[MMaschin]

I would note that the four most populous countries on the planet: China, India, The USA and Indonesia, all pretty much suck at Men's Soccer.


Correlation does not mean causality.

The US is different from the other 3 in that it does have robust youth soccer programs. So the US could create a dominant Mens team, but the best athletes migrate towards more popular sports as they get older.

I was not the best, but I did play competitive soccer into my 20's. I played on 'select' teams in my teens and when I was 14 I was probably on the best team I ever played on. I would say probably between 50%-60% of that team went on to receive college scholarships and the majority of them were not for soccer.

[dfwgator]

They problem is to become a good soccer player in this country, you have to spend an arm and a leg to go to an academy.

In countries like Brazil, they find raw talent on the streets and development them, hoping to make a profit when they sell them to other clubs.

[dfwgator]

I think a viable business model is to have an academy, hire the best coaches and developers money can buy, go into poorer neighborhoods with athletes who might not be physically tall enough or big enough to play football or basketball, and train them to be soccer players, at no cost to them.

The payoff comes when your academy builds such a reputation for developing talent, that clubs all over the world will come banging down your door to sign those players.