Philadelphia Union Academy is headed to MLS NEXT Flex in Frisco, Texas, with a chance to lock up two more postseason berths. The club will send its U-18, U-16 and U-15 teams to the tournament, which runs April 23-28, 2026, at the Toyota Soccer Complex just outside the home of FC Dallas.
Each age group will be split into groups of four, with teams seeded by results from league matches played from September 2025 to March 2026. The winner of each group earns an automatic spot in the 2026 MLS NEXT Cup, making every game in Texas matter for clubs still trying to close out the season cleanly.
The stakes are already partly set for Philadelphia. The Union’s U-16s clinched a place in May’s MLS NEXT Cup over the weekend with a 6-2 win over Red Bull New York, a result that also secured a top-three finish in the league table. That leaves the U-18s and U-15s as the two teams still working through the final stretch with something tangible on the line.
The U-18s and U-15s are already primed to advance via the regular season standings, but they are going to Texas to clinch before the season ends. The U-18s arrive with a stronger national profile after becoming just the third American side to win the Dallas Cup, and they will face Michigan Futbol Academy, Miami Futbol Academy Rush and NEFC in their group. The U-15s will play Lamorinda Soccer Club, Orlando City Soccer School South and Michigan Wolves, while the U-16s are paired with SoCal Reds FC, Quieen City Mutiny FC and Cedar Stars Academy of Bergen.
MLS NEXT Flex is the final qualifying competition for 2026 MLS NEXT, so the format leaves little room for drift. For Philadelphia, the weekend in Frisco is not about building toward something abstract; it is about turning strong regular-season form into certainty, and the U-18s in particular are returning to Texas with a shot to add another line to a résumé that already includes a Dallas Cup breakthrough.
