Soccer is the top sport across Europe, which dominates the sport internationally. England, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. are not third world dumps.
Europe is failing
The warrior genes were killed off in the 20th century
The future is east of Suez
You write: “Soccer is the top sport across Europe, which dominates the sport internationally. England, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. are not third world dumps.”
But most of their teams are dominated by players from the Third World.
Just because some wealthy nations embrace soccer, does not negate the 3rd world status of the sport. North Korea, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Bulgaria and on and on, have a national soccer team. It is embraced by the poorest people because it is the cheapest sport to play. It doesn’t require any gear beyond a ball of some sort.
Wealth has been America’s advantage on athletics, offering options to people. Europe continues with Soccer from tradition and also from the same way they despise everything about the USA, they typically shun American sports, and celebrate Soccer even more because real Americans disregard it.