How the 2026 FIFA World Cup is inspiring America's next generation of footballers

The 1994 FIFA World Cup was a watershed moment for both football and global sport.

It broke tournament records with a total attendance of 3,587,538 and an average attendance of 68,991 per game, figures that were unsurpassed until the 48-team 2026 World Cup.

It instigated the growth of the US men's national team, helping to end a four-decade-long drought and make them a perennial presence in the World Cup. And it introduced an entire generation of Americans to football, allowing it to ascend from complete obscurity to the nation's third-most popular sport.

Less heralded is the tournament's influence on youth football. The 1994 World Cup built the necessary infrastructure for future talent development and transformed football from a niche, largely foreign sport into a growing cultural force in the United States.

Youth football exploded in popularity, going from 2 million registered players in 1990 to a whopping 12 million in 2000. Countless young kids became captivated by the beauty of football, and some, like Landon Donovan, Charlie Davies and Clint Dempsey, were so enraptured that they ended up pursuing football and eventually represented the US men's national team in a World Cup.

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And there's every reason to believe that this current World Cup will have a similar effect on America's youth players.

Take a gander across the United States, and you'll find more and more kids who are tapping into the World Cup and, as a result, taking up football as a new sport. However, the World Cup isn't completely influencing this increase in participation: the seeds of football's ascent have been germinating for several decades now.

"I definitely think that it's been brewing for a while... the growth of the game in the US has been pretty consistent since I was younger," stated Brando Babini to Firstpost. Babini, 21, is the founder of Youth 4 Youth FC, which has grown into one of the fastest-rising player-led football development networks in the country, featuring 650 elite players across eight states. "I would say the difference is in the past year, a lot of people are platforming and giving attention to football that otherwise would have never been. When I'd tell someone about an event we had a year ago, they wouldn't really care... now it's like, 'Oh, it's a football event, it's the World Cup,' so it's interesting how all of a sudden everyone gets behind it by nature. I think it's really good for the USA to have a moment where all eyes are on football, because that will have a residual effect, and it will be long-lasting as well."

In the world's number one sports-consuming country, football hasn't always had an easy time competing for popularity with other sports like volleyball, lacrosse, swimming and gymnastics. However, it has slowly made its way up the totem pole, establishing itself as one of the preferred choices for millions of young kids. Part of this has come from the increased trepidation around American football, with parents growing wary of exposing their children to hard-hitting tackles and putting them at risk of concussions and other head-related injuries, such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

In contrast to America's most-followed sport, which prioritises physically imposing American football players who can handle potentially debilitating injuries, football is a sport where technique and finesse are the main priorities, not size. Even if you haven't hit your growth spurt yet, you can still become a star football player.

And whereas these kids have only seen American football teams compete against each other, they're now watching teams from every corner of the world vie for glory. They're seeing first-hand why football, unlike American football, has captivated every corner of the globe.

"With the World Cup happening in North America, I think more kids are going to fall in love with football, and programmes like ours will be important because they'll help those players navigate the next steps and turn that excitement into real opportunities," stated Youth 4 Youth player Noah Hammerschmidt.

There's a reason why football is the world's most popular sport: it has a low barrier to entry and requires minimal equipment, enabling just about every person from every economic background to play. Unlike sports requiring expensive pads, bats or helmets, football only requires a ball and an open space, making it highly affordable and easy for schools and community centres to adopt. However, that hasn't always been the case with football in America.

In contrast to the rest of the world, the United States has severely limited its ability to offer a professional pathway to underprivileged children on account of its pay-to-play model, which places the financial burden of youth development on parents rather than professional clubs. In this system, families often pay thousands of dollars annually, covering club fees, travel and coaches, just for their children to compete on top-level teams. Whereas clubs, federations or sponsors subsidise elite training in other parts of the world, parents have been the ones forced to foot the bill. It's why people like Luca Marton are working diligently to fill that void.

"Our main focus is to lower the barrier to entry to play, to build new accessible infrastructure, to activate that infrastructure, and to increase access for as many kids as possible," stated Marton, the Los Angeles Managing Director of Street Soccer USA, a non-profit organisation that promotes the growth and development of a national network of grassroots football programmes, with over 4,000 unique participants per year across its 18 different locations.

Born and raised in New York City, Marton moved to Los Angeles and found an infrastructure that was relatively unwelcoming to children who were interested in sport. As Marton ambled around the streets of Los Angeles with a bag of footballs on his shoulder in 2018, he was forced to speak to the local 'OG', or Original Gangster, in various housing projects like Watts and Imperial Courts. After clearing the air, he was able to establish dual mini-pitch FIFA-grade turf walled pitches, administer free futsal events, and launch tournaments like the Street Soccer LA Cup.

Marton isn't just giving kids a chance to play football for free: he's also healing decades of generational trauma. Back in the day, a kid from Jordan Downs might have ambushed a kid from Nickerson Gardens simply because he was from the wrong neighbourhood. Now, these kids are getting on the same bus and playing for the same team, and they're realising that they aren't so different after all. And with the World Cup, they're realising that they also have a chance to chase their own destiny and play in the biggest tournament in sport.

"We've seen an uptick in registrations," added Marton. "What really kind of pushed the needle in terms of the World Cup was that we were part of a grant class from Common Goal and Quaker Oats that enabled us to bring these kids to the World Cup. Once kids started seeing their peers and seeing that there was a possibility to walk onto the pitch with professional players in front of the world, that got more kids and more families reaching out and seeing how they could bring street football into their school and their community. It did increase the registration and enrolment numbers at our park builds. They're teenagers watching the games, and they know now that they've got this free, high-quality space with free drinks, free snacks and free futsal shoes."

Whilst the USA's youth football participation will undoubtedly benefit from hosting the FIFA World Cup as well as the US men's national team's impressive performance, it's going to take a lot more than that to fully capitalise on American football's potential. In a country where families pay $7,000–$10,000 in annual club fees, it's only natural that millions of kids will be prevented from pursuing a professional career and will instead turn to other sports like American football, basketball and baseball. If the USA is to actually get serious about winning the World Cup, if it is to actually ensure that every kid is able to access top-tier football training, it needs to overhaul its pay-to-play model and build a system that benefits everyone, not just the wealthiest.