Day 4 – The National Team II

Topic Point: The process of ascending to professional ranks and national team is much like it is for most sports. There is a Holy Trinity of factors: talent, exposure, and opportunity. While it is difficult to develop one’s talent to the highest level, exposure may be a more daunting process. A player will need to play for a high-level club or academy that competes in a league, or at showcases and tournaments, against other high-level teams. Those competitions are attended by scouts. With consistent performance, players may then be recruited to higher level teams (lower or mid-tier professional) and/or national team development camps. From there, invitations will be extended to players to attend national team training camp or represent the national team in friendlies (exhibition matches) or less prestigious cups and competitions. During this time, the manager and coaches are evaluating the players and will invite 35-55 players to national team camp that precedes the World Cup. From that camp, 26 players (increased from 23 in the previous World Cup), will be named to the World Cup Roster. College soccer players are drafted to MLS, however success seems to be limited compared to early-identified talent that goes through academy routes.

Ted Lasso: In S1E6, there are two moments where Roy Kent’s path to professional football is noted. Keely is researching the players’ backgrounds and learns Roy was scouted by Sunderland and came up through their academy. Roy brings this up at the end of the episode during a team bonding session. Also in this episode, Jaime Tartt references his background coming from a poor area of Manchester to the English Premier League, though we do not know what club or academy nurtured his development.

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In S3E10, we watch some of the AFC Richmond players get called for national team duty. The matches seem to be friendlies (based on the duration of calendar time elapsed in the episode and only one game played). It is the first exposure to the national team and, presumably, player evaluation by national team coaches and managers of England (Jamie Tartt), Mexico (Dani Rojas), Wales (Colin Hughes), Switzerland (Moe Bumbercatch), and Canada (Thierry Zoreaux).
Soccer-related note: In Europe, many professionals played in an academy during their youth. With the long history of soccer in Europe and how ingrained it is in their culture, the system accommodates this and develops talent accordingly. The academies also provide structure for the education along with the training. There are also 5 legitimate tiers of professional soccer; the average tier 5 player salary is around $65,000-70,000.

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There is not much money to be made playing for the national team. Players get paid per game and a stipend for training camp. The Football Association that wins the World Cup gets a lump sum that the officials of the Association allocate. Usually, players of the winning World Cup team receive $200-300,000. The players on the national team primarily earn their salary from their club and endorsements.

American Sports comparison: There are a few noteworthy points to consider here.
1. The tier system works well for the rest of the world in terms of player development and player earnings. That is not to say the path to professional athletics is easy. There is tremendous sacrifice made. We will look at the tier system, and compare to American sports, tomorrow.
a. Baseball in the United States has multiple tiers in the professional system and most closely resembles world soccer. The average salary for AAA (Tier 2) baseball players is far lower than the average salary for a National League (Tier 5) English soccer player. The average career of a player in minor league baseball is 2-3 years; for the player in lower tiers of the EFL its 5-6 years.
b. College athletics has been the primary feeder into professional American sports. Basketball has provided another path for players besides college but college is still significant. Due to the relative weakness of American soccer compared to the world, soccer academies have been developed here. The NCAA is considering a different structure for NCAA Division I soccer in order to make it a better development program to professional and national team soccer.
2. Baseball recently held the World Baseball Classic (WBC). This tournament is held every 3 years. As with soccer and the FIFA World Cup in the early 1900s, the WBC took time to develop. The first iteration was in 2006 despite the longstanding Baseball World Cup (BWC; 1938-2011). Olympic Baseball was intermittently held even in recent history (1904, 1912, 1984, 1992-2008, 2020, 2028). Top-tier professional baseball players were ineligible for the BWC; the WBC was developed to allow countries to compete with their top baseball players, and ultimately the BWC was discontinued.

3. International basketball has an interesting history. There is the FIBA Basketball World Cup (Men’s and Women’s) and Olympic basketball. The FIBA World Cup is modeled after the FIFA World Cup in structure including being held every 4 years. Olympic basketball garners more attention than the FIBA World Cup, at least in the United States. Team USA has mixed results, mostly based upon the selection of the team. At times the team is intentionally made up of tier-2 professional and collegiate players. Other times, top American players choose to sit out despite being eligible and selected in order to rest or reduce risk of injury.
4. Olympic ice hockey took a different course compared to basketball. Once professionals were allowed, NHL players jumped at the opportunity to play for their national team. Some of this may simply be ice hockey culture, a sport where physical punishment seems to be craved and celebrated. However, it is also a good marketing move. With the NHL popularity mirroring soccer, one of the best opportunities for ice hockey players to gain exposure is the Olympic Games. The 2026 Winter Olympics is a perfect example as Jack Hughes and Megan Keller gained immediate national attention when prior to that, their names were only known by ice hockey fans. Ice hockey also holds the IIHF World Cup annually and the World Cup of Hockey every 4 years. Olympic Ice Hockey is considered the premier world championship event.

Christian Pulisic (USA), Tyler Adams (USA), Weston McKennie (USA), Lamine Yamal (Spain), Kylian Mbappé (France)

i. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Pulisic
ii. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Adams
iii. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_McKennie
iv. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamine_Yamal
v. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylian_Mbapp%C3%A9