About Gjøa Youth Soccer Brooklyn

Brooklyn has seen a proliferation of mostly for-profit soccer clubs in recent years. What makes Gjøa’s non-profit approach different from other programs?

• Reasonable fees and financial aid provided to families in need. Learn about our scholarships.
• Full-time USSF & UEFA licensed professional coaches in all programs.
• We offer classes and clinics, camps, and travel teams from beginner to pre-college training, for boys and girls ages 3-18.

Travel Soccer Benefits…

• A philosophy that puts player development before winning at all costs
• Each player has an Individual Development Plan guided by their coach
• Every travel team player plays at least 50% of every game
• Goalkeepers have their own extra practice with our professional GK Coach
• Optional weekly Club Practice at no additional charge
• A dedicated home field with a new turf surface for all home games
• Most teams play away games within the five boroughs of NYC
• Winter practices at Socceroof, Brooklyn’s premier indoor turf field
• Community service involvement via our Playing it Back program.

Most of our players come from the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Flatbush, Prospect Park South, Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, Prospect-Lefferts, Crown Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Kensington, Borough Park, Dumbo, Red Hook, Ditmas Park, Fort Greene, Lower Manhattan, and some come from as far as Queens.

We practice and play at the Parade Grounds, in Prospect Park, at Pier 5 (Brooklyn Bridge Park), Socceroof Brooklyn, J.J. Byrne Playground/Washington Park, and in Red Hook. Away games happen mainly in NYC: in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

The renowned Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen is best known as the first person to reach the South Pole. However, his initial fame came in 1906, when he and his crew became the first to find the Northwest Passage. This feat was accomplished aboard a ship named ‘Gjøa’.

Five years later, in 1911, members of the Norwegian Seamen’s Association organized a sporting club. Inspired by the adventurous spirit of Amundsen, the new club adopted the name of his ship. Initially, Sporting Club Gjøa’s only sports were whale rowing and tug of war, but in 1915 they started a men’s soccer team and in 1918 the first youth soccer teams were formed. In the more than 100 years since then, our club has won far more trophies than fit inside the clubhouse cases, yet the program has always been proud of its focus on individual success over winning silverware.