More than 22 pre-professional soccer teams across Ohio are set to descend on ForeFront Field in Avon on Nov. 25 for a combine that organizers say could open up more than 100 roster spots in a single afternoon. The inaugural NOSL Soccer Combine runs from 2 to 5 p.m. and brings together the Northern Ohio Soccer League, Akron City FC and the Lorain County Leviathan FC in what they're calling the first event of its kind in the state.
Instead of players chasing down individual tryouts with each club, the combine pools everyone into one event where coaches come to them. According to keeonsports.com, coaches from both USL League Two organizations and NOSL teams will be on hand to evaluate talent in person. Andrew McDonnell, chairman of Lorain County Leviathan FC, framed the idea simply, saying the format pools opportunities rather than forcing players to go club by club, as The Morning Journal reported.
Why One Combine Beats Dozens of Tryouts
McDonnell has data to back up the pitch. Lorain County Leviathan drew 75 players to its own tryouts last year and kept just five, the kind of long odds a combined event is meant to soften by spreading hopefuls across far more rosters at once. He has suggested that if 175 players show up to the Avon combine, most should walk away with a team, according to the Morning Journal's reporting.
The pathways on offer span a wide age range, with eligible players generally between 16 and 38 years old, though most who attend these kinds of combines tend to fall between 18 and 26, per keeonsports.com. Eligibility and roster requirements still depend on the individual club and competition, the outlet notes, so what a player qualifies for varies team to team.
From Cleveland to Columbus, a League on the Move
The clubs represented stretch well beyond Lorain County. NOSL teams cover the Cleveland, Akron-Canton, Mansfield, Toledo and Columbus areas, according to the Morning Journal, giving the combine a statewide reach rather than a single-region tryout. The league itself just wrapped its 2026 season with 20 men's teams and eight women's teams, according to noslsoccer.com, and its men's side runs two divisions with promotion and relegation, as cleveland.com reported in September.
The league is already looking past this season. NOSL is currently fielding inquiries from new men's and women's clubs hoping to join for 2027, and the organization has said it plans to widen its geographic footprint and strengthen its women's competition, per noslsoccer.com. Nick Turchan, who represents the Northern Ohio Soccer League, has said the combine gives players at different stages of their careers, including recent college graduates, a shot at two levels of competition, the Morning Journal reported.
What $40 Actually Buys at the Door
Registration runs $40, and that fee covers more than just a jersey number. It includes combine participation, gear, use of the facility, and evaluation by every participating coach on site, per keeonsports.com. Every registered player also gets added to a free-agent database that any of the participating teams can search and use to reach out directly, the outlet reported.
That database detail matters because USL League Two, one of the levels represented at the combine, has become a genuine springboard toward the professional game. The league accounted for 69 players selected in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft, or 77% of all picks, with 20 of the 30 first-round selections having League Two on their résumé, according to uslleaguetwo.com. Two of those draftees, Stefan Dobrijevic and Remi Agunbiade, came out of Akron City FC before landing with Austin FC and San Diego FC respectively, per the same report.
Ohio Isn't the Only State Running Open Tryouts
Avon's event isn't happening in isolation. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC will hold its own open combine for aspiring professionals on Dec. 4 at the AHN Montour Sports Complex in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, according to riverhounds.com. That event will also evaluate players for Riverhounds 2, the club's own pre-professional USL League Two side, though registration there costs considerably more at $150, with an early-bird rate of $125 for those who sign up before Nov. 13, per the same source.
ForeFront Field, the Avon venue hosting the NOSL combine, sits at 2009 Baseball Boulevard, according to intheballparks.com. Players looking for registration or eligibility details can reach McDonnell at 440-503-3572 or Turchan at 216-570-7557, per the Morning Journal's reporting. For a league built around giving players life after youth and college soccer, the Nov. 25 gathering is shaping up as its biggest single swing yet at matching talent with a roster spot.
