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Which European nations? You mean the best ones? Argentina and Brazil represent one sixth of the South American nations. One sixth of the European nations includes:
We're talking about individual players, not countries ffs. The top ten ranked FIFA nations are nearly all in the top 25 largest economies. The only exceptions are Portugal (49th) and Colombia (42nd). So obviously being wealthy helps at the national level. But I don't think many rich kids are making it as professional soccer players.
That's because cricket's not a real sport ffs. It's a recreational activity for slow kids.
Right, and presumably there's no incentive for Indian cricket clubs or government organisations to spend that money on poor kids. But in soccer there are plenty such organisations (professional clubs) who do have that incentive.
That certainly doesn't help. 7 and 9 don't care tbh and will do anything to kill football.
Highest participation sport amongst kids whose parents make them play a team sport so they don't sit at home playing on screens. Then a few heros get over confident because they are playing against a bunch of kids who are only playing because their parents made them so they don't sit at home on screens.
Those academies seem to be ways to extract money from middle class families who don't realise how limited their kids athletic talent is
That is probably true. If you are a decent soccer player in England you would be in some sort of Premier League/Championship club's system early on. In Australia it is the same with RL/RU/AFL - i.e. you are in the sights of a top pro team early on - with soccer you are on the radar of Marconi at best
If you are a rich kids making it as a professional soccer player it is highly likely that your dad is rich because he was a professional soccer player
saddest thing I saw the other day at the local park (where they have regular private sessions coaching middle class kids) was a kid getting one on one lessons from a soccer coach while his dad sat on the sidelines taking picture on his phone
This is a good point. My little fella played Auskick and soccer last year and the Auskick kids were a lot more athletic. Though they were also older by half a year, since it was school year groups rather than age groups.
