Courtesy of Alexander Migl
Add Jurgen Klopp to the list of soccer luminaries who believe the sport is too expensive at the youth level in the United States.
The former Liverpool manager told The Athletic he believes high participation costs are not conducive to development and providing access to all kids.
"Youth football can be expensive. So that makes no sense at all to get the best talents,” he said. “We all know that the best players (in the world) are not coming from the richest areas. … So this part of motivation is essential.”
He added:
“That is what tennis was 50 years ago. It was a rich person’s game, more or less. Buying a racket wasn’t possible. Then it started in Germany with Boris Becker. All of a sudden, clubs opened, courts opened. In my village, my dad founded the tennis club and these kinds of things started and everybody could play tennis.
“That’s the situation here; so many kids play football. But to get the right training and education at different stages, it makes sense that it’s free. It’s a long-term project issue for me personally and that’s all the things we want to go for.”
Klopp is now the head of Red Bull’s global soccer operations with oversight over its array of clubs, including the New York Red Bulls (and their developmental system) in MLS.
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