IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I don't know. I still think at some point it'll be bigger than the NBA and NFL combined. Not anytime soon, but it's coming.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
FIFA World Cup 2026 - It's Called Football, Not Soccer!
I don't know. I still think at some point it'll be bigger than the NBA and NFL combined. Not anytime soon, but it's coming.
Hari Seldon
Member
Not in the US. Pick any US public high school and the top athletes are playing football or basketball. US high school football games are pure spectacle, with a marching band, dance squad, cheerleaders, and packed attendance. Compare that to soccer…. they have crowds slightly above a track meet. Soccer is a sport for rich kids in the US, like hockey or tennis.
clarky
Gold Member
It does happen in football. We have the UEFA champions League ( best club teams in Europe play a side tournament thoughout the season) Other regions have similar and then the club world cup.Baseball plays 162+ games a year and teams play mostly daily with grueling travel schedules. It would not work. Just like it doesn't happen on footyball until the World Cup. Other championchips they do are more manageable due to less games and the countries being so close together (in Europe) like states in the US.
Baseball now has World Baseball Classic that fits the "World Cup" bill of players from their respected countries and teams.
World Baseball Classic - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Side note. Yeah i was shocked a few years back working with some guys from Boston and they told me how many games they attended each season. Like how do baseball fans maintain a relationship? It's hard enough watching football every other week for 90 minutes in the UK.
Last edited:
FMN
Member
Very unlikely in our lifetime. The average person here probably can't even name a single MLS team outside of their own city, if they even know that one.
Right now the subreddit for the Seattle Sounders has about 40k members and the subreddit for the Seahawks has over 300k. And that's like the top soccer city in the country. As well as redditors more likely to be self hating Americans who worship Europe.
Last edited:
DKehoe
Member
I remember reading Zlatan Ibrahimovic talking about the monetary barrier for entry for kids to play football in the US. American Football, Basketball, Baseball and others already have such a cultural foothold in the US that they're where the best young athletes will be getting directed towards. So youth football systems in the US should be doing everything they can to try and draw people in, not putting up additional barriers.
StabbyStabStabStabStab
Member
Didn't realise they'd already played this year so could well be. I watched the highlights and it was a little flaccid sadly - not exactly going down fighting which was a shame, more akin to exiting the tournamount like a moist guff
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Nah. I still think Footy will conquer the US sooner rather than later.
It's a working class sport. Anyone can play it. All you need is a ball. They should start promoting it more in US schools because it's so much easier to get into than any other sport. The fact that it's a rich kids sport in the US is bizarre.
I don't hate US sports either. I'm actually getting into Basketball and Ice Hockey. Just need to pick a team to support (maybe going with Toronto Raptors and Maple Leafs)
kpopSuperstar
Member
NFL and NBA will always be the biggest sports in the USA because of how culturally it's tied to schools and the nation. It's cultural touchstones built into America.
MLB might be surpassed, but not anytime soon.
NHL might be surpassed in the next 10-ish years if the MLS continues to grow as it has.
MLB might be surpassed, but not anytime soon.
NHL might be surpassed in the next 10-ish years if the MLS continues to grow as it has.
clarky
Gold Member
I was just reading about it. In the states, apparently its a very expensive sport to get into for some reason. Like you say, bizarre.
P:axMagellanic
Member
A class thing, maybe? Middle class suburban types wanting to separate their kids from the argy bargy of the plebs?
clarky
Gold Member
Daniel Larusso didnt seem to have a problem kicking a ball back in the day and he was a scrubber.
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
LMAO. How? You just need a ball to play with a few mates.
For equipment if you play for a club, you need boots, shin pads and a kit.
That's it.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe footy is just a novelty sport in the US and it'll never overtake NBA, NFL and NHL.
clarky
Gold Member
I just went down the rabbit hole after
DKehoe
posted that link a bit further up.Here it is again if you are interested.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic once slammed American youth football system for being too expensive
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has previously challenged whether young players in the United States truly have equal access to the sport. The former Sweden international voiced concerns about participation costs during an AC Milan promotional appearance in New Jersey.
Hari Seldon
Member
Like I said soccer is not popular enough for US high school to be the pinnacle of the sport. So if you want to be elite at soccer you have to pay to join a club. This disqualifies the 6'5" athletic freak from South Miami who has no father but would dominate in any sport he played. The public school that kid is going to might not even have a soccer team.
clarky
Gold Member
Nuts.
Sybrix
Member
Is that real?
WTF.
I played football in England from the age of 6 to 16, each season my parents paid around £50 per season..................albeit 15 years ago ish.
That is fucking insane, why is the USA so expensive?
FMN
Member
I just don't see it. Maybe it could get as popular as baseball in the future but football and basketball are on a whole other level and NBA/NFL are still growing.
You don't really need much to play a pickup game of basketball or football. We used to do that all the time as kids. All you need is a ball for either and a hoop for basketball.
Hari Seldon
Member
I paid like $300/month for my daughter in U12. But it wasn't an elite club. The elite ones are way more. Plus you are traveling for tournaments which is a hotel. The elite clubs also fly to play and travel a lot more.
This is for club though. The communities have regular soccer leagues which are like $50/season. But random dads are coaching so you won't actually learn much soccer. That is likely the biggest difference when it comes down to it, random dads are much better at coaching sports that they played compared to sports that they didn't play.
Last edited:
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
How the heck it's 4k to enroll a kid into soccer?
Represent.
Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Hahahahahah
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Hideous Snake
Gold Member
Champions of England carry
ForAcademicPurposes
Gold Member
Is Paraguay ok?
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Agave
Gold Member
Sabejita
Member
It's a shame that AI still can't reproduce hands correctly.Not the women though,
clarky
Gold Member
Your track record says otherwise.
Agave
Gold Member
Gp1
Member
The USA has developed a new exciting tactic, possibly with help from president Trump, where they start the second half and punt the ball straight to the opponent.
Nah. It's "modern" football at it's finest.
No one wants to play with the ball anymore because it's easy to steal the ball and counter attack with speed while the other team's defense is out of position.
This kind of shit summarize everything wrong with football today.
Last edited:
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Last edited:
Hideous Snake
Gold Member
GEEEETTT INNNNNN
Spooky Scary Skeleton
Member
This Argentinian team looks shaky af. That Cabo Verde game was no fluke at all.
Hideous Snake
Gold Member
3 penalties incoming for the golden child
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
that goal! Egypt saying I am here and I am going up!
clarky
Gold Member
LOL perfect timing
Hideous Snake
Gold Member
First one done
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
Oh no argentina behind? Time to to reach for the pocket kick