The Cost of Playing Soccer Around the World

September 9, 2023
By Salma Ahmed

Playing sports takes a lot of hard work and athletic dedication. It’s also not cheap. Some sports are more expensive than others, some deserve the amounts of money spent on them and others don’t, while some sports are way too expensive. Soccer falls under the category of being way too expensive, especially in the USA. Of course, there are many necessities that players, and their parents, need to buy, but at some point, you have to stop and ask yourself, “Isn’t that too much?” Most of the time, the answer would be yes. It is too much. From academies to camps and then equipment, soccer was never cheap.

The Cost You Have To Pay

The amount of money you would spend on your career as a soccer player depends on several things. For example, what country you are from? Some countries may have women’s soccer academies and camps. This could affect the cost of each one and make them more expensive. Other countries don’t even have training facilities and academies for girls’ soccer.

We just saw Morocco go to the WWC, but it took them until 2023 to do that. There are many countries out there that don’t have camps or methods to let youth play and advance in soccer. This definitely affects the country’s chances of ever having professional soccer leagues or a national team that could go to the WWC. Instead, we have thousands of female players who will look up to the USA or Spain and their latest win and realize that they don’t have the means to dream of becoming a football player.

On the other hand, there are some countries that have a lot of female soccer players. They also have academies, camps, and everything you could dream of. Yet, there is always a “but.” The cost here is the problem. You would find places to play soccer in the USA, England, European countries, and so on, but would you find the affordability? Of all these countries, the USA is the most expensive one with its pay-to-play model.

What Do You Need to Play Soccer?

Deciding that you want to play soccer requires a lot of planning. You will have to check out your plans and where you intend to play. Then whether or not you want to hire private coaches. Or if you will join a club or only go to camps. Then there is the equipment question. For example, cleats could start from $40 and up to $250. There is also the money paid to participate in tournaments and other expenses.

Club memberships are even more expensive, and they could easily pass $4,000 per year, but that won’t be the end of what you are going to pay. Not to mention that there are registration fees that mostly start from $100. Many clubs don’t include travel in their plans, so you are on your own when it comes to travel expenses. And this is a whole new deal. Add to this having to buy your own equipment.

Of course, the clubs have to pay for a lot of things like the staff’s salaries, but are the prices they are asking for necessary? You have to compare different clubs and what they offer so you can decide which one is best for you in experience and money. All of this could become more expensive if you are in the USA.

The USA’s Pay-to-Play Model

The United States is known for the pay-to-play model in youth soccer. In 2017, Time reported that the average family paid $1,472 for their child to play youth soccer. This was reported six years ago; you can imagine the amount now. Before, according to Money.com, it seemed crazy that a family would pay around $20,000 a year for their four kids to play soccer. While today, it is possible that they would pay the same amount for just two kids.

The bigger the club, the bigger the amount of money you have to pay. But what if you still can’t afford the “cheap” ones? This is a question many ask in the United States, while players from other countries don’t have to pay nearly the same amount. It would be even more expensive if you chose to play in travel leagues. You could try and pay less money by looking for early discounts or asking for scholarships.

With the pay-to-play model, will the U.S. be capable of producing new talented players who could make a difference? More likely, we won’t get to see new faces just because those who deserve to play the sport can’t afford it.

Alex Morgan spoke to Forbes about the pay-to-play model in 2019, saying, “Unfortunately, the pay-to-play model, I believe, is getting worse in soccer than when I played competitive soccer (growing up). It’s a very inexpensive sport, and the fact that we’ve made youth soccer in the U.S. more of a business than a grassroots sport is, I think, detrimental to the growth of the sport in the U.S.”

Why We Are Losing Soccer

With the cost of playing soccer around the world being expensive almost everywhere, we are losing valuable players. This will only lead us to lose soccer. In a world dominated by pay-to-play models and other expensive options, many soccer players have no chance to achieve their dreams. How can we talk about the WWC being an inspiration for young players when we can’t make sure that they will even afford to play?

Soccer is expensive, but it shouldn’t remain like this. Clubs should start thinking of the many talents they don’t get to see because of the amount of money they charge. Not to mention how the expensiveness of the sport increases feelings of inequality and injustice. So no one can deny that playing club soccer is expensive, but it shouldn’t be that way. If it remains like this, then soccer won’t develop in the upcoming years. It will start to get worse… and more expensive.

Featured image via LA Times