U.S. Soccer has one job post-World Cup |
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the biggest commercial event in American soccer history.
It is projected to generate roughly $17.3 billion in domestic economic impact. It arrives less than a decade after one of the darkest nights the sport has experienced in this country: the U.S. men’s national team’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Since that collapse in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago, American soccer has responded the way it usually does. It has built.
MLS has expanded to 30 clubs. Two competing third-tier professional leagues have launched. Club valuations hit a billion. Stadiums have opened and sponsorship dollars have surged.
By every business metric, soccer in the U.S. is growing.
If 2026 is supposed to mark American soccer’s arrival, there is one uncomfortable truth we cannot avoid: The U.S. still does not produce talent close to the rate of the world’s leading footballing nations.
Per capita, Spain produces top-five European league players at 120x the rate of the U.S. Croatia, with a population smaller than Brooklyn and Queens combined, develops more top-five league talent than the entire U.S. Senegal produces top-five-league players at roughly 40 times the U.S. rate per capita with one-fortieth the GDP per capita.
The problem is allocation, not infrastructure.
For decades, American soccer has poured capital into facilities, administration, league expansion and participation growth........