Inside Levante’s Pro Soccer Academy for 8-Year-Olds
When we moved from the US to a small town outside Valencia, our boys could barely string three passes together. We just wanted them to make some friends and figure out why the whole town disappears on Saturday mornings in team colors. Fast forward a couple of seasons, a lot of muddy kits, and more bocadillos on the sidelines than I can count, and our 8-year-old is now in Levante UD’s professional academy.
Here’s what that actually looks like at this age: how he got there, what the day-to-day is, what it costs, and how it compares to both local Spanish clubs and what we were used to in the States.
Key Takeaways:
- The journey to Levante UD's academy began with minimal football experience in the US, transitioning to a strong youth soccer culture in Valencia through local clubs.
- Progression through various local clubs, particularly a top under-8 club, provided the pathway for the 8-year-old to be selected by Levante, highlighting the importance of local connections.
- Receiving the Levante academy kit marked a significant milestone, contrasting with previous experiences of delayed uniform deliveries at other clubs.
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How Our 8-Year-Old Ended Up at Levante’s Professional Academy
Our 8-year-old got into Levante UD’s academy through a very local, very gradual path that started with almost no football at all and slowly turned into the center of his life here.
When we posted our last detailed academy video two years ago, both boys were still at the very beginning. That video covered their experience at Cracks and CU Top Valencia, and at that point they were still pretty new to football in Spain. Before we moved, in the US, they had basically not played organized football. The only structured sport they’d done was a short multi-sport clinic: six weeks each of baseball, American football, and basketball. No travel teams, no years of youth soccer. We moved to Spain for life reasons, not for football, and they arrived as kids who liked sports but didn’t really have a “main” one.
Spain changed that fast. Once we got here, football became their main sport and, honestly, their main social language. Over the last three years, they’ve played continuously. The first steps were Cracks and then CU Top Valencia, which you’ve already seen if you watched that earlier video. Those clubs gave them their first real taste of youth soccer in Valencia: regular training, weekend matches, and being part of a team in a football culture that felt completely different from what we knew in the US, especially compared to American youth soccer structures.
From there, they didn’t just stay put. They moved through other clubs and did very well at each one. Each move was a small jump in level and intensity, but always within that same local Valencia ecosystem. One of those clubs ended up being the bridge to Levante. We’re intentionally not naming that specific club publicly, but we consider it one of the top five under-8 clubs in Valencia. They perform really well every year, and that consistent level is a big reason we recommend them.
That unnamed club is also the one that helped connect us with Levante. It wasn’t a random open trial or some separate scouting event. It was a natural next step that came from being in a strong local environment where Levante and other professional academies are already watching. Because of that, when families move here and ask us privately where to start, we consistently recommend those top under-8 clubs in Valencia. They do well every year and are part of the real Levante academy pathway.
So if you zoom out, the pathway is simple on paper: almost no organized football in the US, a move to Spain for non-football reasons, three years of youth soccer in Valencia starting with Cracks and CU Top Valencia, steady progress through strong local clubs where the boys did very well, and then, through one of those top under-8 clubs, our 8-year-old being selected by Levante UD’s academy. That’s how we got from a six-week multi-sport clinic in the US to an 8-year-old in a professional Spanish academy.
Picking Up the Levante Academy Kit: What Our 8-Year-Old Received
Picking up the Levante academy kit was the first moment where it felt like, “Okay, this is real.” Practice doesn’t start for about a month from when we filmed, and we already had the full kit in July.
That timing alone was a big contrast. At previous clubs, we ordered uniforms at the end of June and didn’t get most of the gear until the first week of September. Some families didn’t receive sweatshirts until October. Those clubs were using Joma, which was fine and cheaper, and we still thought they were organized when they delivered by early September. Levante having everything ready in July felt like a clear step up.
Levante’s kit is made by Macron. Our son had worn Nike, Adidas, and then Joma at other clubs, so this was new. We’re happier with Macron’s quality at Levante compared to what we had before, especially considering how much gear they hand over right away.
The pickup process was split over two visits. The first day, we went to Levante’s stadium, where they had helpers doing all the sizing. Our 8-year-old tried on each piece, we checked the fit, and confirmed sizes on the spot. No guessing online, no hoping it would fit later. Then they told us to come back, and two days later we returned. This time, his coach handed him a big Levante duffel bag with everything already packed inside.
He was so excited about that bag he carried it around the city himself. It was almost as big as he was, but he didn’t want anyone else touching it because it was his Levante gear.
Inside, the first things he pulled out were the Paseo clothes, the outfit they show up in for games and sometimes practices. It’s a navy blue collared T-shirt with a subtle pattern and matching shorts. He also had long pants and a jacket with Levante branding on the back, so there’s a full tracksuit option for cooler days or for arriving to matches.
For training, they gave him specific training gear: a cooler-weather top and matching shorts in Levante’s upcoming season colors. The club told us those same colors will also be used as a third uniform, so that training set does double duty.
He also got the away uniform: a thin, slightly see-through away shirt with matching shorts and socks. The only hiccup was the sock sizing. The socks in the bag were the wrong size, so we had to reorder bigger ones. Everything else fit because of the in-person sizing.
There was also a lightweight windbreaker/rain jacket in the bag. That makes sense for where Levante trains. The training area outside Valencia is very windy, and the beach areas get super cold in winter because of the humidity, so having something that cuts the wind and works in light rain is actually useful.
The only things missing at pickup were the home uniforms and the sweatshirts. Those were still being produced and would be delivered later. Even with those still on the way, walking out in July with a Macron Levante uniform set, Paseo clothes, training gear, a windbreaker, and that big duffel bag felt very different from our past experience with an 8-year-old at a Spanish club. The amount of gear in his hands a month before training really starts, and how organized it all was, stood out compared to both Spanish youth soccer vs US and other local clubs we’ve been with.
Levante Academy Training Schedule, Tournaments, and Travel at Age 8
Our 8-year-old’s week with Levante is pretty structured: three trainings per week, each 90 minutes, plus a game every weekend. On almost every free weekend beyond that, there are tournaments or scrimmages, so it ends up feeling like a steady rhythm of training, match, and then “extra” football on top. For this age, we feel three practices a week is great, as long as the kid actually loves it.
Location matters a lot for our family. The Levante training area is a bit outside Valencia, and we have other kids in other sports, so we’re constantly juggling schedules. It’s not a quick walk to a neighborhood field. Each session is 90 minutes, and by the time you add driving there and back, every practice is a real commitment. Then you add the weekend game, and then the extra scrimmages and tournaments.
Levante also uses playing up in age as a development tool. It’s not just a one-off thing. It shows up in scrimmages and tournaments. For example, our other son’s team played a younger Levante team in a scrimmage at Levante’s stadium. You’ll see younger teams playing older, or older playing younger, depending on what they want from the matchup. Our 8-year-old’s group often plays up an age group in those scrimmages and tournaments, and that’s just part of how they think about development.
Tournaments are where the cultural differences between Spanish youth soccer and the US really jump out. In the US, kids usually don’t travel on team buses and stay in hotels without parents until they’re older. In Spain, it’s normal even for younger ages. The Spanish model leans into early independence and team bonding through travel, which felt very different and nerve-wracking for us as American parents.
With Levante, for tournaments, our son rides the team bus, stays in the team hotel, and is fully with the squad. That’s the expectation. We already have a tournament scheduled in September where he’ll travel with the team by bus and stay in a hotel with them, and that’s all organized through the club. From a Levante UD kids training and travel perspective, that’s just part of the setup, not something reserved for older academy ages.
We eased into that. Our oldest did his first overnight tournament with a team last year. We stayed in the same hotel, just a few doors down, because we were nervous about the new setup. He was still with the team, but we were there in case anything felt off. For the upcoming tournament, we plan to let our younger son go fully with the team while we turn it into a mini vacation nearby. We’re slowly getting more comfortable with the system.
So when you look at what an 8-year-old Spanish soccer academy schedule actually looks like, it’s not just three 90-minute practices and a weekly game. It’s also regular scrimmages, playing up in age, and team travel that starts earlier than what we were used to in the US. That mix is a big part of how Levante’s youth academy schedule and tournaments are structured.
How Much Does Levante’s Professional Academy Cost for Families?
For our youngest son at Levante, the numbers are very simple: we pay nothing for his training or coaching. He’s in the professional academy, he’s 8, and his actual football experience there, training, coaching, and matches, is free.
now his schedule is three 90-minute trainings per week, and all three are at zero cost. On top of that, when his team travels for tournaments, all of his essentials are covered. Tournament-related expenses for our son, bus, hotel, meals, snacks, and water, are covered by Levante. We’re not getting separate invoices for a tournament fee, bus, or hotel share for him. The only extra we might pay is if he wants something like a hot dog or an extra treat.
There’s a clear line between what’s covered for the player and what’s on us as parents. We pay for our own accommodations and travel if we choose to attend tournaments. So if we want to go and watch, that’s our cost. For him, as the player, those pieces are included.
That’s a big jump from what we were used to even here in Spain. At previous clubs, we paid around €50–€70 per month per child. That covered their local club experience, and we still consider €50–€70 per month very reasonable compared to US youth soccer costs. From our US perspective, even the non-academy Spanish clubs felt affordable. We’ve heard anecdotally that some countries like Germany might be cheaper for youth football, but from where we’re coming from, that €50–€70 range already felt like a good deal.
So when we compare that to Levante’s academy model, where training, coaching, and travel for the player are free, it’s a big jump in value from already reasonable local club fees. If you’re funding this life from abroad, things like exchange rates matter too. We’ve used services such as Wise International Bank to move dollars into euros without getting crushed on fees, which helps keep the overall cost picture manageable.
If you’re coming from the US, where youth soccer can be extremely expensive, the difference between paying €50–€70 per month at a strong local club and paying nothing for an 8-year-old in a professional academy like Levante really stands out when you’re comparing Spanish youth soccer vs US costs.
Season Ticket Perks for Levante Academy Families
One of the biggest surprises with Levante UD’s academy has been the built-in perk of season tickets. As academy players, the kids receive a season pass for Levante’s home games at a fraction of the normal cost, and in our case we’re pretty sure our son’s was actually free. We think what we really paid for was the physical card for him plus a discounted adult season ticket, because in Spain you often pay a small fee for the card itself (like with parking cards).
Practically, that meant: we received a season ticket for our son as an academy player and then bought an accompanying adult season ticket. The total cost for two season tickets in the middle tier of the stadium was €300. For that, we’re in the middle tier near the 18-yard box, and with these passes we can watch La Liga teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Villarreal, and Athletic play at Levante’s stadium all season. For anyone trying to figure out Levante UD academy costs for kids or what the real perks of an 8-year-old Spanish soccer academy are, this season ticket piece is a big part of the value.
His actual card is simple: our son’s season pass has his name and a QR code on the back that shows his seat and grants entry. That QR code is what they scan at the gate, and it’s tied to a specific seat. We could have bought a child-accompanying ticket, but we chose an adult ticket so any adult, or even an older kid, can go with him. That flexibility mattered more to us than the child-specific pricing.
Getting the tickets, though, was not smooth. We showed up for early-access ticketing on the day they told us to come, and the line wrapped around the stadium. When we finally got to the front, staff initially told us there were no tickets left, even though we’d been invited by the coach to claim a pass. They were basically saying, “Sorry, it’s full,” until we explained that our son was a player and the coach had sent us. Once they understood that, they found one seat for him in the middle tier, near other academy kids.
The problem was that this one seat would have meant our 8-year-old sitting alone. We pushed back because he’s only eight, and after a bit of back and forth they eventually found a second seat by using a spot from someone who had canceled but whose seat wasn’t yet open for upgrades. That’s how we ended up with two seats together in the middle tier. They refused to sell us more than two seats together; we asked for three or four and were told no, so two was the maximum they were willing to group for us.
The upside is that, because we’re now season ticket holders, next year if people cancel, we’ll have first chance to move and upgrade seats and then keep them as long as we want. For us, people who are not typically “season ticket people” and usually wouldn’t commit to a full season, this felt new and a bit stressful. But when you look at the price, the fact that it’s tied directly to academy participation, and the level of teams we can see, €300 for two season tickets to watch top La Liga clubs feels like a huge perk bundled into this experience.
How Spanish Youth Soccer Compares to the US for Our Family
For our family, the biggest difference between Spanish youth soccer vs US is that in Spain, football moved from “just another activity” to the center of our boys’ daily life and identity.
Before Spain, our boys had only done that short multi-sport clinic in the US. Six weeks of baseball, six weeks of American football, six weeks of basketball. Football wasn’t their main sport. We actually thought of ourselves more as a basketball family. In the US, football was just one of many sports and definitely not a big part of who we were as a family.
That flipped when we got to Spain. Here, football is life. It’s the default language of childhood. Even when our boys couldn’t speak Spanish, local kids would roll a ball to them in the plaza and they’d play together without needing words. Football became a bridge for them to make friends and feel included while they were still learning Spanish. Because it mattered so much socially, they suddenly cared a lot more. They wanted to be good, to play with their friends, and to take it seriously.
We didn’t move to Spain for football, but football quickly became central to their daily life and identity here. They’ve now played three years of football in Spain, and in that time, the combination of the cultural weight of football, lower costs, and more frequent play has accelerated their development in a way that would have been unlikely back home. Within those three years, our youngest even received an offer from Levante’s professional academy. For us, that really highlighted the Spain vs US contrast: in the US, football was just one rotating sport in a six-week clinic; in Spain, it became the environment they lived in every day, and that environment changed what was possible for them.
How Strong Is Levante’s Youth Level Compared to Big Spanish Clubs?
Levante’s youth level is very strong in the younger ages, especially under-8 to under-12, and you really see it when they’re up against the big Spanish clubs.
A good example for us was Premier Toque last year. Our youngest joined a semi all-star team for that tournament. We call it “semi all-star” because it was a strong selection of kids pulled together for the event, not a regular weekly team that trains together all the time.
That team actually beat Atlético Madrid’s under-8 side at Premier Toque, which gives you a sense of the level. Then in the semifinal they ran into Levante’s under-8s and got a very quick reality check. Levante beat our son’s semi all-star team pretty heavily, around 5–1. It wasn’t a fluke. You could see the difference in cohesion and quality at that age.
Levante’s under-8s went on to the final and faced Barcelona’s top under-8 team. That match was competitive. Levante lost by a couple of goals, something like 3–1 or 4–2, but they weren’t completely out of their depth. From what we’ve seen in that under-8 range, and then moving into under-10 and under-12, Levante can go toe-to-toe with giants like Barcelona, Valencia, Atlético Madrid, and similar clubs. On a given day in those ages, they’re there.
Where things start to shift is once you get into the 11-a-side ages. At that point, the talent gap between Levante and the very biggest clubs becomes more noticeable. We see Levante losing 1–0 or 2–0 to those top academies. They’re not blowouts, but you can see the difference in quality across the squad and over the course of the game. The margins are small, 1–0, 2–0, or 3–1, but those small margins usually go the way of the biggest clubs, who have deeper squads and higher overall talent.
Even then, Levante’s older youth teams are still very strong compared to most local setups. They consistently beat the local club teams we used to play for, and they do occasionally upset bigger academies like Villarreal and Valencia. You’ll see them pull off a good result here and there, but more often, especially at the older ages, the scorelines against those bigger academies end up in that 3–1, 2–0, or 1–0 range against them. So if you’re thinking about “Levante youth level” or comparing “Levante vs Barcelona academy” in real terms, the picture is: very competitive under-10 and under-12, and then at 11-a-side the big clubs usually have a slight but consistent edge.
Parent Culture at Levante vs Other Youth Clubs
Parent culture has probably been the biggest difference we’ve felt between Levante and other youth clubs, and it matters a lot for our son because of how he handles noise and pressure.
Across most sports we’ve done, parents are usually the source of drama more than the kids. We’ve had “interesting encounters” with parents at previous clubs, nothing violent, but definitely very passionate and loud. On the sidelines, the behavior at those clubs was much louder and more intense than what we’ve seen so far from Levante parents. In the US, we’ve literally seen parents throw punches at games. In Spain, people are still very passionate, but we haven’t seen that level at our kids’ matches.
At Levante, the vibe has been different. We already knew some Levante parents before joining, and they’ve been kind and welcoming. The overall feel around the team is calm and supportive rather than chaotic. The parents we’ve met so far have been kind, calm, and supportive, and compared to our previous Spanish clubs, Levante’s parent culture feels calmer and more controlled. We suspect academy-level parents may face stricter rules and consequences for bad behavior than at normal clubs, but we don’t yet know how formal that is. We start with Levante in about a month, so we’ll see if there are official rules for parent behavior, but so far it feels like the calmer environment we needed after three years of chaos.
Concrete example: last season, the team our younger son was on played Levante about seven times and never beat them. Scores ranged from 7–1 to 1–0 and even a 10-something loss. Even when Levante beat us 7–1, their parents weren’t screaming. There might’ve been one loud parent, but overall they were quiet and measured. Our own parents at that time were much louder and more “passionate” than the Levante parents. The way we describe Levante parents’ reactions is almost like “pity claps,” a simple “nice work, we scored again,” rather than wild celebrations.
That matters for our kid. He’s a very calm kid, and we’re not yellers either. If you see us at a game, we’re usually off to the side, quiet, maybe reacting if someone hurts our kid, but otherwise calm. In the past, he experienced anxiety on the field because of constant yelling from the sidelines. So compared to some US environments where fights can break out, and compared to our previous Spanish clubs, this calmer, more controlled parent culture at Levante feels much better aligned with his personality and his anxiety levels.
Our Older Son’s Cancer, Spain’s Healthcare, and the Football Community
Our older son’s cancer diagnosis is actually the reason all of this football stuff looks the way it does now. We’ve mentioned in previous videos that both boys were going to be signed somewhere, and our older one was about to be signed when we found out he had cancer. That changed everything overnight.
Because of that, we’ve ended up seeing a side of Spain that has nothing to do with fun football and lifestyle content. His treatment here has been fully covered by private insurance, and the healthcare and doctors have been excellent. We believe that if we’d gone through the same thing in the United States, we might be bankrupt now. For people considering a move to Spain, we feel like it’s important you see this side too, the “what happens if something really serious goes wrong” side, not just the training schedules and academy costs.
We’re not going to go deep into his story in this post, because we want to do that properly. Our plan is to film a dedicated video once he beats cancer, where we can talk in detail about Spain’s healthcare, the insurance side, and the support we received. In that future video, we also want to publicly thank specific football clubs, parents, and coordinators who treated us almost like family during his illness.
That’s the other big piece here: the football community in Valencia. The stereotype in youth football is that it’s cutthroat and competitive, and there is some truth to that in how academies work. But when our son got sick, parents and coordinators from multiple competing clubs in Valencia showed extraordinary support. These are clubs that normally compete against each other, and they still rallied around us in a way that went far beyond what we could have imagined.
Looking ahead, our older son still has a couple of years to beat cancer before he’d be in that 11–12 age window where academies start to look more strictly at players. We’re not sure if he’ll still love the game at that point, but we’ve heard that being scouted at 11–12 is considered more impressive than at younger ages. We’ve also heard that at 15–16, academies become very strict because that’s when they have to start offering real contracts and begin cutting more players. So his football path, if he wants one, will intersect with those ages. For now, the main thing is his health, and we’re incredibly grateful that in Spain, both the healthcare system and the football community have shown up for him the way they have.
Looking Ahead: The Academy Pathway From Age 8 to 16
now, with an 8-year-old in a professional academy, it feels like everything is wide open, but we also know the pathway in Spain tightens a lot as kids get older.
At this age, the selection process is more open and developmental. It’s still a big deal that our youngest has made a professional academy at eight, but from what we’ve heard, being noticed at 11–12 is more significant because selection becomes stricter. By the time you get to 15–16, academies become very strict as they start offering real contracts and cutting more players, and at that point it’s less about “let’s develop everyone” and more about who they actually see in that professional pathway.
So we’re enjoying this moment with an 8-year-old at Levante that feels exciting and full of possibility, while also being aware that the pathway narrows as kids age. At the same time, our older son’s potential pathway is on hold while he focuses on beating cancer, and we’ll see later if he still loves football. We’ve mentioned before that both boys were close to signing, and the reality now is that one is stepping into a pro academy and the other is in a completely different kind of fight.
There are also a lot of people around this story that we haven’t really talked about yet. We feel many people in Valencia’s football community and in Spain’s healthcare system deserve public thanks, which we’ll give in a dedicated video. We also don’t plan to make a ton of academy content, but because the last one generated so many questions and now our son has made a professional team, we wanted to share this update and give families a clearer picture of what the academy pathway in Spain can look like from age 8 through to those contract years around 16. Tools like ContentFold have actually helped us turn these long, detailed debriefs into written posts like this so families can refer back to them when they’re researching moves.
We’re considering doing another update in a couple of months once the Levante season is underway, so we can talk more concretely about what an 8-year-old Spanish academy week actually looks like and how the Levante schedule feels once we’re in the middle of it. If you have specific questions about Levante, youth academies, Spanish youth soccer vs US, or even just moving to Spain for football with kids, send them over so we can address them in future content.
For us, this first year at Levante has been less about “making it” and more about understanding what the real academy pathway looks like from age 8, especially in a season where our older son’s cancer and Spain’s healthcare system have put everything into perspective. The level is high, the pathway definitely tightens as they get older, but at this stage it’s still about development, environment, and whether your kid actually loves showing up three nights a week. As we keep going, I’ll share more about how that pathway shifts from 8 toward 16, but for now I hope this gives you a clearer, more realistic picture of what a pro academy like Levante looks like at the very beginning.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did your son get into Levante's academy?
Our son was selected for Levante UD's academy after progressing through several local clubs in Valencia, starting from almost no football experience in the US. His journey began with grassroots clubs that provided a solid foundation in youth soccer, leading to his eventual selection by Levante.
What is the training schedule like at the academy?
Training at Levante's academy typically starts with regular practices and matches, focusing on skill development and teamwork. While specific schedules can vary, families can expect a structured environment that emphasizes both individual growth and team dynamics.
How does the cost of Levante's academy compare to local clubs?
While the exact costs can vary, Levante's academy is generally seen as a step up in terms of quality and organization compared to many local clubs. Families often find that the investment is worthwhile given the professional environment and resources available at the academy.
What was the significance of receiving the Levante kit?
Receiving the Levante academy kit was a milestone moment for our son, marking his official entry into a professional environment. The timely delivery and quality of the kit, made by Macron, contrasted sharply with previous experiences at other clubs, reinforcing the sense of professionalism at Levante.
What advice do you have for families looking to get into youth soccer in Spain?
We recommend starting with top under-8 clubs in Valencia, as they provide a strong foundation in youth soccer in Valencia and are often connected to professional academies like Levante. Engaging with these local clubs can facilitate a smoother transition into the youth soccer culture in Spain.
