Julian Hall’s second brace of 2026 in Red Bulls’ U.S. Open Cup win last week continued to solidify his impact on the pitch and highlight the player development path that Major League Soccer has put in place.
It seems only fitting that two Red Bulls alumni are helping shape that pathway in key roles at MLS NEXT and MLS NEXT Pro.
Former Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles is MLS NEXT’s general manager, sporting, while former club sporting director Ali Curtis is MLS NEXT Pro’s president and executive vice president of MLS sporting development. The two leagues make up the player development pathway that MLS has created over the past five years, which gives elite-level players the chance to reach the professional ranks.
Robles said the hope was that it creates “clarity” for young players, starting with MLS NEXT, allowing players starting at the U13 level who are part of MLS academies or elite academies not affiliated with MLS a pathway to MLS NEXT Pro, which serves as the minor league for MLS clubs, and then up to the first teams in Major League Soccer.
MLS NEXT has 29 MLS academy teams and 238 elite academies among its ranks, and MLS NEXT Pro consists of 30 teams, with 27 MLS-affiliated clubs and three independent clubs. MLS NEXT Pro works in a similar fashion to the NBA and NBA G League, and the NHL and AHL.
“When players who are 12, 13, 14 years old, and they embark on this aspirational journey of wanting to play for the national team one day, of wanting to become a professional, they can see through the platforms that Major League Soccer has created for the next steps,” Robles explained to The Post. “Through [MLS NEXT], through the introduction of MLS NEXT Pro and now MLS first team, there’s clarity on ‘What steps do I need to take? Where do I need to be, hopefully, to attain that dream one day?’ ”
MLS has been boasting about the early returns it has seen from its current player development pathway. Since MLS NEXT Pro launched in 2025, more than 240 players in MLS NEXT Pro have gone on to sign MLS first-team contracts, with more than half of those having gone through the academy system.
Close to 20 players have been transferred or loaned internationally, and in 2025, 120 players who had MLS NEXT Pro experience were called up to senior and youth national teams across the globe.
Robles takes pride in what’s been done so far, not only as a former player but as a dad whose kids are currently involved in the sport.
“I wear this hat as a former professional, I wear this hat now as a league official who is trying to make a difference, but I also wear the hat of a parent,” he said. “You end up having this amalgamation of experience, where I have this pro experience … but then to be on the sideline with parents and hear their anxiety and their frustration. Now to put that all together when I show up on Monday, working with a great group of people at NEXT and NEXT Pro.”
The progress on the developmental side comes at a time when soccer is set to take center stage in the United States, with the World Cup being hosted in North America this summer. The event will impact every area of the sport, and Curtis told The Post that he expects it will have a “massive impact on how players are developed in this country.”
“There’s gonna be more kids than ever playing soccer, and we have the infrastructure to capture that through Next Pro,” Robles added. “And those players who might have never played soccer before are gonna watch this [World Cup], this global moment happen, and they’re gonna look around and wonder, ‘How do I get involved in soccer?’ Naturally, they’re gonna discover that the professional level in this country is Major League Soccer and that Major League Soccer has a youth league, and they’re gonna want to be a part of it. That’s only going to help push this country forward as a soccer nation.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
