Reply to Would you want/hope your son/daughter become a professional player?

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[quote=Anonymous]To play in Europe, you need a visa and your playing card to transfer. My son went over before he was 18, enrolled in a language school and was given an educational visa. However, because so many kids are doing this (there is a whole industry set up to bring kids over) - the Germans at least were very hesitant to transfer his playing card before he was 18. It's different if your parents are there with you - and I know of at least 2 families who moved to Germany for their kids to play soccer (one was the wife of the president - or something - of Stanford University.) My son, once he turned 18, and the kids I knew of played on an U-19 team that was a known feeder for pro-teams. They had a few international kids on the team - although much easier if you speak German - including the 2 other US kids mentioned above.

For my son, it was a huge learning curve - not just a different style of soccer but also because he was living on his own in Germany for the first time. He had to learn to get around, do his laundry, cook meals - etc. He had to grow up really quickly and it has been mostly good.

A couple of older kids he knew tried out for a played on 4th or 5th division adult teams and one kid tried out for - but didn't make - a Bundesliga (1st division) team. German soccer is quite complex with various regions having stronger 4th divisions than others - it made my head hurt and I couldn't tell you what is what even though I was told a hundred times :)

My son wanted to stay in Europe but I told him he had to go to a more organized program if he was going to stay and so he went to Malaga. He said the soccer in southern Spain was not nearly the level of Germany. He was contacted by recruiters last month but I insisted he at least try college here in the US and I didn't want to risk his NCAA eligibility.

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