Girls Academy approaches kickoff of inaugural season with 69 member clubs

As the Girls Academy (GA) approaches its opening month of the 2020-2021 campaign, the league has shared a breakdown of its initial conference alignment.

A total of 69 clubs across 7 conferences have signed on to compete in the inaugural season, which kicks off in August. Over 40 GA clubs are former U.S. Soccer Girls Development Academy members, while numerous others were accepted based on strong resumes across other top regional and national leagues.

Currently, the conference breakdown by number of clubs is as follows:

• Mid-America: 13
• Northwest: 12
• Mid-Atlantic: 10
• Southwest: 10
• Frontier: 9
• Northeast: 8
• Southeast: 7

California leads all states by far with 15 total clubs competing in the GA. The following states are each represented by 4 inaugural GA members: Pennsylvania, Washington, Texas, Florida and New Jersey. Meanwhile, Virginia and Michigan are both home to 3 GA clubs.

The following states will each have a pair of GA clubs competing in the opening season: Missouri, Massachusetts, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Maryland and Illinois.

States with one GA clubs each include: Colorado, Kansas, Wisconsin, Indiana, Delaware, Connecticut, North Carolina, Ohio, Maine and New Hampshire.

After kicking off the regular season in August, the GA’s first-ever showcase event will take place in Southern California in November.

Recently, the league announced numerous appointments to national leadership positions, along with the first-ever player-led board. Former University of Washington women’s soccer coach Lesle Gallimore was named league commissioner, and the GA entered a major partnership with high-tech video platform InStat.