Do Americans play soccer, like are there ppl who are interested in it?

28 comments

1. Yes. It’s not as big a deal nationally as football, for example, but tons of Americans play and watch soccer.

2. Yes. Americans play soccer and there is a following of European, international, and MLS soccer.

   It is especially popular for kids to play. My daughter will most likely be playing this year.

   It is far more popular in college age and below than it is professionally. There are also a lot of indoor and outdoor recreation leagues for adults.

   It is more popular in the rest of the world but still popular here in the US. We just have other sports that overshadow it.

3. I’m assuming that you watch soccer since you are asking this question. Wouldn’t you already know the answer to this, since there are Americans playing in the top European leagues

4. Tons of people play soccer. It’s one of the most common competitive sports leagues for children.

   What happens is, by the time you reach high school level most of the top athletes have chosen other sports like Football or Basketball. There is not as much popularity in collegiate and professional soccer as there is in those sports.

5. It’s a very popular sport for kids to play but not a lot of people watch professional soccer compared to baseball, American football, basketball, hockey, etc.

6. It’s often one of the first sports you play as a kid, say at age 5 or 6. It was also popular at recess time at my school. When boys get older they may switch to American football, which is more popular.

   Some local parks have soccer fields, and near me there are leagues that adults can join. Some play outdoor in warmer weather, others play indoor.

   Watching soccer on TV is not nearly as popular as other sports, but is growing. A few local bars put on the World Cup.

7. Thank you for your question. You’ve received quite a few responses.

   What are your thoughts on what Americans have had to say?

8. Soccer is one of two sports games I’ll willingly play. The other is basketball. I can’t dribble in either ¯_(ツ)_/¯

   E: more relevantly – my brother and most of our cousins played soccer on kids, high school, or college leagues. We all played it in school during recess or PE pretty regularly.

9. Absolutely, it’s just not very popular as others have said. I used to play when I was younger but have it up for a focus on baseball. But I think it’s growing

10. Yes. We have numerous professional leagues, the MLS draws extremely well.

11. We are interested enough in it that our Women’s National Team has won the most Women’s World Cups.

12. Yes

13. Yeah. Both of my sisters are huge soccer nuts. The younger one is currently an assistant coach at a university and is trying to gain enough experience and capital to open her own club.

14. Soccer is very big as a youth sport and we have professional leagues as well for men and women. The pro leagues are not as popular as baseball or basketball or (American) football but it’s definitely gaining popularity it seems.

    Personally I only follow the USMNT, I keep meaning to get into the local team but every season I don’t lol

15. Lots of little kids play it because it’s the easiest team sport to introduce, but fewer play as they get older and many play basketball, baseball/softball, football, etc instead.

    Pro and international soccer is followed much less than pro football, baseball, basketball, hockey and college football, basketball

16. There’s a great documentary about the importance of youth soccer leagues in the US called *The Big Green*

17. Yes.

18. Yes it’s more popular to play than it is to watch thought.

19. We’re far more interested in playing soccer than watching it.

20. There is. People do. you’ll find that it’s usually immigrants that root for professional soccer teams more but it’s definitely a thing.

21. Traditionally, soccer is used to teach children basic concepts of team play and competitive athletics. As kids get older they usually either decide they don’t like competitive sports and quit, or they decide they do and they start playing “real sports” like American football, basketball, etc.

22. It’s quite popular at the school-age and amateur adult levels, just not as a professional spectator sport.

23. It’s more popular for kids than adults, but that’s changing. I just started going to professional women’s soccer games this year. 1/3 of the USWNT is on my local team.

24. Tons of Americans play when they’re young. They just tend to peel off into more popular sports or exit sports in general by high school

25. Yeah. It’s not the *biggest* sport but that’s mostly because it has a lot of competition. It’s certainly a big sport. Most people will put it in the top 5 team sports in the country. Keep in mind that the US has a pretty thriving sports culture and there are a bunch of different sports that are really popular, so no one sport gets the kind of dominance you sometimes see in other countries.

    Personally, I played it a bunch as a kid. I even became a ref and worked some games to make a bit of pocket change. My high school was competitive enough that despite having played for a long time I stood no hope of making the high school team. The year after I graduated, my high school won the state championship. I later coached youth teams a bit and played on my company’s rec team until COVID shut that down. I still will play random pick-up games occasionally.

26. Yes, it is just not as popular at the pro level as some North American sports like American football, baseball, and basketball (invented by a Canadian born gym teacher in Massachussetts).

    However, more and more people seem to be following the English Premier League football (soccer). Nowadays it is much easier to follow teams because matches are broadcast on NBC and USA and are on streaming services.

27. 80 thousand people decided to watch a soccer game in Green Bay Wisconsin

28. There’s a soccer following in the US, it’s just to the level of the American sports like professional American football, basketball, baseball.