SAN DIEGO (Wednesday, April 17, 2024) – San Diego FC (SDFC) today announced the Club has appointed Joaquin Escoto as Executive Vice-President, SDFC and Right to Dream Academy. Escoto will report directly into Tom Penn (San Diego FC CEO) and work closely with Tom Vernon (San Diego FC Founding Partner and Founder of Right to Dream Academy). Escoto will oversee all San Diego FC’s Right to Dream Academy decisions as part of the Club’s commitment to developing the next generation of athletes and future leaders.
“We are thrilled to welcome Joaquin,” said San Diego FC CEO Tom Penn. “Joaquin is a highly respected leader in the youth development space, with extensive experiences in Southern California and across the United States and Mexico youth soccer markets. He is intensely passionate about Right to Dream, and we are confident he is the right person to deliver on our commitment to create opportunities for talent to flourish and shine at SDFC.”
Joaquin is an accomplished soccer executive with over 16 years of experience in the soccer industry. As former co-owner of Alianza de Futbol, the largest Hispanic soccer program in the United States, Escoto created the most important national free scouting program for top Hispanic youth soccer players. Most recently, Escoto led Global Football in the Americas for IMG the past two years working with organizations like FIFA, Conmebol, Concacaf, MLS, Leagues Cup, LaLiga, and other clubs. Escoto is also a co-founder of ACCESS U Foundation, a foundation that mentors and empowers underprivileged scholar-athletes by helping them fulfill their academic and athletic potential to attend top U.S. universities.
As part of his role as the EVP of San Diego FC and Right to Dream Academy, Escoto will be responsible for overseeing academic and campus operations, developing the professional soccer and academic pathways for academy students, and integrating strategically with the wider Right to Dream ecosystem. Escoto will have a voice in all formative SDFC club decisions and contribute to the overall success of the Club, acting as a key link to the first team and the global Right to Dream community of clubs and academies.
“I am excited to join San Diego FC as the Club’s Executive Vice President of San Diego FC and Right to Dream Academy,” said Escoto. “The Right to Dream Academy in San Diego will change soccer in the United States, giving top talent the opportunity to develop their academic and athletic potential in a fully-funded residential program, the first of its kind in North America. The vision of San Diego FC is to create an integrated pathway based on the successful Right to Dream methodology for the top talent to integrate from the academy to the first team. We are excited for the future and look forward to seeing the next generation of talented athletes and future leaders emerge from this program.”
The Right to Dream Academy offers a unique model of talent development by way of its holistic approach of character building, football development and focus on education. This holistic environment allows student-athletes to develop not just as elite footballers, but as leaders and changemakers who will make a positive impact on their communities and beyond.
Unlike the traditional U.S. pay-to-play model, Right to Dream Academy in San Diego is a fully-funded free residential program, school and football academy. Upon completion of the project in 2025, San Diego FC will become the first Major League Soccer club to offer a privately operated school combined with a residential football academy. The residential academy will accommodate male students between the ages of 12-18, spanning grades six through 12. The first group of residential athletes will be enrolled in Fall 2025. Additionally, San Diego FC will create a pathway at the academy for girls between the ages of 12-18, making San Diego FC the only MLS club to develop emerging female talent. The Right to Dream Girls Academy in San Diego will be the only program to be fully-funded by an MLS side, allowing the talented top youth players to join free of charge. The Right to Dream Girls Academy in San Diego is scheduled to begin operations in the fall of 2026.
“We couldn’t think of a better leader to help us develop the future generations of world-class players across San Diego and North America,” said Tom Vernon, Founding Partner of San Diego FC and Founder of Right to Dream. “Joaquin is a leader with the broad skill set required to ensure the unique Right to Dream methodology is fully implemented and impactful in San Diego and North America.”
The San Diego FC Performance Center and Right to Dream Academy will occupy the Club’s 125,000 square-foot buildings on the 28-acre campus located in El Cajon on the Sycuan Reservation. The campus will also feature a 50,000-square-foot state-of-the-art sports performance center shared by the first team and academy teams, and five full-sized soccer fields, including three natural turf fields and two synthetic turf fields. A cultural focal point of the facility is the second-floor dining room and communal hub, overlooking the training fields, which fosters engagement between the academy players, coaches, teachers and professional players.
