# Winning at 12 Doesn’t Matter: Inside the Red Bulls Academy | Sean McCafferty

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/winning-at-12-doesn-t-matter-inside-the-red-bulls-academy-sean-mccafferty
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/winning-at-12-doesn-t-matter-inside-the-red-bulls-academy-sean-mccafferty.md
Podcast: [Chasing the Game - Youth Soccer in America](https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250)
Published: 2026-01-14T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/8220d2ae
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/8220d2ae/dba6390d.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/episodes/winning-at-12-doesn-t-matter-inside-the-red-bulls-academy-sean-mccafferty
Duration seconds: 4527

## Resource

Why do professional academies sometimes care less about winning than parents expect? In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia talk with Sean McCafferty, Academy Director of the New York Red Bulls, about how elite youth development really works inside a pro club. They discuss MLS NEXT, development versus winning, evaluation beyond talent, playing up, adversity, late bloomers, and what parents should actually prioritize when choosing a club. This episode is for soccer parents, coaches, and players seeking to understand academy soccer, long-term development, and how professional clubs approach growth, patience, and performance. https://chasingthegame.us (00:00) - Welcome, why this episode is for parents (00:39) - Sean McCafferty, England to New York, coaching lens (02:44) - What an academy director actually does (05:28) - Scouting and selection, what gets a kid noticed (09:00) - Training culture, standards, and daily environment (15:00) - Development vs winning, teaching the game (27:00) - Minutes, roles, playing up, and roster reality (32:42) - Red Bull global network, Salzburg, Leipzig, Brazil (33:00) - Tournaments and the travel culture (45:08) - Growth spurts, late bloomers, and patience (55:12) - Cost, pay to play pressures, what families face (01:01:00) - What actually makes a player, scanning and decisions (01:11:30) - Closing thoughts and advice for families Click here to view the episode transcript.

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## Transcript

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