55 pages • 1-hour read
The Academy
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: Soccer/Football in the United States and the United Kingdom
As an American player in England, The Academy’s protagonist Leo Doyle has to contend with the many differences between soccer in the United States and football in the United Kingdom, most notably the place that they have in each respective country and their culture. Though soccer—or football in the United Kingdom—has its modern-day roots in the United Kingdom, the game has gone worldwide. The first football association was founded in England in 1863, and it came to the United States via immigration. Already cemented in England as a popular sport, soccer—as it became known in the 1910s and early 1920s—slowly gained traction in the United States at the start of the 20th century. Two professional leagues began in 1967, but it wasn’t until 1996 that today’s most prominent soccer association was started: Major League Soccer (“The History of Soccer.” Bundesliga, 2025).
Today, Major League Soccer in the United States has 30 teams. Its more popular counterpart in England, the Premier League, has 20. However, the Premier League is also part of a larger professional football scaffolding in England, as teams that do not perform well can be relegated to lower-tier leagues like the Championship League, League One, and League Two that are still professional but considered less skillful. These teams can, in turn, fight their way back to the Premier League by performing well. As in the novel, many Premier League teams also have youth academy teams that hone younger players’ skills.
Series Context: Exploring the Youth Academy System in the U.K.
The Academy is the first installment in the Academy series written by T.Z. Layton. In it, readers are introduced to Leo Doyle as he struggles to make the fictional London Dragons youth academy team. In subsequent novels, Leo has secured his spot on a youth academy team for the Lewisham Knights. Each one requires that Leo build up his skills as a soccer player in order to one day play as an adult professional in the Premier League in England. However, each novel puts this dream at stake as Leo learns what it takes to play in the best league in the world. As in the first installment, Leo’s standing as an American places him in a unique position compared to his peers, and he has to contend with living thousands away from his family in the United Kingdom. For him, the stakes are always high because he has access to higher level of soccer in the United Kingdom than he does back home.
T.Z. Layton is Layton Green’s pen name. Green is an adult fiction author who is a “lifelong fan of the beautiful game” (“The Academy.” T.Z. Layton Books, 2025). According to an interview with We Are Teachers, Green has planned on having eight books in the series, which would bring Leo to 16 years old and able to sign a professional contract with one of the Premier League teams. The seven subsequent books after The Academy all build on the information about soccer in England that Leo describes in the first installment. Moreover, the events of the novel and the rest in the series are meant to depict events that could really happen, according to Green (Barrett, Lindsay. “Meet the Author of the Wildly Popular Series 5th Grade Boys (and Girls!) Can’t Put Down.” We Are Teachers, 8 May 2024).
Unlock all 55 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs