The grandiose statements, about “unique opportunity” and “transformational change,” are popping up everywhere these days in American soccer. They’re the common lexicon of panelists and pundits, of press releases and private correspondence, of presidents and players and everyone in between. “There has never been a more important or exciting time for our sport,” U.S. Soccer CEO J.T. Batson recently wrote to members. At the Manhattan hubs of MLS and the NWSL, and at hundreds of fields and offices around the country, countless people agree.
The bold, buzzword-heavy proclamations have become so ubiquitous they blur together. They are so frequently parroted, and oftentimes so vague, that they feel empty, bereft of substance.
But here’s the thing: They’re also true.
The next 18 months aren’t just an exciting time for the sport; they could reshape it at all ages and levels, for all genders, in a variety of ways across the United States. They’ll conclude with a men’s World Cup right here, at home, but it’s not just that; it’s the Club World Cup, and a bid for the 2031 Women’s World Cup; it’s the dwindling days of Lionel Messi in Miami, and a pivotal period in the still-early days of the NWSL. It’s ongoing talks of overhauls in MLS and college soccer. It’s the opening of a national training center, and the implementation of the “U.S. Way,” U.S. Soccer’s new nationwide player development strategy. It’s the USL, an organization of lower-tier clubs that has ambitious plans to expand — and start a new top-tier men’s league.
It’s possibilities, but also pressure. It’s consequential decisions, and a moment that no American soccer stakeholder wants to miss.
And most of it, of course, is centered around 2026.
2026 World Cup
The men’s World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time this century, and everyone, of course, wants a piece of the metaphorical pie. FIFA will eat the vast majority of it — by extracting over $11 billion in revenue and distributing much of its profit to soccer globally.
But various U.S. entities have been devising strategies to draft off the event and ensure it leaves a lasting impact on the sport stateside.
Those strategies, often called “legacy projects” or initiatives, are sometimes murky or intangible. The big-picture question that many in the sport pose, however, is: Will the legacy be piecemeal? Or systemic, comprehensive and scaled? Will it be a few soccer fields in South Florida, and dozens in New Jersey, and programming for underprivileged kids in other World Cup host cities? Or will it take a sizable bite into the pay-to-play system that haunts U.S. soccer and prevents millions of boys and girls from accessing the game that billions around the world love?
And will it be a one-off spectacle? Or a formative experience for new soccer fans?
And if it’s the latter, how will they latch onto the sport? Will their interest follow stars like Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal abroad? Or will they connect with soccer as an American game, and explore its domestic flavors? Will an organic soccer culture — the relative lack of which has complicated the sport’s U.S. growth — bloom?
Some of that depends on the U.S. men’s national team. It has a chance, as former head coach Gregg Berhalter would say, to “change soccer in America forever.” Mauricio Pochettino is now at the helm, and will spend these 18 months molding the most talented group of players that this country has ever produced. They’ll become rock stars in June 2026. If they perform on the pitch, they’ll be immortalized. And if they make a run to the latter stages of the tournament, captivating the country as they go, they’ll lift the USMNT program, permanently, to unprecedented heights.
2025 Club World Cup
This summer, there’s the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup. Its stateside impact will be much more narrow, but there are two dynamics to follow.
First, broadly: Will it succeed? Will fans show up? If they do, the Club World Cup could return in 2029 and could confirm the U.S. as the preferred destination for international soccer events. If they don’t, it could affirm fears that the U.S. market is becoming oversaturated.
And second: How will MLS teams fare? Will they even feel relevant? If the Seattle Sounders pull an upset or two, and Inter Miami ventures into the knockout stages, they could disprove some of the league’s skeptics. But if they flop, MLS will continue to lag in the battle for prominence (and respect) on its own continent.
“It’s a chance for us to showcase our growing competitiveness on the global stage against the world’s best clubs in meaningful matches,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in December. But he also acknowledged that, in the context of a 32-team field that includes European powers and South American giants, “clearly MLS teams are at the lower quadrant of [roster valuations].” And he said he didn’t anticipate any “significant” changes to the spending restrictions that prevent MLS clubs from accelerating toward global relevance.
MLS, Messi and the calendar
This is a critical time for MLS, which will kick off its 30th season next week. It is Year 3 of Messi Mania — which has seemingly cooled since the initial explosion of interest that accompanied his 2023 arrival. It is also the last guaranteed year of Messi’s contract — although there’s a decent chance he’ll stay in Miami through at least the first half of 2026.
Either way, clocks are ticking. The GOAT was billed as a “game-changer” for the league. He has absolutely boosted its profile and its business … but is the boost sustainable? Or will it be a blip?
The external perception is that MLS, hindered by its Apple broadcast deal, hasn’t yet done enough to capitalize on Messi’s presence. These 18 months are the time to maximize it.
They also could bring a more tangible change to the league. Owners and executives have been exploring the possibility of flipping the MLS calendar — of starting seasons in August, not February; finishing in the spring, not the fall; and aligning with most of European soccer. Those discussions are ongoing. A decision will be made this spring. Its ramifications for the future of the league are wide-ranging.
The NWSL is growing. But how?
There is arguably even more opportunity in women’s professional soccer, where the global balance of power is far less fixed. The NWSL is navigating a boom that doubles as an evolving landscape. It is selling expansion rights for record sums — but also watching some top players leave for Europe.
It is in that context the league must decide how to grow: By spending significantly more on players? By investing in infrastructure that shapes them? By continuing to expand with new franchises in new markets?
Commissioner Jessica Berman indicated last month that the latter option is definitely on the table. Referencing other U.S. sports leagues, “in particular the men’s leagues that are in and around 30 teams,” she said: “We see no reason we can’t be that size. How, when and where we go will be a work in progress, and something that we’re discussing with our board. … We’ll likely have more discussions and news to share sometime in 2025.”
Some stakeholders support the rapid expansion. Others worry that the league risks spreading itself too thin. “From a business perspective, I completely understand,” one anonymous GM told ESPN last year. “From a soccer and technical perspective, we should slow down. I really am worried about too much expansion too fast because where are we getting the players to keep the quality as high as we want it to be?”
There are really only two realistic answers: Buy those players or create them.
The first option would require rule modifications and immediate infusions of cash from owners whose clubs aren’t yet profitable.
The latter would take time.
The NWSL does not currently have league-wide academy standards. NWSL chief sporting director Tatjana Haenni said in November at the Soccerex conference in Miami that the youth-to-pro pathway is a “key topic for us” — in part because “I don’t think that the college system is good enough for us,” she said. But what, exactly, an NWSL-driven system would look like is very unclear. The league has “plans,” Haenni said. Discussions are constant. Where they lead, and how they interweave with a messy web of independent youth clubs, and how they align with U.S. Soccer initiatives remain to be determined.
2031 Women’s World Cup? Women’s Club World Cup?
The NWSL’s trajectory could also be affected by the 2031 Women’s World Cup. U.S. Soccer leaders have said they want to host the tournament — which could expand to 48 teams. But other superpowers, including England, want it as well.
FIFA originally said that the bidding process would open in 2024, with the host chosen in the spring of 2025. As of February 2025, there have been no further announcements. But the battle to host in 2031 should accelerate soon — if it is not already playing out secretively. (FIFA spokespeople, when asked about the timeline, did not give one and declined to explain the delay.)
And in a similar vein, there have been no updates on the mooted Women’s Club World Cup. FIFA had pegged January 2026 as the launch date. But FIFA has been making and breaking promises related to a women’s club competition for several years now. The global governing body has hardly communicated anything to leagues and clubs, multiple people in the women’s game told Yahoo Sports, and it now seems unlikely the tournament will launch within a year.
“If anybody from FIFA is here,” Haenni said with a hint of exasperated sarcasm at the industry conference in November, “it would be good to know.”
A fluid American soccer landscape
Amid all of this uncertainty and possibility, U.S. Soccer is moving.
Physically, it is moving out of offices in downtown Chicago to metro Atlanta and into a first-of-its-kind national training center — which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2026.
Organizationally, with a raft of staff and strategy changes, it is transforming from a modest non-profit into a bona fide business, and aiming to inject more money into the sport.
And, as ever, after an “ecosystem review,” it is trying to unite a patchwork soccer landscape.
Over the past few months, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports, U.S. Soccer has also been in discussions with top men’s college soccer programs about piloting a new model that would extend their seasons from fall to spring and perhaps revolutionize the governance of the collegiate game. Those talks are unlikely to yield any overhaul for the 2025-26 season, one source said, but they will continue amid a broader period of seismic change in college sports.
All in all, separate from any World Cup, underneath the sport’s upper echelons, the American soccer landscape is incredibly fluid. On Thursday, yet another example arose: the USL, which currently governs 38 pro teams and 128 semi-pro or amateur teams across three divisions, announced that it plans to add a fourth division atop its current structure, a Division 1 league that would sit on the same level as MLS, by 2027.
It would not necessarily challenge MLS, but it could eventually involve promotion and relegation. It represents the opportunity that exists throughout a sports-loving country of 335 million people, where soccer is indisputably growing. There is so much untapped potential. And the next 18 months will be defined by efforts to tap into it.
