Road to FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026

IMO - he is wrong, making soccer "free" won't increase the skill level and make mens soccer develop skilled men players.. American Football is the major reason for males not entering the sport.

American football has an opportunity to earn big salaries, the fan base is huge. Even if you aren't the big name players, you have plenty of opportunities to succeed (practice squads, coaches - from elementary to colleges, trainers, etc). Scholarships to college, etc

There just isn't the same opportunities for soccer.

Yes, elite soccer is expensive - my grandson is 14, they travel a lot. While American Football is less expensive overall, to become elite takes a great deal of investment too.

Women's soccer in the US thrives. Great players, etc. why? Besides Soccer, Basketball, Volleyball, Cheer (yes it is a competitive sport) there is not the big sports opportunities.

JMO
 
once_upon said:
IMO - he is wrong, making soccer "free" won't increase the skill level and make mens soccer develop skilled men players.. American Football is the major reason for males not entering the sport.

American football has an opportunity to earn big salaries, the fan base is huge. Even if you aren't the big name players, you have plenty of opportunities to succeed (practice squads, coaches - from elementary to colleges, trainers, etc). Scholarships to college, etc
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What about children who don’t want to play American Football? And those whose parents don’t have $5k to spend on youth “soccer”?
 
There's baseball and basketball.

The truth is the scholarships and professional opportunities are not as prevalent as football, baseball, basketball.

We have a good soccer college team here - but they need to find another country to play for.

Messi playing im Miami, importing other stars from elsewhere might change that.

Kansas City is developing a fan base - both men and women. I'm sure other cities are too. We took our 14 year old grandson to a soccer game where Puslic played last year. The tickets were affordable or even free for some of his teammates. Still plenty of seats available
 
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Isn’t soccer/football one of the few sports left where a young man can be very competitive without needing to be 6’3”+ height? Look at the rosters of the NBA, NFL, and MLB. That’s very discouraging with the average American man being about (I think) 5’9”.
 
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once_upon said:
There's baseball and basketball.
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And if you don’t want to do those and your parents don’t have $5K? It just seems like the system US Soccer has in place is not working, but whoever is profiting off the parents who can pay 5k a year has no interest in changing to a model that other successful nation’s use.
 
allezfred said:
And if you don’t want to do those and your parents don’t have $5K? It just seems like the system US Soccer has in place is not working, but whoever is profiting off the parents who can pay 5k a year has no interest in changing to a model that other successful nation’s use.
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In Canada, more parents are putting their kids into soccer than in hockey because soccer is much cheaper than hockey, which requires ice time, skates, sticks, etc. I believe soccer is now the #1 sport for Canadian youth. However, it's still too expensive for a lot of families.
 
allezfred said:
And if you don’t want to do those and your parents don’t have $5K? It just seems like the system US Soccer has in place is not working, but whoever is profiting off the parents who can pay 5k a year has no interest in changing to a model that other successful nation’s use.
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Oh I think we are talking 2 different things.
There are 'free" soccer leagues and junior high/high school competition.

This dad is talking elite soccer. Just like basketball, volleyball, football and other sports have "free" activities, they have elite sports too that have costs associated with playing in those leagues. Frankly 5K a year is the beginning of elite.

Parents will spend 10's of K for upper elite level leagues
 
Most dominance of US women's sports teams needs to be evaluated against other countries lack of investment in women's sports, not to mention cultural barriers against women's sports. Typically, once another country starts investing in women's sports, they are competitive or even dominate US women.

Just because pay-for-play soccer created a dominant women's team doesn't mean it will work for men.

Free/low cost youth sports benefits EVERYONE. But God forbid we let the poor have access to a remotely even playing field.
 
Former Lurve Goddess said:
In Canada, more parents are putting their kids into soccer than in hockey because soccer is much cheaper than hockey, which requires ice time, skates, sticks, etc. I believe soccer is now the #1 sport for Canadian youth. However, it's still too expensive for a lot of families.
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Where I am, and I would assume it's similar in other parts of Canada, there are different tiers of soccer. The super expensive competitive travel teams at one end of the spectrum are out of reach for most families. There are club teams in the middle - still expensive but much more reasonable. Little Habs plays community soccer - indoor in the winter, outdoor in the spring. Our fee for the fall/winter was $400 (for 6 months of play), plus the cost of shoes and shin guards. There are options to apply for subsidized registration and used equipment.
While I understand that $400 is still out of reach for some families, it's not like there aren't options for cheaper kids' sports.
 
Habs said:
Where I am, and I would assume it's similar in other parts of Canada, there are different tiers of soccer. The super expensive competitive travel teams at one end of the spectrum are out of reach for most families. There are club teams in the middle - still expensive but much more reasonable. Little Habs plays community soccer - indoor in the winter, outdoor in the spring. Our fee for the fall/winter was $400 (for 6 months of play), plus the cost of shoes and shin guards. There are options to apply for subsidized registration and used equipment.
While I understand that $400 is still out of reach for some families, it's not like there aren't options for cheaper kids' sports.
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Toronto has some free rec soccer for kids. Free skating lessons, swimming lessons, etc too. However, there's way, way more demand for the free children sports programs than there are spots available.
 
I don't know that I think $400 is all that unreasonable for 6 months of community sports. 35 years ago when my youngest brother was playing HS football in California, I think my parents had to pay $100. Inflation alone would probably make it at least that much nowadays (hmmm - perhaps a text to said brother is in order since his son now also plays HS football in California, lol).

Younger niece played soccer during middle school & high school and she was at a severe disadvantage to the girls on the team who played in travel clubs - so much so that she didn't make the varsity team her senior year after her jerk coach begged her to try out for the team because he was short on numbers then when he had enough players after all, he put her on the JV squad. She wound up quitting a few weeks into the season because of that. This coach also sold a bill of goods to every single interested player every year about how many of his players earned college scholarships which is part of why she stayed on the team and why my brother supported her in doing that over other extracurricular activities she was also interested in.

The reality is that very few kids earn college athletic scholarships, regardless of the sport they choose, but right now youth sports in the US (not sure if they're as lucrative in Canada as they can be here) relies, in part, on selling parents on the notion that their kid can get an athletic scholarship with enough investment (time & money) in the travel club sports circuit. There are lots of other scholarship opportunities from many community organizations but few of them are going to be substantial enough to pay for all four years of university, so those activities, unfortunately, often get the short end of the stick when it comes to youth commitment & interest.
 
Even my grandson has to have his own football cleats and some other gear to play high school football. They do fund raising to travel to schools farther in the state.

Reality is there are no absolutely free sports - between personal gear and fees.
Community leagues have an enrollment fees - some one has to pay for field upkeep at the very minimum.
 
Karen-W said:
I don't know that I think $400 is all that unreasonable for 6 months of community sports. 35 years ago when my youngest brother was playing HS football in California, I think my parents had to pay $100. Inflation alone would probably make it at least that much nowadays (hmmm - perhaps a text to said brother is in order since his son now also plays HS football in California, lol).
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I don't think it's unreasonable at all. In fact, it's more than reasonable!!
I just know that $400 fee still makes it out of reach for some families, but even then there are options within the community program.

Mini-Habs's school cheer fee was $400 for the year and I know of at least one family who said their daughter couldn't participate because they couldn't spare the money. The school quietly paid for her uniform and covered her costs with some of the fundraising (I only know this because I am on the parent council and we had to approve the use of the fundraising dollars to this).

Also, why are all of my examples $400?!? :lol:
 
Thats a lot cheaper than here, @Habs! It was $360 for the spring/summer session and that was only 7 weeks (one hour, twice a week). We put mini mic in soccer with our community association because I didn’t think she actually wanted to play, she just found a pair of pink soccer socks in a bag of hand me downs :rolleyes: She did not care about soccer, but it only cost me $40. I think Canada struggles with soccer, despite lots of kids playing, because the outdoor season is pretty short (mid May to September here) and outside of bigger cities there aren’t indoor options. There’s a rink or two in every small town though.
 
Are there really no scholarship opportunities for soccer players in the US? There are for sports like gymnastics and track.

Where I live during my runs on the weekends, I see parents huddled in bulky coats and umbrellas with Tim Hortons cups while watching their kids play soccer.
 
manhn said:
Are there really no scholarship opportunities for soccer players in the US? There are for sports like gymnastics and track.

Where I live during my runs on the weekends, I see parents huddled in bulky coats and umbrellas with Tim Hortons cups while watching their kids play soccer.
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Oh, there absolutely are; but full-ride or even partial athletic scholarships aren't coming the way of most kids who are doing the club soccer circuit from childhood and through their teen years. A quick Google AI search says that NCAA Division 1 schools can offer 28 full scholarships per team for men's & women's soccer; and NCAA Division 2 schools can offer 9 full scholarships for the men & 9.9 full scholarships for the women playing soccer.

That math translates to 5908 men's D1 soccer scholarships, 9828 women's D1 soccer scholarships, 1854 men's D2 soccer scholarships & 2623 D2 women's soccer scholarships for a total of 20,213 full scholarships - which can be split into partial scholarships and doled out to more athletes. And Google AI says that approximately 800,000 kids participate in high school soccer -divide that by 4 gives us 200,000 per grade - so maybe 10-15% of all high school soccer players will receive a full or partial athletic scholarship to play soccer in college. Those aren't great odds, but they're also not terrible, I suppose.
 
made_in_canada said:
Thats a lot cheaper than here, @Habs! It was $360 for the spring/summer session and that was only 7 weeks (one hour, twice a week). We put mini mic in soccer with our community association because I didn’t think she actually wanted to play, she just found a pair of pink soccer socks in a bag of hand me downs :rolleyes: She did not care about soccer, but it only cost me $40. I think Canada struggles with soccer, despite lots of kids playing, because the outdoor season is pretty short (mid May to September here) and outside of bigger cities there aren’t indoor options. There’s a rink or two in every small town though.
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In Vancouver and some other parts of BC, kids play outdoor soccer in the fall and winter, but yes much of the rest of Canada doesn't have mild enough winters to make this possible.
 
Depending on the area, some private youth clubs can give scholarships or help defray costs for families. It's pretty random, though. Wealthier communities have low cost local programs that don't travel. These are offered through the local school district rec programs. Which, honestly, is fine for kids under 14. There is so much coaching advice on youtube, a super dedicated kid can get some great coaching without leaving their city.

But beyond the $$, having a stay at home parent who can drive you all over WHENEVER really helps.

Socially, kids generally don't enjoy being the only kid without money, or feeling like the only kid whose family doesn't have money. So they may self-select themselves out of expensive travel leagues.

I haven't been reading this thread religiously, but I do just want to say that NCAA recruiting for sports like soccer may be compounding this problem.

From what little I learned officiating women's lacrosse, NCAA recruiting for these 'non-revenue' sports is NOT a meritocracy. Kids from wealthy, 2 parent households tend to get recruited over more talented kids from families not committed or not able to fundraise, donate and organize. "Bubble" kids can also get recruited for their GPA as well. Also, there is not a great recruiting budget for a lot of these teams, so parents who can take their kid all over the country to various national tournaments and promote their own kid have a huge advantage.

Also, I think other countries have semi-pro opportunities for athletes so they can keep active in the sport and get some kind of income. There was a player at the World Cup this year who didn't make the national team until a relatively advanced age, Deniz Undav from Germany. He worked at a factory and played semi-pro, then finally made a pro team, then the national team. I'm not aware of the US having significant semi-pro options, although now that NCAA kids can get NIL money, that is basically a semi-pro opportunity of sorts.

www.bbc.com

World Cup 2026: Deniz Undav's journey from factory floor to World Cup star

It was not long ago that his manager Julian Nagelsmann called him out openly - but Deniz Undav is proving himself a key player for Germany at the World Cup.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
The National Nordic Museum is holding a watch party for the Norway vs. England match on Saturday, July 11 @2pm PDT.

It requires museum admission, and requires a free ticket (ordered online) once you're in the museum.
 
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