The Philadelphia coach believes MLS could be the best soccer league in the world by 2026. Why should his words be taken seriously?

Jim Curtin, who coaches the Philadelphia Union, believes MLS could become the best league in the world within four years. And his words may seem ridiculous to many Europeans, but if anyone is really going to do it, it’s the Americans, who, if there’s one thing they can do, it’s have the biggest, best and brightest. So should Europe’s big clubs start worrying?

In the US, the dominant sports are primarily the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, but season after season, MLS is stealing a bigger and bigger slice of that pie, and according to some statistics, the soccer league is starting to get ahead of the hockey league in some respects.

In October, Forbes came out with the news that MLS broke the 2019 attendance record, with clubs making the most money on ticket sales in history for the season and attendance topping 10 million.

The league’s social media in particular is doing great, with its fan base growing 65% over last year, and on Tik Tok, MLS is expected to break the one million fan mark by the end of the year.

“The stadiums, the facilities, the players and the coaches that come here, why would it be so crazy to say that by 2026 MLS will be the best league in the world, ” published the words of Curtin by Sportbible.

One can’t help but agree. There are already a number of excellent soccer players in MLS, and not just those who went overseas at the end of their careers just to make money.

David Beckham in particular is doing a great job in this regard at Inter Miami, where he would like to bring the Lionel Messi – Cristiano Ronaldo pairing. And not only those, he has his sights set on other stars, just like other American clubs.

A great example of how football is growing on the American continent is the Canadian national team, which already has some really excellent players who will soon be playing in the World Cup in Qatar in a group with Belgium, Croatia and Morocco.

In America, they are expecting a lot, especially from the upcoming 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico. It is to this championship that all attention is being drawn, with the expectation that the sport’s base will once again rise after it at the expense of the others.

Moreover, the United States still holds the record for the highest attendance at a World Cup, with over 3.5 million fans attending the 1994 championship.

That being said, the USA can make a lot out of little with marketing and money, so Curtin’s words should be taken very seriously by the big European clubs, all the more so at a time when Europe is not doing well and money is always at a premium, PSG and Manchester City being prime examples.

Forbes , Sportbible, MLS