Soccer’s American Dream Is Being Built in the Bronx | OneFootball

Unveiling its latest pitch in the Bronx, New York City last week, the EA Sports FC Futures project continues its mission to foster the next generation of soccer not just in the United States, but across the world. 

Despite what anyone would tell you, soccer has existed in the United States for decades, and countless kids have grown up playing the sport. But unlike many parts of the world, soccer isn’t typically the sport of choice in underprivileged communities across America. For many soccer fans globally, playing in the streets outside their homes is a core childhood memory. In the United States, that culture never existed on a widespread scale.

Instead, soccer in America became associated with minivans, helicopter parents, and a pay-to-play system that often made the sport inaccessible to many families. The game was introduced differently to kids in the United States compared to countries where soccer is deeply rooted in everyday culture.

Granted, this is an overgeneralization, and there are many organizations across the country trying to change the soccer status quo in the United States. One of the newest to enter the fold is EA Sports FC Futures.

Image via EA Sports FC Newsroom.

Launched in 2023, the nonprofit organization is building pitches across the world to give underprivileged kids opportunities to play soccer in a free and safe environment.

With pitches already built in 19 cities across 14 different countries, the FC Futures program is firing on all cylinders, and last week, it unveiled its latest project in the Bronx, New York City.

The Bronx is historically passionate about sports, and the borough hosts the majority of New York City FC’s home matches. But despite the large Latino community in the Bronx, baseball has long remained king, largely because of the presence of the New York Yankees.

The new pitch will give opportunities for soccer to keep pace with baseball, something the sport has already done in other parts of the country.

FC Futures opened the new grounds in partnership with La Liga, and there to help with the opening ceremonies was FC Barcelona icon Patrick Kluivert, and La Liga broadcaster Fernando Palomo, who is also the Spanish voice of EA Sports FC. Students from the William Lloyd Garrison School, to which the pitch is attached to, were in attendance to break in the new pitch, because after all, it’s really about the kids.

“I am really proud to be an ambassador for this field,” Kluivert said. “I think the kids need to be able to form relationships with each other, play with each other, and respect each other. I think it is very important that this pitch is here.”

Coming from a former director at La Masia, the academy that helped develop countless superstars including Lionel Messi, Kluivert’s words carried weight for the 200 children standing on the new pitch in the Bronx. For many of them, this was more than a field unveiling. It was proof that the world’s game is beginning to feel closer to home.

“My hope is that every student who steps onto this field walks away not just a better athlete, but a more confident, determined, and hopeful young person,” said Katina Yesnick, principal of William Lloyd Garrison School. “Because at the end of the day, this pitch is not just about soccer, it is about building futures.”

The pitch represents much more than just an opportunity to play soccer. It stands as a beacon for what can spark change in communities like the Bronx.

It represents access, opportunity, and the possibility of changing how the sport is woven into communities across the United States. For decades, soccer in America often felt locked behind expensive club fees and suburban culture, but projects like FC Futures are beginning to bring the game back to its simplest form: kids playing freely with a ball at their feet.

As the children finally stormed onto the pitch with artwork from Bronx-born artist Sotero Ortiz and with laughter echoing throughout the grounds, the vision behind the project became clear. This was not about opening a shiny new facility. It was about planting the seeds for a new wave of soccer in America, one where kids from every neighborhood can see themselves in the game.

And in a borough where baseball has long ruled the streets, the next generation in the Bronx may now grow up with soccer as part of its identity, too.

Photography by Rudy Arredondo for Urban Pitch.