User talk:Flavko

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Welcome!
Hello, Flavko, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Elysia and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

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SOCCER IN THE UNITED STATES.
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, no doubt. The recently concluded FIFA men’s world cup had a little over a billion views worldwide. Claiming that Soccer is very popular is not a reach. Looking at the structure of football worldwide, we can say that football generates the most revenue. Soccer is the same as Association Football or Football in other countries.

What is Soccer? Soccer is a sport that is played by two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball on a pitch. It is played by over 250 million players and in over 200 countries. It is the most played in the world. It is often referred to as football in some countries, while it’s called Soccer in the United States. Football in America is quite different from Soccer. The difference is crystal clear, American football is played with an oblong-shaped ball, which can be thrown and kicked. It’s more like rugby, while Soccer is European football, which is played with a spherical ball.

History of Soccer in the United States. There is no definite history of Soccer in the United States, but recent research has shown that the sport began in the 1850s. The Irish, Scottish, Italian, and German immigrants introduced the game in New Orleans. It was also recorded that the first game with European soccer rules was also in New Orleans. The first soccer club in the USA, Oneida Football Club, was established in 1862 by Gerrit Smith “Gat” Miller. The body charged with governing football is United States Soccer Federation, with its headquarters at Chicago. It governs every amateur and professional match in the country. It was formed in 1913. Before the creation of a governing body, Soccer in America was organized at regional levels without any governing body. Not up until 1884 when the American Football Association (AFA) was formed. This association was replaced by the United States Soccer Federation, which is a FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) member. There is a men’s national team that represents the country in male international tournaments. Also, there is a women’s national team that represents the country in female international tournaments. There is also a club soccer league for both sexes. The women’s’ team played its first professional match in 1985, while the men’s team played their first game quite earlier than that. Their first game was in 1885, which was a century before the women’s team played theirs. The highest professional league soccer for women is the National Women Soccer League(NWSL), while Major League Soccer (MLS) is the highest professional league soccer for men in the USA. It’s much more popular than NWSL.

Growth of Soccer in the USA After the 19th century in the United States, Soccer began to grow. From just friendly matches to professional games. Women’s Soccer incarnated and also, club soccer began to grow for both men and women. Although men’s Soccer started a hundred years before the latter, women’s Soccer is still more successful. The women’s team is the best in the world, they’ve won four world cups out of eight FIFA women’s world cup. They are number 1 in the FIFA rankings due to their back to back women’s WorldCup wins in 2015 and 2019. The team has won four women’s world cup titles, four Olympic gold medals, and eight CONCACAF Gold Cups. The team has won 16 international trophies. However, the men’s team is ranked at number 22 in the FIFA rankings. It goes a long way to show how indispensable the female team is when juxtaposed with the male team. The apex point of the men’s team at the world cup is the Semis. They have never won the trophy, but they qualify for the tournament from time to time. Six CONCACAF Gold Cups have been won by the men’s team and a fourth-place finish in two Copa Américas.

Soccer Popularity in America Right from time, Soccer was not really popular in America solely because of the American culture. American culture is obsessed with excessively big things. If we look around in the US, we see people driving large trucks, we enter a restaurant, the sodas are large, even the people are huge. It also reflects in sports. They love games with large numbers, for example, basketball, where the average points per game is 90. There are other reasons why Americans do not love the beautiful game called Soccer. Americans only love the sports that they are number one. For example, basketball, the United States’ female and male teams are currently number one in the world. Before the advent of the female team, the male team was subpar and did not win international trophies. It made Americans focus more on other sports that they are excelling in. However, right now, there has been increased participation and awareness by Americans. It is because the female team is the best in the world. There is a very significant potential for soccer growth in America. Although the male team did not qualify for the 2018 world cup, the female team won the 2019 women’s world cup. The soccer culture has increased significantly, we can see fans filling up Stadia in America to support their favorite MLS team. Also, the signing of legendary players such as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Carlos Vela, and the likes, have made Americans participate more in Soccer. Youth football in America is also huge. Over 3 million children are playing the sport. The rapid growth of the local league in America will further increase the popularity of Soccer. Also, with this growth, the men’s team may have a chance at the world cup tournament very soon.

References: https://mastersoccermind.com/6-reasons-why-soccer-is-not-popular-in-the-united-states/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_men%27s_national_soccer_team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_women%27s_national_soccer_team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_soccer_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_soccer_in_the_United_States https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellore/2019/04/26/soccers-growth-in-u-s-has-international-legends-buzzing/#2377bc0e17f1 https://gritdaily.com/mls-rapid-growth-us/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/martin-rogers/2018/07/19/what-does-future-hold-soccer-america-world-cup-2026/803095002/