Jürgen Klopp, former Liverpool boss turned Red Bull head of global soccer, believes the financial entry point to soccer in the U.S. remains a roadblock in terms of development.
The 58-year-old former coach oversees multiple teams in the Red Bull network including Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls. The former Premier League and Champions League-winning manager was in New York for meetings before attending a Red Bulls match against state rival New York City FC.
Klopp spoke on the state of U.S. soccer as a whole highlighting how the monetary side of the game, or the ‘pay-to-play’ model, remains a key point of contention with overall growth.
“We have a couple of problems in the USA,” Klopp told The Athletic. “So I’m the new guy. So I’m not the one who says, ‘I change it’, it’s not my personality. I just observe and see what could be a problem.
“Youth football can be expensive. So that makes no sense at all to get the best talents. We all know that the best players [in the world] are not coming from the richest areas. I think the last one [best player in the world at the time] who was rich before he started playing was Kaká, if I am right. So this part of motivation is essential.”
Klopp: MLS Quality is Increasing
“In my whole life, I never watched as much MLS as I did in the last month. The quality is constantly increasing and getting better, even when you’re still in the introduction phase. We are introducing the game to a massive country. Big names help a lot. It’s difficult to fill a stadium with the style of play. But I like the atmosphere we have in our stadium, for example,” Klopp added.
Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard have previously highlighted to The Athletic the strain money causes in the sport when it comes to entry points. Dempsey said it has to be “made easier for people who are less fortunate to have the chance to go chase their dreams,” while Howard highlighted how “ostracizing” people on a socioeconomic level will continue to hamper the country’s ability to produce top talent.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he was shocked to find out kids have to be able to play for free in the country when speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in 2024. Other names to criticize the ‘pay-to-play’ model in the past include former U.S. women’s national team star Alex Morgan and former U.S. men’s national team player Cobi Jones.
A study from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association in 2018 highlighted 70% of children within the model came from households that earned more than $50,000 a year, while 33% came from households earning over $100,000 a year.
“That is what tennis was 50 years ago,” Klopp said. “It was a rich person’s game, more or less. Buying a racket wasn’t possible. Then it started in Germany with Boris Becker. All of a sudden, clubs opened, courts opened. In my village, my dad founded the tennis club and these kinds of things started and everybody could play tennis.
“That’s the situation here; so many kids play football. But to get the right training and education at different stages, it makes sense that it’s free. It’s a long-term project issue for me personally and that’s all the things we want to go for.”
The U.S. is set to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside neighboring countries Canada and Mexico.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jurgen Klopp Highlights Crucial Area Where U.S. Soccer Needs to Improve.
