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As the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup plays out in stadiums across the U.S., Rochester’s soccer community sees a chance to channel that energy into the local game.
After basketball, soccer is the second most popular sport in Greater Rochester among boys and tied with running for girls , according to a 2017 Aspen Institute report. As of March, approximately 500 teams were registered with the Rochester District Youth Soccer League, which serves boys and girls from ages 9 through 19, and accounts for around 8,000 players.
Tomas Budi, a 14-year-old player at AFCR Brighton, believes that Rochester has an opportunity for local players to appear on the global stage. If more clubs scouted for players, rather than having families pay to play, it could go a long way.
“Have it so that you get scouted for how good you are rather than paying money to get into a club or an academy,” Budi says.
Deon Rogers, president of River Flow Soccer Club, also believes in this model. River Flow SC offers scholarships, which help players who can’t afford the steep fees to play and advance their skills.
“No one knows who receives financial aid or not,” Rogers says. “It’s a way of bringing kids together and ending the pay-to-play model, which we believe is destroying soccer in America.”
While Rogers is excited that the U.S. has made an effort to expand soccer interest by hosting World Cup tournaments, he sees limited involvement in urban and rural communities.
“There has to be an emphasis to ensure that we don’t only have the best players from the United States who can pay,” he says, “but best players talent-wise.”
Coaches like Rogers hope that interest in the Club World Cup can further spark a passion for the game among young people.
In anticipation of the 2026 World Cup tournament, which the United States, Canada and Mexico will host, 32 teams are playing 63 games in 11 U.S. cities, representing the finest clubs in their countries.
The Club World Cup began on June 14 and the final game is scheduled for Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Three Major League Soccer teams participated in the quest for the cup—the Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles Football Club and Inter Miami—and the Miami club reached the round of 16, where it lost to Paris Saint-Germain.
“The Club World Cup is a new tournament in this (32-team) format and I think it has been absolutely fantastic for our communities throughout America to see this level of play and competition live in America,” says Aaran Lines, the vice president of WNY Flash, an academy serving Rochester, Binghamton and Buffalo.
“FIFA has invested a lot of money into making this very attractive for club teams to participate,” Lines says. “The level of competition that you’re seeing in the Club World Cup is a lot higher than what you would see of these teams coming out in July (for preseason games) because there is a lot more financially at stake for these teams to win.”
FIFA has allocated $1 billion toward prize money, which will be awarded to participating clubs. Distribution of funds has various determining factors, including the number of wins, draws and the location of the club.
“Just talking about the world-class players that are here has been awesome to accumulate more interest,” Lines says. “Ultimately we want to see that come back into the youth game and have players watching and living it.”
William Banahene, executive director at AFC Rochester and player for the Milwaukee Wave, also believes that bringing the game to the U.S. is critical for youth development.
“A lot of the time these high-level teams are in Europe and all over the world, and they are now in our back door, so it’s now easy to either watch games in terms of timing (on TV) or being able to attend a game,” he says.
While Rochester does lack a qualifying stadium to potentially host a future World Cup tournament match, Banahene believes that national attention can mainly be achieved through the community’s support of local and youth teams, allowing a new generation of players to envision themselves on the global stage.
Rogers believes that every player, regardless of background or financial status, who is willing to put in the time and effort should be able to work toward the goal of participating in such a tournament.
“If you are living in a mansion in Pittsford and can pay $30K per year, that shouldn’t bother someone living in poverty or struggling,” Rogers says. “We should let the soccer ball be our common language.”
The next Club World Cup tournament is scheduled for 2029.
Malak Kassem is a graduate of St. John’s University and a member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.
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