FC Barcelona
Joan Gamper facilities · FC Barcelona coaching staff
IL · State guide
Spain Soccer Tours for Illinois
Illinois anchors the Midwest's youth soccer pyramid, with the Chicago Fire FC academy at the top and a deep ECNL and NPL base across the Chicago metro and the collar counties. Odisea Tours has hosted US soccer programs since 2005, and Illinois groups build their Spain tour around the year-round Iberia and American nonstop services from Chicago O'Hare to Madrid, one of only a handful of direct US-to-Madrid routes outside the coasts.
01 / Flying from Illinois
How Illinois groups actually get there.
Illinois's gateway to Spain is Chicago O'Hare (ORD), with both Iberia and American operating year-round nonstop services to Madrid of around 8.5 hours. O'Hare is one of the few direct US-to-Madrid gateways in the interior of the country, which means Illinois groups avoid the connection that clubs in most Midwest and Plains states have to accept. Downstate groups from Peoria, Champaign and the Quad Cities connect through O'Hare.
Gateway airports
- ORD (Iberia and American nonstop to MAD)
- MDW (Chicago Midway, domestic connections)
02 / The Illinois soccer landscape
Where Illinois soccer already plays.
Illinois Youth Soccer registers the largest competitive base in the Midwest. The Chicago Fire FC run their MLS Next academy in the metro, and the ECNL fields a strong Illinois contingent across both genders, with several clubs that consistently produce college and professional players. The IHSA high school season runs in the fall for boys and spring for girls, which gives Illinois programs more nuance than most states when scheduling around the school calendar. The college pipeline runs through the Big Ten and the Missouri Valley Conference.
Major Illinois soccer organisations
- Illinois Youth Soccer Association (IYSA)
- ECNL Midwest and ECNL Heartland
- MLS Next (Chicago Fire FC academy)
- NPL Great Lakes
- Illinois High School Association (IHSA)
Ideal group types
- Chicago Fire academy and affiliate sides
- ECNL clubs across IYSA
- IHSA varsity high school programs (boys and girls)
- Big Ten and Missouri Valley college soccer programs
- Competitive club and select squads from U13 up
03 / Cities we serve in Illinois
Detailed planning, city by city.
04 / Where your players train
Three training homes. No middleman.
Valencia CF
Paterna training ground · Valencia CF coaching staff
Spanish FA
RFEF headquarters, Las Rozas · Accommodation and training
06 / Three reasons Illinois teams pick Spain
01
Chicago O'Hare runs year-round nonstop to Madrid on both Iberia and American, a direct gateway most of the interior of the country does not have. Illinois groups land rested and train the same day.
02
Two carriers on the same nonstop route keep group airfares competitive across the calendar, including the spring break and summer peak windows.
03
The IHSA split season (boys in fall, girls in spring) gives Illinois programs unusual flexibility to slot an international tour into a window that does not touch their competitive calendar.
07 / When Illinois teams travel
The travel windows that actually work.
Summer (June through late July) and spring break (late March) are the two most-booked windows for Illinois youth clubs. The IHSA split season means boys programs often travel in spring and girls programs in late summer or the December break. College programs typically travel in late September.
08 / Tour formats that work from Illinois
Tour format
European Soccer Tours
7 to 12 night soccer tours. FC Barcelona and Valencia CF training, games against Spanish academy or amateur opposition.
Read more →Tour format
Youth soccer programme
Built for U12 to U19 clubs. Families welcome on the same itinerary.
Read more →Tour format
School and high school tours
Term-time and summer programmes for high school varsity and private school teams.
Read more →09 / Frequently asked from Illinois
Questions Illinois coaches ask first.
How long is the flight from Illinois to Spain?
Chicago O'Hare (ORD) runs year-round nonstop service to Madrid on both Iberia and American, around 8.5 hours. This is one of the few direct US-to-Madrid gateways in the interior of the country, so Illinois groups avoid the connection most Midwest states have to make. Downstate groups connect through O'Hare.
Does a tour fit around the IHSA soccer calendar?
Yes, and Illinois has more flexibility than most states because the IHSA runs boys soccer in the fall and girls soccer in the spring. We slot each program into the window that does not touch its competitive season, usually summer for boys and the December break or summer for girls.
What does a Spain tour from Illinois cost per player?
A 10-day Spain soccer tour from Illinois sits between roughly $3,395 and $4,100 per player for ground services. The year-round O'Hare nonstop to Madrid keeps the airfare base lower than most interior states, which usually carry a connection.
Which Illinois clubs do you work with?
We host competitive clubs, high school programs and college rosters from across the Chicago metro and downstate. We do not represent ourselves as an official partner of the Chicago Fire and our fixtures are against Spanish academy or amateur sides matched to your age and level, not MLS Next reserve sides.
Step one
Plan a tour from Illinois. We reply the same day.
Tell us your squad size, age group, home metro and the window you are looking at. We come back inside seven days with a draft itinerary that names the hotels, the training facilities, the cities and the per-player number.