To many people, Casa Grande, Arizona is simply a few miles worth of signs visible along Interstate 10. Located roughly halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, and with a population of fewer than 60,000 people, the city isn’t particularly well-known, even to Arizona residents.



But Casa Grande now holds significance in the American soccer sphere as the home to one of the nation’s up-and-coming youth academies: the Barça Residency Academy. The result of a partnership between FC Barcelona and Grande Sports World, the training facility in Casa Grande. Barcelona provides the coaching education, tactical methodology, official club kits, and open lines of communication and travel between Casa Grande and Barcelona. Grande Sports World provides and operates the school, the facilities and other day-to-day tasks.



In just its third year of operation, the academy has already legitimized itself with impressive results in the United States Soccer Development...