelson Akwari	19	D	Houston, TX	UCLA	MetroStars	retired
Craig Capano	16	M	Hyde Park, NY	Bradenton Academy	Chicago Fire	retired
Brad Davis	20	M	St. Charles, MO	Saint Louis	MetroStars	Sporting Kansas City
Kelly Gray	20	D	Palo Alto, CA	Portland	Chicago Fire	retired
Justin Mapp	17	M	Brandon, MS	Bradenton Academy	D.C. United	Sporting Kansas City
Kyle Martino	20	M	Atlanta, GA	Virginia	Columbus Crew	retired
Jordan Stone	17	D	Allen, TX	US Under-17	Dallas Burn	retired

2003

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafting Team	Current club
Arturo Alvarez	17	F/M	Houston, TX	US Under-17	San Jose Earthquakes	Chicago Fire
Brian Carroll	21	M	Fairfax, VA	Wake Forest	D.C. United	Philadelphia Union
Ricardo Clark	19	M	Jonesboro, GA	Furman	MetroStars	Houston Dynamo
Alecko Eskandarian	20	F	Montvale, NJ	Virginia	D.C. United	New York Cosmos (assistant coach)
Eddie Gaven	16	M	Hamilton, NJ	Bradenton Academy	MetroStars	Ave Maria Gyrenes (head coach)
Guillermo Gonzalez	16	M	Paramount, CA	Bradenton Academy	Los Angeles Galaxy	Bishop Amat Memorial High School (assistant coach)
Nate Jaqua	21	F	Eugene, OR	Portland	Chicago Fire	retired
Jacob LeBlanc	21	M	Palo Alto, VA	Virginia	MetroStars	retired
Ricky Lewis	20	D	Spring, TX	Clemson	Los Angeles Galaxy	retired
Mike Magee	18	F/M	South Barrington, IL	Bradenton Academy	MetroStars	LA Galaxy
Logan Pause	21	D	Hillsborough, NC	North Carolina	Chicago Fire	Chicago Fire (assistant coach)
David Stokes	20	D	Dumfries, VA	North Carolina	D.C. United	retired
Jason Thompson	21	F	Garland, TX	Eastern Illinois	Dallas Burn	retired

2004

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafting Team	Current club
Freddy Adu	14	M	Potomac, MD	US Under-17	D.C. United	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Michael Bradley	16	M	Palatine, IL	US Under-17	MetroStars	Toronto FC
Ryan Cochrane	20	D	Portland, OR	Santa Clara	San Jose Earthquakes	retired
Steve Cronin	20	GK	Sacramento, CA	Santa Clara	San Jose Earthquakes	retired
Clint Dempsey	20	M	Nacogdoches, TX	Furman	New England Revolution	Seattle Sounders FC
Josh Gardner	21	M	Houston, TX	Cincinnati	Los Angeles Galaxy	retired
Clarence Goodson	21	D	Springfield, VA	Maryland	Dallas Burn	San Jose Earthquakes
Ned Grabavoy	20	M	New Lenox, IL	Indiana	Los Angeles Galaxy	retired
Chad Marshall	19	D	Riverside, CA	Stanford	Columbus Crew	Seattle Sounders FC
Danny Szetela	16	M	Clifton, NJ	US Under-17	Columbus Crew	New York Cosmos

2005

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafting Team	Current club
Chad Barrett	19	F	Beaverton, OR	UCLA	Chicago Fire	San José Earthquakes
Nikolas Besagno	16	M	Maple Valley, WA	US Under-17	Real Salt Lake	retired
Hunter Freeman	20	D	Allen, TX	Virginia	Colorado Rapids	Miami FC
Brad Guzan	20	GK	Homer Glen, IL	South Carolina	Chivas USA	Middlesbrough F.C.
Christian Jimenez	18	M	San Dimas, CA	US Under-20	Chivas USA	retired
Will John	19	F	Kansas City, MO	Saint Louis	Chicago Fire	RoPS
Quavas Kirk	16	F	Aurora, IL	US Under-17	Los Angeles Galaxy	Schwaben AC
Drew Moor	20	D	Dallas, TX	Indiana	FC Dallas	Toronto FC
Michael Parkhurst	20	D	Cranston, RI	Wake Forest	New England Revolution	Columbus Crew SC
Ryan Pore	21	F	Mansfield, OH	Tulsa	Kansas City Wizards	Tulsa Golden Hurricane (assistant coach)
Tim Ward	17	D	Waukesha, WI	Saint Louis	MetroStars	retired
Jamie Watson	18	F	Dallas, TX	North Carolina	Real Salt Lake	Minnesota United FC

2006

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafting Team	Current club
Jozy Altidore	16	F	Boca Raton, FL	US Under-20	MetroStars	Toronto FC
Yura Movsisyan	18	F	Pasadena, CA	Pasadena Lancers	Kansas City Wizards	Real Salt Lake
David Arvizu	17	F	Santa Ana, CA	US Under-20	MetroStars	FC Golden State Orange County (coach)
Patrick Ianni	20	D/M	Lodi, CA	UCLA	Houston Dynamo	retired
Kei Kamara	21	F	Lawndale, CA	Cal State Dominguez Hills	Columbus Crew	New England Revolution
Sacha Kljestan	20	M	Huntington Beach, CA	Seton Hall	Chivas USA	New York Red Bulls
Dax McCarty	18	M	Winter Park, FL	North Carolina	FC Dallas	New York Red Bulls
Jacob Peterson	19	F	Portage, MI	Indiana	Colorado Rapids	Sporting Kansas City
Willie Sims	21	F	Los Angeles, CA	Cal State Northridge	New England Revolution
Nathan Sturgis	18	D/M	St. Augustine, FL	Clemson	Los Angeles Galaxy	Seattle Sounders FC
Blake Wagner	17	D	Tampa, FL	US Under-20	FC Dallas	unattached
Marvell Wynne	19	D	Poway, CA	UCLA	MetroStars	San Jose Earthquakes
Jed Zayner	21	D	Orland Park, IL	Indiana	Columbus Crew	retired

2007

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafting Team	Graduated	Current club
Chris Seitz	19	GK	San Luis Obispo, CA	Maryland	Real Salt Lake	2009	FC Dallas
Bryan Arguez	17	D/M	Miami, FL	US Under-20	D.C. United		Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Anthony Wallace	17	D/M	St. Petersburg, FL	South Florida	FC Dallas	2009	Jacksonville Armada
Amaechi Igwe	17	D	Belmont, CA	Santa Clara	New England Revolution	2009	retired
Maurice Edu	20	M	Fontana, CA	Maryland	Toronto FC	2007	Philadelphia Union
Nico Colaluca	20	M/F	Coventry, RI	Virginia	Colorado Rapids	2010
Bakary Soumaré	21	D	New York, NY	Virginia	Chicago Fire	2008	retired
Fuad Ibrahim	15	F	Richfield, MN	US Under-17	FC Dallas	2010

2008

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Drafting Team	Graduated	Current club
Eric Avila	20	M	San Diego, CA	UC Santa Barbara	FC Dallas	2010	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Tony Beltran	20	D/M	Claremont, CA	UCLA	Real Salt Lake	2009	Real Salt Lake
Roger Espinoza	21	M	Aurora, CO	Ohio State	Kansas City Wizards	2010	Sporting Kansas City
Josh Lambo	17	GK	Middleton, WI	US Under-17	FC Dallas	2011	retired
Chance Myers	20	D/M	Thousand Oaks, CA	UCLA	Kansas City Wizards	2010	Sporting Kansas City
Alex Nimo	17	F/M	Portland, OR	US Under-17	Real Salt Lake	2010	Vancouver Victory FC (assistant coach)
Patrick Nyarko	22	F	Kumasi, Ghana	Virginia Tech	Chicago Fire	2009	D.C. United
Ciaran O'Brien	20	M	Tacoma, WA	UC Santa Barbara	Colorado Rapids	2010	UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (assistant coach)
Brek Shea	17	M/D	College Station, TX	US Under-17	FC Dallas	2010	Orlando City SC
Rob Valentino	22	D	Cave Creek, AZ	San Francisco	New England Revolution		Orlando City B (assistant coach)

2009

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/Prior	Drafting Team	Graduated	Current club
Kevin Alston	20	D	Silver Spring, MD	Indiana	New England Revolution	2009	Orlando City SC
Danny Cruz	19	M	Glendale, AZ	UNLV	Houston Dynamo	2011	Minnesota United FC
Stefan Frei	22	GK	Widnau, Switzerland	California	Toronto FC	2010	Seattle Sounders FC
Omar Gonzalez	20	D	Dallas, TX	Maryland	Los Angeles Galaxy	2009	C.F. Pachuca
Jeremy Hall	20	M	Tampa, FL	Maryland	New York Red Bulls	2009	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Baggio Hušidić	21	M	Libertyville, IL	UIC	Chicago Fire	2010	LA Galaxy
Peri Marošević	19	F	Rockford, IL	Michigan	FC Dallas	2011
Rodney Wallace	20	M	Rockville, MD	Maryland	D.C. United	2009	Sport Recife
Steve Zakuani	20	F	London, England	Akron	Seattle Sounders FC	2009	retired

2010

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/Prior	Drafting Team	Graduated	Current club
Corben Bone	21	M	Plano, TX	Wake Forest	Chicago Fire		FC Cincinnati
Teal Bunbury	19	F	Prior Lake, MN	Akron	Kansas City Wizards	2011	New England Revolution
Dilly Duka	20	M	Montville, NJ	Rutgers	Columbus Crew	2011	Columbus Crew SC
Blair Gavin	20	M	Louisville, KY	Akron	Chivas USA	2011	Phoenix Rising FC
Luis Gil	16	M	Garden Grove, CA	US Under-17	Kansas City Wizards		Querétaro F.C.
Zachary Herold	17	D	Port St. Lucie, FL	US Under-17	Toronto FC	Retired	retired
Sean Johnson	20	GK	Lilburn, GA	UCF	Chicago Fire	2011	Chicago Fire
Jack McInerney	17	F	Alpharetta, GA	US Under-17	Philadelphia Union	2012	Portland Timbers
Danny Mwanga	18	F	Kinshasa, DR Congo	Oregon State	Philadelphia Union	2011	Ottawa Fury FC (on loan from Tampa Bay Rowdies)
Amobi Okugo	18	M	Sacramento, CA	UCLA	Philadelphia Union	2012	Portland Timbers
Ike Opara	20	D	Durham, NC	Wake Forest	San Jose Earthquakes		Sporting Kansas City
Tony Tchani	20	M	Norfolk, VA	Virginia	New York Red Bulls	2011	Columbus Crew SC
Andrew Wiedeman	20	F	San Ramon, CA	California	FC Dallas		FC Cincinnati

2011

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/Prior	Drafting Team	Graduated	Current club
David Bingham	21	GK	Castro Valley, CA	California	San Jose Earthquakes	2014	San Jose Earthquakes
Will Bruin	21	F	St. Louis, MO	Indiana	Houston Dynamo	2013	Houston Dynamo
Corey Hertzog	20	F	Reading, PA	Penn State	New York Red Bulls	n/a	Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Perry Kitchen	18	M	Indianapolis, IN	Akron	D.C. United	2011	Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Zac MacMath	19	GK	St. Petersburg, FL	Maryland	Philadelphia Union	2013	Colorado Rapids
Darlington Nagbe	20	M	Lakewood, OH	Akron	Portland Timbers	2013	Portland Timbers
Michael Nanchoff	22	M	North Royalton, OH	Akron	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2013	Tampa Bay Rowdies
Omar Salgado	17	F	El Paso, TX	US Under-20	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2014
Kofi Sarkodie	19	D	Huber Heights, OH	Akron	Houston Dynamo	2013	San Jose Earthquakes
Michael Tetteh	21	D	Accra, Ghana	UC Santa Barbara	Seattle Sounders FC	n/a	retired
Zarek Valentin	19	D	Lancaster, PA	Akron	Chivas USA	2011	Portland Timbers

2012

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/Prior	Draft Team	Graduated	Current club
Dom Dwyer	21	F	London, England	USF	Sporting Kansas City	2014	Sporting Kansas City
Sam Garza	21	F	Highland Village, TX	UC Santa Barbara	San Jose Earthquakes		Arizona United SC
Chandler Hoffman	21	F	Birmingham, AL	UCLA	Philadelphia Union		Louisville City FC
Andrew Jean-Baptiste	19	D	Brentwood, NY	Connecticut	Portland Timbers		Nyköpings BIS
Enzo Martinez	21	M	Rock Hill, SC	North Carolina	Real Salt Lake		Charlotte Independence
Darren Mattocks	21	F	Portmore, Jamaica	Akron	Vancouver Whitecaps FC		Portland Timbers
Tyler Polak	19	D	Lincoln, NE	Creighton	New England Revolution		FC Cincinnati
Kelyn Rowe	20	M	Federal Way, WA	UCLA	New England Revolution		New England Revolution
Andrew Wenger	21	D	Lititz, PA	Duke	Montreal Impact		Houston Dynamo

2013

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/Prior	Draft Team	Graduated	Current club
Deshorn Brown	21	F	Manchester, Jamaica	UCF	Colorado Rapids	2014	Shenzhen F.C.
Andrew Farrell	20	D	Louisville, KY	Louisville	New England Revolution	2014	New England Revolution
Jason Johnson	22	F	Happy News, Jamaica	VCU	Houston Dynamo		San Antonio FC
Kekuta Manneh	18	F	Austin, TX	Austin Aztex	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2014	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Mikey Lopez	19	M	Dallas, TX	North Carolina	Sporting Kansas City		New York City FC
Walker Zimmerman	19	D	Lawrenceville, GA	Furman	FC Dallas		FC Dallas
Eriq Zavaleta	20	F	Westfield, IN	Indiana	Seattle Sounders FC	2014	Toronto FC

2014

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Draft Team	Graduated	Current club
Andre Blake	23	GK	May Pen, Jamaica	Connecticut	Philadelphia Union		Philadelphia Union
A.J. Cochran	20	D	St. Louis, MO	Wisconsin	Houston Dynamo		Saint Louis FC
Christian Dean	21	D	East Palo Alto, CA	California	Vancouver Whitecaps FC		Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Marlon Hairston	19	M	Jackson, MS	Louisville	Colorado Rapids		Colorado Rapids
Damion Lowe	20	D	Kingston, Jamaica	Hartford	Seattle Sounders FC		Minnesota United FC (on loan from Seattle Sounders FC)
Eric Miller	20	D	Woodbury, MN	Creighton	Montreal Impact		Colorado Rapids
Schillo Tshuma	21	F	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Maryland	Portland Timbers		Saint Louis FC

2015

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Draft Team	Graduated	Current club
Alex Bono	20	G	Syracuse, NY	Syracuse	Toronto FC		Toronto FC
Conor Donovan	19	D	Fuquay-Varina, NC	North Carolina State	Orlando City SC		Orlando City SC
Cyle Larin	19	F	Brampton, ON	Connecticut	Orlando City SC		Orlando City SC
Cristian Roldan	19	M	Pico Rivera, CA	Washington	Seattle Sounders FC		Seattle Sounders FC
Romario Williams	20	F	Portmore, Jamaica	UCF	Montreal Impact		Charleston Battery (on loan from Montreal Impact)

2016

Player	Age	Pos	Home Town	College/prior	Draft Team	Graduated	Current club
Julian Buescher	22	M	Dülmen, Germany	Syracuse	D.C. United		D.C. United
Jack Harrison	19	M	Bolton, England	Wake Forest	Chicago Fire		New York City FC
Fabian Herbers	22	F	Ahaus, Germany	Creighton	Philadelphia Union		Philadelphia Union
Omar Holness	21	M	Kingston, Jamaica	North Carolina	Real Salt Lake		Real Salt Lake
Richie Laryea	21	M	Toronto, ON	Akron	Orlando City		Orlando City SC
Andrew Tarbell	21	G	Mandeville, LA	Clemson	San Jose Earthquakes		San Jose Earthquakes
Joshua Yaro	21	D	Kumasi, Ghana	Georgetown	Philadelphia Union		Philadelphia Union

Project-40 in the A-League

Notes