Europe Bound | Union Academy U-16s travel to take on some of the continent's best

Philadelphia Union Academy’s U-16 squad has been making major leaps and racking up results in its first season of MLS NEXT Play and on Sunday, March 24th, they'll travel to Europe for a series of friendlies against teams from some of the continent’s biggest clubs.

The highlight of the trip will be the U-16s participation in IberCup Cascais, an elite soccer tournament in Lisbon, Portugal, from March 28-31, 2024. Head Coach Guillermo Hamdan Zaragoza's side is set to open their tournament run against Atletico Madrid on Thursday, March 28th, before concluding group play with a doubleheader against K.A.A. Gent and Deportivo Coruna. After that, the knockout rounds will commence with games on March 30th and 31st.

To prepare for the event, the club will take on Portuguese power S.L. Benfica in a friendly two days before the tournament's start on Tuesday, March 26th with kickoff set for 12PM ET.

The U-16 squad, which is comprised mainly of players born in the 2008 age group, includes many players participating in their fifth IberCup Tournament with Union Academy and seventh overall with two more IberCup events as U9 with FC Delco. Gunnar Graham, Jordan Griffin, Brett Seemuller, Max Owusu-Antwi, and Connor Murphy were part of the first Union Academy team to play in the prestigious event in 2018 when they played in Portugal. The group has since turned in strong performances on the international scene. with results in Portugal in 2018 (quarterfinals), Spain in 2019 (third place), and two tournaments in Brazil in 2020 (Sao Paolo, second place, Porto Alegre, third place). Union standouts that have participated in an IberCup tournament in the past include Neil Pierre, Nelson Pierre, Brandan Craig, Jack McGlynn, and Quinn Sullivan.

After the U-16s conclude their run at IberCup Cascais, the team will continue its tour of the continent with nine friendlies between April 2nd to April 18th. During that span, the Union Academy will test itself against numerous styles of play including Getafe, Real Sociedad, Toulouse and Espanyol.

All U-16 matches from Europe are scheduled to be streamed and can be accessed by clicking here. The full match schedule can be found below.

The U-16 squad, which is comprised mainly of players born in the 2008 age group, includes many players participating in their fifth IberCup Tournament with the Union Academy, and seventh IberCup overall, because they won two major IberCup tournaments in 2017 as U9 players with FC Delco. 

2008 players Gunnar Graham, Brett Seemuller, Max Owusu-Antwi, Connor Murphy, Gabe Wesseh and Nehan Hasan were part of the first Union Academy team to play in the prestigious event in 2018 when they played in Portugal, as were 2008's Jordan Griffin, Matheus DePaula and Anisse Saidi, who are staying home for Generation Adidas Cup and then joining the U16 team in Spain.