How Popular Is Soccer In USA?

Soccer is a world-famous sport that is loved by millions of fans, but is it popular in the USA? Soccer is a very popular sport in the majority of countries in the world but not in the USA. This might come as a shock but the popular sports in the USA are baseball, basketball, and American football.

However, the landscape of soccer popularity in the USA is changing in recent years. After the win of the USA Women National Team in Football WC 2019, the fan following of Soccer skyrocketed in the USA.

Nevertheless, it is still leagues behind Baseball and Basketball in popularity. In this article, we will be discussing the popularity of soccer in the USA in great detail.

Reasons Why Soccer Will Get Popular In The USA

A Similar Game

If you notice, most of the popular games in the USA involve a ball and a team using that ball to score like basketball. Soccer is something similar to basketball where your ultimate goal is to score points by dunking/kicking the ball in the enemy net. 

The uncanny similarity between these two sports provides Soccer a good foot holding in the USA. Therefore, it is more likely that people in the US will more quickly adapt to the rules and gameplay of Soccer.  

Children Love Playing Soccer

Soccer around the world is loved by children as well as college going students. Playing Soccer requires very little equipment. Just a soccer ball is enough for you and your team to play the game. 

Therefore, it is very convenient for your pocket too which makes it easily accessible for kids with a financially weak background.

Since it costs so less to play Soccer, all the schools and colleges will add it to their collection of sports. Thus, it’s very likely that Soccer will soon become one of the top sports in the USA.

International Sports Exposure

There are several American channels out there including the popular ESPN and Fox Soccer which broadcast several European games like Soccer. These channels are the very backbone of the popularity of Soccer in the country.

These channels have made it easy for Americans to get access to major soccer leagues like the Premier League, La Liga, UEFA Champions League, German Bundesliga, and Serie A. 

Development of American Soccer Players

Another big reason for the growth of Soccer in the USA is the exposure of US Soccer players. In recent years major Soccer teams have shown great interest in US Soccer players.

They have incorporated them into their teams and even had them play in international games. A great example of this would be the American players who played in the European leagues. These players are Maurice Edu, Jozy Altidore, Tim Howard, Oguchi Onyewu, and Carlos Bocanegra.

In addition, the star Soccer player from the USA Clint Dempsey, along with Tim Ream, Fabian Johnson, Terrence Boyd, and Josh Gatt is staying in Europe and making their names in the world of Soccer.

By following their footsteps, the youth of America is getting heavily influenced and started to take Soccer very seriously. 

A Good Coach

A sport grows when its national team does well in international matches. The same goes for Soccer in the USA. The national men and women teams of the USA are very weak and they hardly have any international trophies under their belt.

But it is all going to change very soon as a new very reliable coach has joined the US Soccer team. His name is Jurgen Klinsmann. He is a famous ex-German professional football player and nowadays he works as a Soccer team manager for the USA.

Jurgen Klinsmann as a former player has played for many well known football clubs in Europe. His magic started when back in the 2014 football world cup he selected MLS and European for his team of 11.

He only chooses players by their skill irrespective of their age therefore his team was a rare mix of young and older players in the 2014 world cup. 

Soccer Betting Market In the USA

The US sports betting market is valued at $106.25 billion which is growing every year by 21.54%. A big chunk of it comes from online Soccer betting in USA. The local bookmakers along with the online sportsbooks offer various markets for Soccer betting. Punters from the USA get access to various types of Soccer betting with very competitive odds.

With every passing month, a new sportsbook opens a business in the USA offering Soccer betting odds. Therefore, experts believe that the popularity of Soccer in sports betting will grow with time. 

Final Say

All the incidents and evidence point toward the growing popularity of Soccer in the USA. There is still some time left before people of the US fully integrate soccer into their lives as they have done with baseball and basketball.