The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the writer and do not reflect the views of University School of Nashville or the Peabody Press.
As the popularity of soccer has been increasing in America, more and more people are wondering why, despite our dominance in other sports such as basketball, baseball, track, and swimming, we seem so far behind in the most popular sport in the world.
It’s no secret that the growth of American soccer has been exponential. The United States Men’s National Team put up a great fight in the 2022 World Cup, including an unexpected 0-0 draw against the England National Football Team, a long-time powerhouse in national team soccer. They fell short in a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the round of 16, but millions of Americans found great pride and entertainment in watching their country play such a high level of soccer.
The increase in the popularity of national team soccer was closely followed by a rise in the popularity of domestic leagues such as the Major League Soccer (MLS). Viewership and attendance have skyrocketed with the arrival of legends of the sport, such as Lionel Messi of Argentina, Sergio Busquets of Spain, and Luiz Suarez of Uruguay. Regular season attendance increased by 14% from 2022, and in 2024, it ranked only behind the Premier League of England and the Bundesliga of Germany in terms of attendance.
The USA is also set to co-host the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico. As this date is quickly approaching, it has become a common topic of conversation in the American soccer community to consider what we can do best to prepare for the summer of 2026 and more long-term success.
Despite the increase in viewership, in 2010, around 11% of all American children ages 6-12 played soccer, which decreased to 7.4% in 2021. It should be no secret that without kids playing the game, America won’t have adults playing it in the future.
If you look at the biggest and most legendary national soccer teams, there are some themes you can see that lead each of them to success (or close to success for England). Countries like Brazil, Germany, Argentina, France, Spain, and the Netherlands all have fantastic youth development programs.
For those unfamiliar with how youth soccer typically works, it essentially operates as a separate league for younger players. A club can sign players whom they think have a bright future and try to give them the best resources possible to succeed. The club typically sells those players once they have developed enough to be able to play for a bigger club, or else the player will be moved to the club’s first team.
For example, 17-year-old Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona has been a member of their world-renowned academy, La Masia, since he was scouted at the age of six. He made his first-team debut in August of 2023, and now he is valued at a whopping 150 million pounds or roughly 190 million USD. In soccer, a player’s market value is the estimated fee a buying club would pay to a selling club for a player. This number is influenced by skill, age, and the amount of time left on the player’s contract.
This shows how having a strong academy can have a massive payoff. Barcelona is not the only club benefitting from this, as Yamal has also become one of the rising stars of the Spanish national team. During the 2024 Euros, Yamal scored one goal and assisted four in seven matches.
Yamal is the type of talent you come across once in a lifetime. Still, just one phenomenal talent is all it takes to create a legendary generation as long as some above-average players are there to complement them, like Lionel Messi and Argentina. Don’t get me wrong, Messi has been surrounded by some phenomenal players like Sergio Agüero, Lautaro Martínez, and Paulo Dybala, but I think it would be disingenuous to say that without Messi the Argentinian National Team would have seen even close to the same amount of success. As he comes near the end of his spell with his national team, Messi has built an impressive trophy cabinet for Argentina, including two Copa Américas and one World Cup.
In America, the youth soccer system operates as a pyramid. At the bottom, local rec leagues can cost parents around 100 dollars per child per season. At the top, MLS Next can cost parents upwards of 2000 dollars per child, not including travel fees such as flights, gas, and hotels. This fee depends on the club and whether the club is willing to cover part of the cost.
While the cost of clubs is gradually decreasing and club soccer has become more and more accessible, the association of the sport with high expenses is something that will take years to go away.
In other parts of the world, youth clubs can be funded with taxpayer dollars, the clubs have access to free equipment, and they often have free access to facilities like gyms and indoor fields. This is a stark contrast from the state of soccer in Nashville, where I have arrived multiple times at the ‘Public’ soccer field in front of Geodis Park just to find the goals locked by a chain front to front. It will never make sense to me why the people who benefit most from emerging soccer talent in Nashville, Nashville SC, are so determined to discourage young players from honing their skills right outside where they hope to play in the future.
It would also be ignorant not to mention how costs can directly marginalize different racial groups from succeeding in the sport. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2021, families with a Black head of household had 10 times less wealth than those with a White head of household. Not to mention how inaccessible fields and practice facilities are in urban areas, where Black Americans are overrepresented.
The lack of attention to different socioeconomic classes in soccer stems from the fact that soccer has not found its way into the mainstream culture of the United States as it has in other countries in Europe and South America. Although some might argue that soccer needs to be a part of the culture for the system to change, I would argue the opposite.
If and when the system changes and soccer becomes available to all, then soccer will become a part of the culture.
