Is a Turning Point in US Soccer Imminent?

 by Owen McGovern

The glare of the floodlights glinted off the silver of the trophy as the players lofted it above their heads, with a crescendo of cheering from 50,000 fans cascading around the stadium. Supporters and players roared as one, as the Seattle Sounders had just won the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in their history. The final of North America’s flagship club competition, played at Seattle’s Lumen Field, had concluded with a 3-0 victory for the home team over Mexican side Pumas UNAM.  Not only was this a monumental occasion for the Sounders as a soccer team, it has also been recognised as a turning point for American soccer as a whole. 

CONCACAF, the confederation which represents soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has long been dominated by Mexico and the United States. However, while both nations have been powerhouses in North America when it comes to their respective national teams, Mexico has historically outpaced its rival in regard to its clubs’ performance in international club competitions, such as the CONCACAF Champions League. In fact, prior to Seattle’s victory in the 2022 final, the previous 17 iterations of the tournament had all been won by Mexican teams, with 2000 being the last edition where an American team had won the trophy. 

This has likely been due to the United States’ historic failures when it comes to developing homegrown players in the nation's domestic soccer league, something which has plagued US soccer for decades. After the USA’s failure to qualify for the 1982 World Cup the team’s head coach bemoaned the lack of quality players from the North American Soccer League, then the US and Canada’s top domestic soccer league. The NASL had instead focused on the importing of expensive foreign talent from Europe and South America. The advent of legendary veteran players such as Pele, Johann Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer meant less opportunities for development were given to Americans playing in the NASL, a failure which was masked for a time by the skill of the NASL’s flashy foreign stars. 

However, this transfer policy eventually proved to be the league’s undoing, as clubs’ revenues were never able to keep up with the players’ exorbitant wages, which in 1980 accounted for 70% of club spending, whereas in the NFL that same year wages only made up 40% of club expenditure. Average match attendance never surpassed 15,000, meaning matchday income was severely limited, resulting in collective league deficits of $30 million two years running in 1980 and 1981. This reckless spending finally culminated in the league’s dissolution in 1984, with its decline surely contributing to FIFA’s decision to reject the USA’s bid to host the 1986 World Cup in favour of rivals Mexico, with the FIFA president stating “Mexico is a real soccer country”. 

Soccer in the US now appears to be determined to avoid the sins of the past, with the NASL’s successor, Major League Soccer, putting in place strict financial controls to prevent bankruptcy and instability. The MLS, as it is known, has slowly grown since its establishment in 1993, going from ten teams in its inaugural season to 28 in the ongoing 2022 season. While the MLS’s reputation in Europe is that of a ‘retirement league’ for older players who can no longer cut it in the big leagues, and this is still true to some extent, the league has begun to evolve to orient itself towards the development and export of American talents. In the most recent transfer window, in January 2022, 16 MLS players were sold to foreign clubs, the most ever in a single transfer window. The MLS talent factory looks poised to continue production in the future, with more promising players being unearthed each year. 

Combined with a more sustainable transfer policy, the MLS has also been more successful than the NASL in growing fan support and culture. Attendance has increased steadily, with average MLS attendance being over 20,000, making it the 7th best attended soccer league in the world. While the MLS no longer buys the world’s best players on a whim as the NASL had done, the USA’s current top flight has shown it favours long term stability over short term success. This approach has finally paid off with a long-awaited American victory in the CONCACAF Champions League, and US soccer will have a further chance to prove itself on the world’s biggest stage as the United States will host the 2026 World Cup, a feat which the nation failed to accomplish back in the 1980s with the NASL. The US will finally reap the rewards of a generation of planning and groundwork. Finally, the United States can become a “real soccer country”.