For too many young athletes in the U.S., the dream of playing collegiate or professional soccer is a game of privilege rather than potential. Unlike sports with robust high school and community pipelines, soccer has long relied on its pay-to-play model with increased costs at each threshold of success, shutting out skilled players from low-income backgrounds with scarce scouting opportunities. The better a player is, the more they pay until “elite play” yields to “elite pay.” Without intervention, the U.S. soccer industry risks losing generational powerhouses, not because they lack talent, but because they lack the financial resources to be seen.

This reality is disheartening for talented high school and amateur players looking to get recruited at the university and professional levels. The evolving landscape of professional American soccer provides ample opportunities for young players: the NWSL expansion, new professional USL leagues for men and women and the MLS developmental pipeline, with MLS Next Pro and youth academies. However, without improvements in player identification and support, many of these pathways remain out of reach for remarkably talented athletes whom we will never have the opportunity to see play at a professional or collegiate level.

Soccer’s recruiting infrastructure differs greatly from that of sports like football and basketball, wherein strong high school programs........

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