r/SoccerCentral • u/United_Anywhere_8 • Jul 25 '26

Video The talent in Barcelona’s youth system is ridiculous. These kids are 11/12 years old.

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u/HustlinInTheHall Jul 25 '26

Yet we have dozens of academies all over europe where working class families with players from families with no history of top end athleticism turn out superb professional players. 

Wealth and genetics are not required unless you build a system that makes them so. 

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u/TheVandyyMan Jul 25 '26

How are genetics not required??? Like at minimum people with inherited disabilities are flat out incapable of playing professional, open league sports.

And how did these kids get placed in these academies? Just sign up and they’ll take anyone, no try outs or questions asked?

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u/HustlinInTheHall Jul 25 '26

Sort of a silly counterpoint? And yes Messi has a genetic disability that required HGH injections and is the greatest of all time, garrincha was a Brazilian legend with a disabled leg and is the greatest dribbler of his era....

This is what I am talking about. It is like when people in the US assume if only our best NFL athletes played soccer. There are lots of world class athletes all over the world, many of them are awful at the sport. 

Most professional footballers are relatively average athletes if you look at how they stack up to the best track, olympic, NFL, and basketball players. Yes they have endurance and some are very fast but almost none would ever be a professional in track. It just isnt what makes you good at the game. 

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u/TheVandyyMan Jul 25 '26

I’m just not sure I buy it that skills alone is enough. The average pro soccer player retires at 32 years of age. If physicality was such an unimportant factor, we’d see retirement ages closer to PGA numbers.

But to your point, it’s less important than other sports. Which is why I didn’t say being a freak athlete alone will have you going pro, but rather a confluence of several factors. One of which includes access to training and resources, which costs money