Pay-to-Play Hurts U.S. Soccer

This is why U.S. soccer will never truly compete with European football. It comes down to

one simple thing: money. In the United States, if your kid wants to become the next

Messi, you’d better be ready to sell your house and your car. The average soccer

academy costs around $8,400 a year—and that’s just for the privilege of getting yelled at

by a coach who learned tactics from FIFA Career Mode. Meanwhile, in Europe,

it’s completely different. Youth academies are free. Clubs don’t choose

kids based on their parents’ wallets; they choose them based on talent. If a six-year-old

in Spain can dribble like prime Ronaldinho, the club will pay him to play—not the other way around.