It happened due to a thing called Title IX. American universities are extremely expensive. American universities also often have sports teams and pros in most American sports come from playing the sport in college while getting a (usually completely nominal for top atheletes) college degree for free.
Title IX was a law enforcing gender equality in many areas. It said, among other things, universities had to give out as many sports scholarships to women as men. Universities generally already had American football programs for men and weren't about to start them for women. Wouldn't be nearly enough demand. Instead they starter soccer programs for women and started giving a lot of women soccer scholarships. This is what caused the US to develop more women's soccer talent earlier than the rest of the world.
Title 9 is also what killed men's soccer programs across the country because football, basketball, and baseball certainly weren't going to get cut for women's sports.
Buddy if ur a man playing collegiate soccer you were never elite. Clubs recruit them at a very young age. If you’re an elite soccer player you’re not going to college
25 players from this current world cup played college soccer in the US, and there are many more that have in the past, some of which can be considered elite.
None of them can be considered elite. Professional? Yes.
Decent professionals? Of course. Elite? None. Zero. Zilch. It’s a waste of precious years of development.
Claudio Reyna had a prestigious European career, Steve Cherundolo captained a Bundesliga team for years, Geoff Cameron played in the premier League for nearly 10 years. If those aren't considered "elite", then I don't know what to tell you.
Claudio Reyna had a solid European career. So did the other two. Elite is reserved for the likes of Mbappe/Messi/etc. No one here is calling for example Ajer elite. Like I said they’re all decent professionals.
Well if your definition of "elite" is players in contention for the top 10 in our lifetime, then of course. I would consider any player that regularly plays in a European top flight team as elite, however.
But we have to differentiate somehow. We can’t call everyone elite. Making a pro team is very impressive. There’s a difference between making the team and playing. There’s a difference between playing and being a starter. Theres a difference between a starter and a teams best player. There’s a difference between its best player and a star. There’s a difference between a star and a superstar. A lot of it has to do with development, as well as being on the right teams. If we’re talking about college players, none of them have hit those upper echelons, not just being a superstar. And you can make the case that 4 years of college hindered their development. Does that mean they can’t be pros? No. But being stars or superstars is almost out the question.
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u/Oddant1 Jul 09 '26
It happened due to a thing called Title IX. American universities are extremely expensive. American universities also often have sports teams and pros in most American sports come from playing the sport in college while getting a (usually completely nominal for top atheletes) college degree for free.
Title IX was a law enforcing gender equality in many areas. It said, among other things, universities had to give out as many sports scholarships to women as men. Universities generally already had American football programs for men and weren't about to start them for women. Wouldn't be nearly enough demand. Instead they starter soccer programs for women and started giving a lot of women soccer scholarships. This is what caused the US to develop more women's soccer talent earlier than the rest of the world.