Which league produced the 6th most national teams in the Qatar World Cup after the Premier League (England), Ligue 1 (France), Bundesliga (Germany), Serie A (Italy), and Primera Liga (Spain)? Among the Argentine national team, which won the World Cup in Qatar, where are the two non-European players playing along with Argentina? Excluding the top 5 European leagues, which country recorded the highest average attendance? The answer is America.
36 players from the American Professional Soccer (MLS) participated in the Qatar World Cup. Among the 26 members of Argentina, Thiago Almanda plays for Atlanta United in the United States. The MLS average attendance is 18,014, ranking 7th after Germany, England, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands. ESPN of the United States recently reported in an article titled ‘The World Cup in Qatar confirms that MLS is one of the best leagues in the world’, saying, “The growth rate of MLS looks slow like a snail, but you can see how fast it is by looking at the World Cup.”
MLS has grown rapidly in the last decade. In the United States, soccer has become widely popular in schools and women. MLS average attendance also increased by 67% compared to 2012. There is also an MLS club that shares a stadium with America’s most popular sport, the National Football League (NFL). nvgt.com, which studies sports sponsorship in the United States, said, “The United States has a multinational population, including Central and South American people who like soccer,” and “soccer fans of various nationalities and young people are greatly increasing.” There are over 80 nationalities of foreign players playing in MLS. There are about 50 to 60 European top 5 leagues. 메이저놀이터
MLS has grown into a powerful ‘underdog’ in the European soccer field. According to Transfermarkt, a media specializing in football assets, MLS has already entered the world’s top 10 football leagues. The number of teams in the first division is 29 and the number of players is 768, which is more than the English Premier League. The league’s total revenue is 6th (1.46 billion euros), second only to the top 5 European leagues. The average age is 25.4 years old, younger than the top 5 European leagues. The proportion of foreign players is also 54.2%, the third highest after England (67.6%) and Serie A (61.5%). Blitzer Sports, an American sports media, ranked the United States fourth behind the Netherlands, Germany and England in the SPI (Soccer Power Index), which evaluates only non-economic factors such as game performance and number of spectators. A domestic agent who knows the US market well said, “MLS clubs are young and their strength is leveled.”
There are about 350 foreign players, or 70% of all players, in the Premier League, the world’s best soccer league. Excluding Brazil (34) and Argentina (14), most of them are European. By the way, the United States has 9 people. There are five in Italy, four in Croatia and Uruguay, two in Japan and South Korea, and only one in Turkey. MLS Commissioner Don Garber said, “If you go to MLS, the saying that you can’t be selected for the national team is now gone.”
MLS expects rapid growth with the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America. The North and Central America World Cup will be held mainly in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is about 80 games in total, including 60 games in the United States. nvgt.com predicted, “The total number of spectators for the World Cup in North and Central America will reach 4.5 million.” The format of the game has not been finalized, but if it is 80 games, it is about 56,000 people per game. MLS Commissioner Gabor said, “We will use rocket fuel so that the World Cup in North and Central America can become a catalyst for the great growth of MLS.”