GENERATION ADIDAS

(Redirected from Project-40)
'Generation Adidas' is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and the United States Soccer Federation aimed to raise the level of young soccer talent in the United States.^[1] The program, sponsored by adidas, encourages early entry (without college graduation) of American players into MLS. Until 2005, the program was sponsored by Nike and was called 'Project-40'.^[2]
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 had its shares of successes (Tim Howard, Josh Wolff, DaMarcus Beasley, Carlos Bocanegra, Bobby Convey, Eddie Gaven, Michael Bradley, and numerous others) and failures (Jamar Beasley, Nino Da Silva, Barry Swift, Maurizio Rocha, Judah Cooks, Martin Klinger, etc.).
Generation adidas players do not count against the MLS senior roster and usually earn a salary not much higher than the league minimum (although in several cases, most notably Freddy Adu, that is not the case). 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 MLSers who did not get much playing time, into the A-League in the USL.

Contents

2007 players

2006 players

Project-40 in the A-League

Notes

2007 players

Player	Age	Position	Home Town	College/prior
Chris Seitz	19	GK	San Luis Obispo, California	Maryland
Bryan Arguez	17	D/M	Miami, Florida	US Under-20
Anthony Wallace	17	D/M	St. Petersburg, Florida	South Florida
Amaechi Igwe	17	D	Belmont, California	Santa Clara
Maurice Edu	20	M	Fontana, California	Maryland
Nico Colaluca	20	M/F	Coventry, Rhode Island	Virginia
Bakary Soumare	21	D	New York, New York	Virginia
Abdus Ibrahim	15	F	Richfield, Minnesota	US Under-17

2006 players

	Player	Age	Position	Home Town	College/prior
1	Josmer Altidore	16	Forward	Boca Raton, Fla	US Under-20
2	Patrick Ianni	20	Def/Mid	Lodi, CA	UCLA
3	Kei Kamara	21	Forward	Lawndale, CA	Cal-Dominguez Hills
4	Sacha Kljestan	20	Mid	Huntington Beach, CA	Seton Hall
5	Dax McCarty	18	Mid	Winter Park, Fla	N. Carolina
6	Jacob Peterson	19	Forward	Portage, MI	Indiana
7	Willie Sims	21	Forward	LA, CA	Cal State Northridge
8	Nathan Sturgis	18	Def/Mid	St. Augustine, Fla	Clemson
9	Blake Wagner	17	Def	Tampa, Fla	US Under-20
10	Marvell Wynne	19	Def	Poway, CA	UCLA
11	Jed Zayner	21	Def	Orland, Ill	Indiana

Project-40 in the A-League

Year	Division	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs	Open Cup
1998	2	USISL A-League	5th, Pacific	''Did not qualify''	''Did not qualify''
1999	2	USL A-League	2nd, Central	Quarterfinals	''Did not qualify''
2000	2	USL A-League	4th, Central	''Did not qualify''	3rd Round

Notes

1. US U-20 players headline 2006 class
2. What is Nike Project 40