Jonathan Ellis

jonellis@argusleader.com

A top-tier European soccer club may find its next star on a Sioux Falls youth soccer field.

Sampdoria, which plays in Italy's top league for professional soccer, is partnering with the Dakota Alliance Soccer Club to host an annual elite player camp and potential training for youth coaches in Sioux Falls.

The team, based in Genoa, Italy, has its own academy to develop youth players. Dakota Alliance would be the 18th American youth club to sign a partnership agreement with Sampdoria International Academy.

The partnerships, said Frank Gurnick, Dakota Alliance's executive director, enable the Italians to increase the player pool from which they might groom future players.

"I think that it's going to provide opportunities that kids in South Dakota normally wouldn't have," Gurnick said.

The Dakota Alliance, which has about 4,500 players, will join with Sampdoria as a youth partner club. The partnership will enable top players in the club to win invites to a national camp hosted by Sampdoria Academy staff and coaches.

The partnership will require Dakota Alliance players to wear a Sampdoria North American Academy sleeve badge on their jerseys, but Gurnick said Dakota Alliance wanted an agreement that preserves the club's identity.

"We will not become Dakota Alliance Sampdoria," he said. "We will continue to be the Dakota Alliance Soccer Club. We will have a relationship with this organization to provide opportunities for our better players."

It isn't the first time a youth club in South Dakota has partnered with a pro team. Last month, two Rapid City clubs announced they were joining together under a partnership with the Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer team.

Sampdoria is working with Global Image Sports to identify youth clubs in the United States that would be interested in partnerships. Sampdoria is one of eight European pro clubs that Global Image Sports is working with, said Mike Kelleher, the chief operating officer.

Kelleher said there's an interest among youth clubs here and European pro clubs to form relationships. In Europe, pro clubs typically sponsor youth teams and training. The relationships will offer American coaches the chance to visit their counterparts in Europe to see their facilities and training sessions.

"The pro clubs in Europe will have their own academy where they begin training players at 8 or 9," he said.

"As a coach," he added, "I would want to see what they do."

Todd Roby, the director of communications for U.S. Youth Soccer Association, said the relationships are mutually beneficial. The European clubs build brand loyalty when they partner with youth clubs, which means they sell more jerseys. The youth players, meanwhile, like to be associated with a professional club.

"For the little guys, they're going to like that because of its cool factor," Roby said.