European football, soccer, is enjoying a tremendous growth in popularity in the last decade. According to a Forbes study, soccer is now surpassing baseball as the 3rd most streamed sport in the U.S. , only behind basketball and football as most popular sports in America.

The FIFA World Cup in 1994 hosted in the United States, later followed by the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999 had a great impact on soccer, significantly increasing it’s popularity.

This trajectory is expected to be followed with the 2024 Copa America and 2026 FIFA World Cup coming to North America.

MLS, the Mayor Soccer League has been working for the last years to improve the level and sign well known players and figures. While it still lacks the quality and support that European Leagues have, the MLS has managed to sign some famous players in the past.

There is a large history of players ending their soccer years by playing in the U.S., big names such as Wayne Rooney(England), Zlatan Ibrahimovic(Sweden) or Kaká(Brazil) were the predecessors of this soccer invasion.

Some more recent examples of this are the signings made by David Beckham’s Club, Inter Miami. Some such athletes who have signed are Lionel Messi, or Luis Suarez,  both at the end of their careers.

As the number of MLS fans around the world increases, the more the U.S. National team has benefited. If this growth continues, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the U.S. competing for international tournaments.

A few students around Park already enjoy watching professional soccer.

“It comes from my family, we always watch the games together” Matteo Gattesco.

“Some of it comes from my family, my brother used to play soccer and I followed his steps. Soccer is the number 1 sport in Mexico.” Cesar Zavala.

Do you believe this is the beginning of soccer’s big moment in America?