The 2026 North American edition of the World Cup begins in just about a month but there aren’t many watch party announcements and there’s an overall lack of zeal for this cultural institution. In fact, I’m sure if you polled the average person in Atlanta, most people wouldn’t be able to name a player on the U.S. men’s national team. If we make it easy on ourselves and poll some soccer fans, they may give you one or two names.
For a country that produces the best athletes in the world, it’s long been a running joke that we’re painfully mediocre at the world’s favorite sport. The last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994, many pointed to the fact that the NFL, NBA, and MLB all had much more prevalence in American fans’ lives than soccer. All of our best athletes grew up specializing in other sports so of course, we didn’t have the best team but rest assured, give us some time and we’ll be up there with the best of them.
Time has passed and the progression has been marginal at best. In the 30 years since the 1994 World Cup, we’ve seen probably the best American soccer players to date wear the national team jersey with Clint Dempsey and Christian Pulisic having great stints in Europe. We’ve invested heavily into our domestic Major League Soccer (MLS) and the American soccer pyramid. Even the Premier League and La Liga are broadcast on streaming services in the U.S.. Our team still hasn’t ever made it past the round of 16 and this year doesn’t look like it will be any different. Why is this?
Fans of the top five leagues in Europe will often gripe about the lack of relegation and promotion in the America’s soccer pyramid that discourages proper youth investment and doesn’t penalize poor play. However, these are only symptoms of a bigger problem — pay-to-play. Like with most problems in America, the answer is usually capitalism and with soccer, getting your child into the sport early enough that they’ll have a chance to become a successful pro has dwindled tremendously due to the rising costs.
This isn’t unique to soccer. According to Project Play, “Family spending on youth sports rises 46% over five years,” family spending on youth sports is up nearly 50% since 2019, rising from $693 to $1,016 in over a year. This falls in line with the general decline of participation in youth sports over that same period. Soccer might be the worst culprit as parents spent about 69% more for their child to play youth soccer than other sports like football or basketball.
A country as diverse and oversized as America deserves a squad just as varied, culturally and economically, but most of the players grew up financially advantaged and in soccer oriented families. There’s no question that we have the talent, there are simply too many people living here, but they’re cut off from entering and progressing in the system. If parents can’t afford to get their kid in a good youth program or on a travel team that plays in good competitions, with additional training during the off-season, that kid won’t land on the radar of scouts, no matter how talented they might be. This has produced an American soccer culture that doesn’t feel connected to the people it represents.
If America will ever field a national team that can hang with the world’s best and actually compete for international trophies remains to be seen. With the downturn of the economy and further polarization happening at the hands of the current administration, finding some joy in the world’s favorite pastime feels like wishful thinking more than a solid plan. But hey, at least we’ll get some new MARTA infrastructure out of this.
