How big is soccer culture among second and third generation Americans of European heritage?

14 comments

1. Americans of European descent really don’t often think or organize ourselves in such a way, which is why you may not find much info on this.

   Having said that, soccer is growing more popular every day. I believe it is now the 2nd or most common sport played by people of Generation Z, and soccer is now regularly throwing punches at the NHL and even MLB for viewership on TV. I have Youtube TV, and you pretty much can’t turn it on now and not have a soccer match on at least one channel; more often at least two.

   Soccer attendance has gone up exponentially as well, and the MLS continues to expand. Even our next two lower tiers: USL and USL 2 are getting more TV exposure, and even some of those clubs are getting really nice soccer-specific stadiums built. More and more people are playing it too. You almost can’t go into a sportsplex that has courts or turf fields and not find people playing futsal or other forms of soccer in them it seems, and futsal courts are being installed in more parks and neighborhoods too.

   It’s hasn’t reached NBA, NFL, or MLB levels of popularity, but it’s certainly on its way (though still has a long way to go). The difference is we’re not all following one league like most fans of other sports are. Many American soccer fans are following the various European leagues for example…there’s just a ton of other clubs to choose to follow so it may not seem like certain matches or teams are getting as much views or followings.

   I really think the top is going to blow off in 2026 when we host the World Cup. We have hosted it before (1994), but TV and streaming access wasn’t around or as available yet.

2. Define popular? Play? Watch?

   It’s rising in popularity in to watch, i think importing soccer super stars over is doing that, and social media is increasing the presence of sports that are more popular overseas to here (and reverse for sports popular over here).

   As for playing… i’d say it’s always been extremly popular. It’s usually the first and most basic sport that anyone is exposed to (kicking a soccer ball around). Kids me move onto American Football or Baseball, but just the fact that to play a game of soccer you just need a ball and space makes it sort of the first sport kids learn.

3. On my fathers side I’m 3rd generation born here, and I don’t have any draw to it. Long matches and boring to watch IMO.

4. Seems like it’s mostly fencing around me, but that might be the large Refusenik contingent.

5. My dad was British and I didn’t get anything from him on the topic. But soccer wasn’t covered in our newspapers, or televised, or mentioned in major media. There wasn’t much for him to engage with.

   He never really got into American sports either. We just didn’t talk or think much about professional sports at home.

6. My grandma was a Norwegian immigrant and I don’t give a flying fuck about soccer. My dad doesn’t either.

7. It is common that the children of European immigrants are often the best soccer player in their town / on their youth team. Soccer in America is stereotyped as the sport where your mom brings you to the game and the dads don’t really care. There are a lot less angry parents freaking out in the stands at youth soccer compared to the traditional American sports. But in my experience growing up there was always that one European dad freaking out in a foreign language while everyone else was chill.

   Also, our national team at this point mostly have at least one non-American parent or had recent immigrant ancestors.

   That said, we don’t really get enough immigrants from Europe anymore to make a big cultural dent in most places.

8. When I lived in DC it wasn’t hard to find bars showing EPL games on Saturday and Sunday mornings. You do get a lot of American fans there, but also a lot of immigrants and tourists from Europe. There was an Irish pub near where I lived where Tottenham supporters would gather every week to watch the game. I could always tell whenever Tottenham scored by the sudden burst of exuberant cheering.

   There aren’t as many immigrant players on our national team like there were 20+ years ago, largely due to the development of the domestic game. Some notable exceptions are Sergino Dest who was born in the Netherlands to Surinamese parents, as well as Yunus Musah, and Timothy Weah who were born in the US to parents of African origin.

9. This actually raises a spinoff question–Was soccer as popular in Europe in the early to mid 20th century as it is now? If it was, why didn’t immigrants bring that enthusiasm for it to the states? If not, what changed?

10. Not really at all, in my experience. The Latin American immigrants tend to pass down a bit of the soccer fandom but that’s because they tend to live more in isolated communities, while recent European immigrants are really just too small in number and too easily assimilated into the mainstream to form organized and encompassing immigrant communities like that in most cases.

11. I guess I am third generation as my grandfather was from Scotland. I never met him as he died before I was born. I don’t know if he liked soccer. I don’t care about sports at all.

12. Second and third generation immigrants tend to follow American Football

13. I personally like it, but that’s really more to do with having spent years living in Europe. My parents, sister, and most of my friends couldn’t care less. I don’t think my father could even name any players other than Ronaldo and Messi

14. It depends. I think soccer is getting more and more popular in the United States, though. Plenty of people play it as kids but there isn’t really good paths to competitive professional play like in Europe. But the kid in my high school who was most into soccer was born in Portugal!