Zlatan on pay to play--he's not a fan
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Anonymous
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Interesting piece here on the US model of youth football. Zlatan did an interview where he spoke about the Pay to Play system in the USA and why he is not a fan.
https://the18.com/soccer-news/zlatan-ibrahimovic-blasts-pay-to-play Zlatan Ibrahimovic: ” It has to be said that the sport is expensive, very expensive. For example, in order for my children to play in a good football team, I have to pay $ 3,500 per child. It is not for the figure, but for the whole concept. I dislike it very much because not everyone has the money needed and the sport should be something for everyone, because it unites people of whatever origin. Pelé became a champion without anything, he played with a ball made of rags. Football is the finest sport in the world.” (translated from Italian here: https://www.gqitalia.it/news/article/zlatan-ibrahimovic-torna-in-italia-intervista-foto-video#intcid=recommendations_gq-it-similar_bc68db15-4d9f-47e2-9f76-0f30959b5291_cral2-1 ) |
Anonymous
Preach Zlatan preach. And this coming from a guy who made $7.2M annual in MLS and $27M annual before that the pay to play system brings together similarly situated and minded people - not bad people but lacks diversity of thought |
Anonymous
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Can we please stop with posts about how terrible Pay to Play is?
Everyone knows that it sucks, everyone also knows that this country could care less about soccer. Soccer is just not culturally relevant enough to garner the development attention that it needs. On top of it we can’t even get a National Health care option without people losing their minds thinking we will turn into a socialist hellscape. MLS is a pay to play league and functions primarily based on the draft and therefor they are not interested in a developmental homegrown model. MLS is based on our other pro sport models and the last I saw there is no New York Yankees or LA Lakers youth academies and these ARE sports we like. |
Anonymous
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The money has to come from somewhere. Half of the MLS professional players do not even have a decent salary. It is a long way to go.
I think the real problem is our recreation league is not strong enough. |
Anonymous
| Culture....there is no soccer culture so to fabricate one we have to fund it directly. No issues with basketball getting top talent or even football. Those are pay to play and they don't seem to have a hard time finding talent because you can get good just being on the playground. |
Anonymous
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not enough people in the US know the sport well enough that it is as widespread as baseball, basketball, or football.
Even in rural towns in the middle of nowhere that have a high school, you find people that know how to coach these sports. |
Anonymous
| The idea that MLS is based on the draft is not true at all. The good players go through academies and get signed as home grown players. The draft at this point is mostly second or third tier players and a lot of teams don’t even bother with it. |
Anonymous
| What you really want is a "coach, field, and travel for free program". Much better than "pay to play". |
Anonymous
No we want someone else to pay for it...like AAU basketball or the NCAA generously sporting athletes with scholarships. |
Anonymous
| AAU is pay to play. So is travel baseball and football. All highly competitive youth sports are pay to play now. The slight difference is that HS b-ball, baseball, and football are “free” (tax payer funded w/ low player registration fees) and competitive while HS soccer, in many cases, is not very competitive. Why? Due to DA and (historically) ECNL poo-pooing of HS soccer and gravitation of better coaches away from HS soccer to clubs. But, even the best b-ball and football HS teams are private schools that recruit and partially or fully pay for the top prep stars to come play for them. This is not a problem unique to soccer. It is just that there is a larger money train for the other sports in US, so more people are willing to help the poorer kids in hopes for a agent or shoe company kickback or future payout. |
Anonymous
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This topic is absurd. Everything in life is pay to play. Nothing is "free". Maybe in the moment it's free (like public education or the Smithsonian), but somewhere, somehow, it's being paid for through taxes or whatever.
If you want your kid to participate in a sport, you should pay for it. It certainly should not be subsidized by the broader population. And just like everything else in the US, if you are poor and you are good at it, someone else will help pay for it. |
Anonymous
Amen brother. |
Anonymous
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I think the comment about DA/ECNL ruining HS soccer is accurate. Club soccer was always huge but once the top athletes pulled out of soccer, club became the defacto place to play and if you did not play, you did not get recruited for college. It is not even a money issue, i.e. paying club fees or a coach. The issue is the leagues and extensive travel. Most people can afford the fees and if they can't there is a way to get some help. The issue is the insane travel and tournaments.
Get rid of all the stupid leagues and just have one league nationally. Stop with all of the tournaments and showcases. The sport has become a pure money grab and the parents are stupid enough to keep feeding it. |
Anonymous
Reality check: |
Anonymous
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