Overview Benfica Residential Academy is Portuguese club SL Benfica's live-in soccer school on the Saint Leo University campus north of Tampa, the first Benfica residential academy in the United States, where boys and girls in grades 9 through 12 train under the club's methodology and go to class on the same campus. Saint Leo unveiled the program in 2024, with tryouts that August and the first academic year set for fall 2025. Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School teaches the classes and grants the diploma. Benfica was founded in 1904 and won the European Cup twice, and Saint Leo put its fan base at about 50 million in 2024; its youth academy was named the world's best in 2015 and 2019 and won the UEFA Youth League in 2022. On site The academy sits inside Saint Leo's 297-acre campus on Lake Jovita. Players have six soccer fields, four grass and two turf, and a 59,000-square-foot recreation center with a gym, cycling and yoga studios and an aquatic center, plus a resort-style infinity pool with a deck looking over Lake Jovita. Students live in a dedicated residence hall, eat in the university dining hall and use its health clinic, athletic trainers and performance psychology staff. Every player has an individual development plan covering nutrition, schooling and values, and the program tracks nutrition, sleep and injuries alongside training. Audience Players come from across the United States and abroad; Saint Leo's announcement named Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, Italy, Japan, Nigeria and Portugal among their home countries. The academy helps international students with visas and offers scholarships. They share the campus with Saint Leo's university students, who come from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Talent and Influencers The model is Benfica's academy in Portugal, where Bernardo Silva, Rúben Dias, João Cancelo, Ederson, Victor Lindelöf and Gonçalo Ramos trained. Two of its products won the Golden Boy: Renato Sanches in 2016 and João Félix in 2019. Track record Bishop McLaughlin reports a 100% high school graduation rate and 100% college acceptance rate, and it teaches at five levels, from ACCESS and college prep up through honors, Advanced Placement and dual enrollment. The AP list runs to 15 subjects, and dual-enrollment courses include business law, college algebra and forensic criminology. Brand presence Brandvice, a sports partnerships consultancy, handles the academy's partnerships. adidas, Florida's Sports Coast and All Kids Moving Forward appear as partners on the academy's site. The inventory is campus-based and long-term: naming of the campus program, scholarship and program partnerships, field and facility signage, and team kit and equipment.