Complete list of Generation adidas and Nike Project-40 players 1997-2010

generation adidas<br />
mls kevin alston baggio husidic nike project 40

Generation adidas players Kevin Alston and Baggio Husidic
Photo: AP/Stephan Savoia

The Generation adidas (GA) program has become the premier route for channeling young talent into MLS. Until 2005, the program was sponsored by Nike and known as Nike Project-40. All together,154 players have come through this system and many have represented the United States on the National Team. Approximately 60-70% of Generation adidas players go on to have successful careers in MLS or abroad, and that's an impressive rate.

It's evident that players with some college experience are more successful than those without. The two-five year contracts with variables of guaranteed and option years provide enough security for promising young players to leave college for a risky professional career by offering reserve funds to continue their educations later on. Most GA players leave college at 20-21 between their sophomore and junior year. Players usually graduate from Generation adidas after they've earned a starting position and have been offered a spot on the first team roster. The tuition funds remain intact.

Various MLS clubs make player recommendations and although adidas has input, ultimately MLS headquarters decides which players will be offered GA contracts. MLS pays their salary, although it is funded primarily by adidas. It takes more than two or three MLS club recommendations for a player to be offered a contract and in 2010, some of the players were recommended by as many as seven to nine clubs. If a GA player is not selected in the first draft rounds, however, the recommendating clubs are obligated to follow through on their recommendations and draft that player.

Listed below are all the players that have come through the Generation adidas and Nike Project-40 programs by year.

For more on Generation adidas, read my interviews with player agents Mike Wheeler and Patrick McCabe.

**Generation adidas and Nike Project-40 players**
	2010	2009	2008
1.	Bone, Corben	Alston, Kevin	Avila, Eric
2.	Bunbury, Teal	Cruz, Danny	Beltran, Anthony
3.	Duka, Dilly	Frei, Stefan	Espinoza Ramirez, Roger
4.	Gavin, Blair	Gonzalez, Omar	Guarda, Bruno
5.	Herold, Zachary	Hall, Jeremy	Lambo, Joshua
6.	Johnson, Sean	Husidic, Baggio	Myers, Chance
7.	McInnerney, Jack	Marosevic, Peri	Nimo, Alexander
8.	Danny Mwanga	Wallace, Rodney	Nyarko, Patrick
9.	Okugo, Amobi	Zakuani, Steve	O'Brien, Ciaran
10.	Opara, Ike		Shea, Dane
11.	Tchani, Tony		Valentino, Robert
12.	Wiedeman, Andrew

	2007	2006	2005
1.	Arguez, Bryan	Altdiore, Josmer	Barrett, Chad
2.	NIcholas Colaluca	Arvizu, David	Besagno, Nikolas
3.	Edu, Maurice	Ianni, Patrick	Freeman, Hunter
4.	Ibrahim, Abdusalam	Kamara, Kei-Ansu	Guzan, Brad
5.	Igwe, Amaechi	Kljestan, Sacha	Jimenez, Christian
6.	Rogers III, Robert	McCarty, Dax	John, William
7.	Seitz, Christopher	Movsisyan, Yura	Kirk, Quavas
8.	Sesay, Israel	Peterson, Jacob	Moor, Andrew
9.	Soumare, Bakary	Sims, William	Parkhurst, Michael
10.	Wallace Jr., Anthony	Sturgis, Nathan	Pore, Ryan
11.		Wagner, Blake	Ward, Timothy
12.		Wynne, Marvell	Watson, Jamie
13.		Zayner, Jedidiah

	2004	2003	2002
1.	Adu, Fredua	Alvarez, Jose Arturo	Akwari, Nelson
2.	Bradley, Michael	Carroll, Brian	Capano, Craig
3.	Cochrane, Ryan	Clark, Ricardo	Countess, Delvin
4.	Cronin, Steven	Eskandarian, Alecko	Davis, Bradley
5.	Dempsey, Clinton	Gaven, Eddie	Gray, Kelly
6.	Gardner, Joshua	Gonzalez, Guillermo	Klinger, Martin
7.	Goodson IV, Clarence	Jaqua, Jonathan	Mapp, Justin
8.	Grabavoy, Ned	Le Blanc, Jacob	Martino, Kyle
9.	Marshall, Chad	Lewis, Ricky	Stone, Jordan
10.	Szetela, Daniel	Magee, Michael
11.		Pause, Logan
12.		Stokes, David
13.		Thompson, Jason

	2001	2000	1999
1.	Barclay, Devin	Asad, Shaker	Albright, Christopher
2.	Bardales Jr., Isaias	Beckerman, Kyle	Beasley, DaMarcus
3.	Buddle, Edson	Bocanegra, Carlos	Bower, Scott
4.	Burcuaga, Jose	Convey, Robert	Daniv, Sergi
5.	Carrieri, Chris	Conway, Jonathan	Gomez, Francisco
6.	Downing, Nick	Cooks, Micah	Green, Michael
7.	Johnson, Edward	Garcia, Nicholas	Kovalenko, Dema
8.	Quaranta, Santino	Longo, Mario	Kozic, Alan
9.	Saavedra, MIguel	Pierce, Rustin	Nyman, Matthew
10.		Rimando, Nicholas	Otero, Antonio
11.		Salas, Sergio	Quijano, Marvin
12.		Trembly, Seth	Rocha, Mauricio
13.			Vallow, Scott

	1998	1997
1.	Beasley, Jamar	Abukusumo, Ubusuku
2.	Cooks, Judah	Botello, Jose
3.	Howard, Tim	Da Silva, Nino
4.	Kirk, Andrew	DiGiamarino, Joseph
5.	McCarty, Chad	Dunseth, Brian
6.	Napolean, Matthew	Parra Carlos
7.	Olsen, Benjamin	Quill, Eric
8.	Vermillion, Scott	Rodriguez, Edmundo
9.	West, Brian	Sahaydak, Tim
10.	Wolff, Josh	Sastoque, Juan
11.		Swift, Barry