This is the second of a three-part series from a recent interview with Kevin Payne, the CEO of U.S. Club Soccer. The focus here is on the pay-to-play culture in the youth soccer landscape. Payne also discussed his view of calls for American soccer to adopt training compensation and solidarity payments of the kind European clubs pay to youth clubs that develop professional players. American professional clubs currently do not pay those sums.
Part 1: The state of the American soccer landscape after the men’s national team’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup
Part 3: The high cost of coaching in America, and his view on the upcoming U.