The Academy

As an American player in England, The Academy’s protagonist Leo Doyle has to contend with the many differences between soccer in the United States and football in the United Kingdom, most notably the place that they have in each respective country and their culture. Though soccer—or football in the United Kingdom—has its modern-day roots in the United Kingdom, the game has gone worldwide. The first football association was founded in England in 1863, and it came to the United States via immigration. Already cemented in England as a popular sport, soccer—as it became known in the 1910s and early 1920s—slowly gained traction in the United States at the start of the 20th century. Two professional leagues began in 1967, but it wasn’t until 1996 that today’s most prominent soccer association was started: Major League Soccer (“The History of Soccer.” Bundesliga, 2025).

Today, Major League Soccer in the United States has 30 teams. Its more popular counterpart in England, the Premier League, has 20. However, the Premier League is also part of a larger professional football scaffolding in England, as teams that do not perform well can be relegated to lower-tier leagues like the Championship League, League One, and League Two that are still professional but considered less skillful.