Virginia junior Joe Bell and sophomores Daryl Dike and Daniel Steedman are each forgoing their remaining collegiate eligibility to pursue careers in professional soccer.
Dike, projected as one of the top picks in Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft, signed a Generation Adidas contract making him eligible for selection as an underclassman. Dike and teammate Henry Kessler are two of the five collegiate soccer players to earn Generation Adidas contracts.
Generation adidas is a joint program between MLS and adidas which sees a handful of top collegiate underclassmen and youth national team players signed by MLS to Generation adidas contracts and made available in the SuperDraft.
Bell is expected to sign with Viking FK, a professional soccer club in Norway, in the coming days. Steedman, a sophomore in 2019, has inked a deal with Atlanta United 2 of the United Soccer League (USL).
“This group of young men (Bell, Dike, Kessler and Steedman) could not have represented themselves, UVA or our program any better than they did,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “They were all great students, great people and talented soccer players. They helped this team achieve and check off just about every box that you could check off in one season. For that I am grateful and wish all of them the best in pursuit of their hopes and dreams.”
The 2020 MLS SuperDraft is scheduled for Thursday (Rounds 1 & 2) and Monday (Rounds 3 & 4). The 2020 SuperDraft presented by adidas will stream live on the ESPN App, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
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Chris Graham
