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In most sports, earning a salary means that you are a professional. The same can be said with soccer. Even if you earn a few dollars a week, you are technically professional.
It is a dream to be a soccer player and get paid for it, but how do you do that? Let’s take a look.
- Find a soccer agent.
- Attend training camps and academies.
- Apply for as many tryouts as you can.
- Ask your local teams if they pay.
- Become a soccer coach
The best thing we can do to help you get paid to play soccer gives you a few resources.
Also, our objective for this article is to give you as many tips as we can so that when you have those resources, you know how to use them. So, I highly recommend reading this article
Look For A Soccer Agent
It would be hard for you to get anywhere near a position where you will be paid to be a soccer player without an agent. The better your agent is, the better your chances are.
Luckily, there are plenty of agents scattered worldwide, even in the United States of America. Here is a list of resources that you can use to find your next soccer agent:
Tony’s soccer school is your best option if you want to contact agents directly. However, AX soccer provides a service where you can go and show your talent at tryouts.
You do need to pay for these trials, though, so keep that in mind.
Find A Training Camp Or An Academy
A training camp may seem similar to a soccer Academy; however, the two are entirely different from each other, and we need to understand these differences before we can go further in this section:
- A soccer academy is typically aimed at long-term development, and you have to be selected.
- Anyone can attend specific training camps.
If you want to get paid to play soccer, you need to display a certain skill level, and no, I’m not talking about freestyle skills. Instead, it would be best to show that you understand the game and that you can remain calm under pressure.
We have written a recent article about staying calm while playing soccer.
The best way to learn the skills needed to get paid to play soccer is to attend training camps.
This is especially important If you cannot get into an Academy, perhaps because of your age or because coaches are not choosing you.
List Of Soccer Academies And Training Camps
- SIA soccer academy (International) one of your best chances of getting scouted is through this Academy.
- SIA Training camp: Again, we have SIA. They have a training camp where you spend five days at training and then a day with scouts from professional soccer clubs all over Europe. Again, it is one of your best chances of getting scouted if you think you have the talent.
- IMG Academy
- NY Red Bulls Training Camps
My advice is to look at all four of those options and choose which one is best for you, and then phone them in the order you would prefer to attend them.
You Should Be Good Enough To Get Paid To Play Soccer
Unfortunately, most people can’t just decide that they want to make a career out of soccer.
If you are young enough, you can most definitely make it a goal of yours, but for most people, you need to have a sufficient amount of skill to be considered for a paying position.
Most soccer players who get paid to play soccer have dedicated the vast majority of their lives to soccer. They attend trials for academies, and even when they get rejected, they keep trying.
For those that dream big and want to play in the Premier League one day, only 0.5$ of academy players get there.
How To Get Paid To Play Soccer As An Adult
Much of this article is aimed at youth between the ages of 16 and 20. However, I am sure we have a few adult readers who want to play soccer.
Unfortunately, it becomes a lot more challenging once you hit 23 unless you have some Academy experience.
That said, there is a place you can start, and if you go to the adult soccer USA website, you can get in contact with them to try and find a team, and perhaps you find one that pays their players.
Again, you might have to do a trial to prove that you are good enough for the team.
The guidelines won’t be as strict for clubs that don’t pay their players, but any club that spends money will want to know where their investment is going.
Also, there are many tournaments that you can find via adult soccer USA, and if those tournaments pay any prizes, the players might get a split of that depending on the team you play for.
Look For Amateur Clubs That Pay Players
There are a few amateur clubs that pay their players. However, it is usually a small amount of money, and sometimes it only gets paid out if the team wins prize money. For this, there is no real resource that you can use.
All you have to do is go to your local sports grounds and find out what teams play there.
The Sports Club should have a contact for each team that uses the grounds. You can get the information from them.
If you cannot find a club within the radius of your search, eventually, you will realize that a is no amateur clubs that pay their players within a reasonable distance.
On the other hand, you might find a club that pays you a small fee for every match you play.
Attend Soccer Trials Abroad
Soccer academies and training camps in countries like Norway are always looking for talent, and if you believe that you have what it takes, why not go on an international tryout if you can?
It would be helpful to check out resources such as the NFA Academy in Norway. It may seem scary at first, but you will be in Europe, which is home to the world’s best soccer scouts.
So, if you want to get paid to play soccer, perhaps traveling to Norway, Denmark, Sweden, or even Portugal is the way to go.
Become A Soccer Coach
Look, if you can’t find a team willing to pay you for your talents, then perhaps you can become a soccer coach.
You will still be around the soccer pitch, and you will still be able to play with your team, especially if you coach middle school or high school soccer.
Best of all, you will get paid to do so. Different states have different laws as to which qualifications you need to become a soccer coach, so your first step would be to research the laws in your state.
Do Youth Soccer Players Get Paid?
In the United States, not many youth players earn a salary. Overseas, especially in Europe, many of the youth Academy players do earn a small weekly allowance.
Some clubs even pay the parents to allow the child to be part of the Academy.
Lionel Messi is a prime example. Messi had a growth hormone issue, and the medication was expensive. So, to get Messi from Argentina to Barcelona, the football club paid for his medication which cost almost $1000 per month.
They also had to help Messi’s father, and they ended up paying him approximately $40,000 per year just so that they could keep Messi in the Youth Academy.
Sources
- Socrates provided no subheadings: https://answersocrates.com/q/en/US/how%20to%20get%20paid%20to%20play%20soccer
- .5% Of academy players do not make it: https://playerscout.co.uk/football-academies/do-academy-players-get-paid/
- Barcelona paying Messi’s father and for the medication: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/oct/15/lionel-messi-barcelona-decade
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Joel is a seasoned soccer journalist and analyst with many years of experience in the field. Joel specializes in game analysis, player profiles, transfer news, and has a keen eye for the tactical nuances of the game. He played at various levels in the game and coached teams - he is happy to share his insight with you.
