May 7, 2025 - Sports

Young athletes get shot at expenses-paid Real Madrid training

Maxwell Millington

General view inside the stadium prior to the LaLiga match between Real Madrid CF and Valencia CF at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on April 05, 2025 in Madrid, Spain. — The Santiago Bernabéu stadium. Photo: Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images

Eleven young soccer players from across the U.S. will get the chance to travel to Spain to train at Real Madrid and show off their skills in front of professional coaches and scouts.

State of play: Real Madrid C.F. and health care company Abbott are leading the program alongside Hall of Fame soccer star Clint Dempsey, who will mentor the selected players.

"There's a lot of barriers that people have to deal with, so anything that you can do to give people a platform to get better and to test themselves, that's what I'm all about," Dempsey tells Axios.

How it works: In-person tryouts for the "Abbott Dream Team" will be held June 17–July 24 in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Up to 250 athletes, aged 18 or 19 and with a valid passport, will be allowed to participate at each location.

Zoom in: From Nov. 21 to Nov. 26, the eleven selected athletes will travel to Madrid, train at Real Madrid's facilities, receive health and nutrition education from Abbott experts, and attend a match at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

Tryouts will take place at these locations:

June 17: Dallas — ULETE Soccer Center

June 25: Philadelphia — Vidas Athletic Complex at Drexel University

July 10: Washington, D.C. — SECU Stadium at University of Maryland

July 17: Chicago — Lake View High School

July 24: Los Angeles — Jesse Owens Stadium at Cal State LA

What's next: Registration for tryouts is open here.

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Young athletes get shot at expenses-paid Real Madrid training

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