“My heroes were always soccer players.”

Ronaldinho, Athlete

Advantages & Disadvantages of Soccer

Soccer (sometimes also referred to as football) is the most popular sport on a global scale.

Billions of children and adults play soccer on a regular basis.

Although there are numerous advantages related to playing soccer, there are also some issues with it.

In this article, the pros and cons of soccer are examined.

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Advantages of Soccer

1. Soccer is a team sport
2. Good for your fitness
3. Easy to learn
4. You don’t need plenty of equipment
5. Cheap hobby
6. Many soccer fields around
7. You can make new friends
8. You learn to compete
9. Potential college scholarships
10. May translate into serious job opportunities
11. Good for your overall health
12. May improve your confidence
13. You may learn how to lead people
14. Playing soccer may free your mind
15. Good against stress
16. Can improve your reflexes

Soccer is a team sport

One major advantage of playing soccer is that it is a team sport.

You can learn from an early age on what team spirit means and to integrate into a group of people in order to get the best possible success out of something.

This will not only benefit in soccer, but it will also benefit you later on in the work world since you will often have to work in teams and have to fit in so that the whole project can succeed.

Therefore, playing soccer can also teach you some valuable life lessons.

Good for your fitness

Playing soccer is also quite good to improve your overall fitness level.

Especially if you have an office job, playing soccer might be a great way to exercise.

Many people in our nowadays society suffer from overweight or even from obesity.

If you are one of those people, soccer could be a great way to lose weight and to get back in shape.

You may not only look better, you may also avoid serious health problems later on in your life.

Easy to learn

Another upside of soccer is that it is so easy to learn.

Compared to other sports, you don’t need much skill to get to a basic level.

In fact, if you practice once a week for a few months, you will soon realize that you get much better.

Thus, especially for people who tend to give up pretty early if they don’t see success soon, soccer will be great since it is quite easy to learn and may encourage people to continue playing over many years.

You don’t need plenty of equipment

Another advantage of playing soccer is that you do not need too much equipment.

You basically just need a ball. Soccer shoes and some special clothes might be helpful, yet they are not required at a beginner level.

Therefore, it is quite uncomplicated to start your soccer career. Just get a soccer ball and you are ready to go!

Cheap hobby

Soccer is also a quite cheap hobby.

Since you do not need too many things to start, you don’t have to buy expensive accessories.

Therefore, soccer is a hobby which even the poorest among us can play and that is also one reason why it has become so popular all over the world.

Many soccer fields around

In many countries of our planet, there are numerous soccer fields where you can practice this sport.

Moreover, there are also many soccer clubs which you can join in order to get the opportunity to play on those fields.

Hence, depending on where you live, you will likely have plenty of opportunities to practice this exciting sport.

You can make new friends

Since soccer is a team sport and you will play with many different people, chances are that you will also make pretty good friends over time.

Many friendships from soccer often last several years or even a lifetime since you might have similar interests and want to spend large amounts of time together.

You learn to compete

Another benefit of soccer is that you will learn to compete against other teams and individuals.

This is quite important since life is one big competition and you have to learn to take a stand and to get better in order to succeed in life.

Thus, soccer can greatly help you to improve in this area.

Potential college scholarships

In some countries, you might even be able to get college scholarships in case you are really good at playing soccer.

However, please note that in some countries, it is quite unlikely to get scholarships for soccer since the sport is simply not popular enough in those regions.

Consequently, depending on where you live, soccer might also be a way to finance your college degree.

May translate into serious job opportunities

Soccer can also become a serious profession.

Some people earn millions of dollars by playing soccer for the best teams in the world.

Yet, please note that the chances to ever get to this level are incredibly low and you may rather go for a conventional job if you just have average soccer skills.

Good for your overall health

Since it is a physical activity, it can also strengthen your overall health level and your immune system.

Especially if you do not exercise too much during the day, playing soccer might be a great way to improve your overall health level.

May improve your confidence

Through playing soccer, you may also be able to boost your confidence.

Since you will get better over time and win some games, chances are that you will profit from those experiences.

Confidence is not only crucial in sports, but also in all parts of our daily life.

Thus, if you want to succeed in life, playing soccer may support this goal through a boost in your confidence.

You may learn how to lead people

It is also crucial that you learn to lead people, especially if you plan a demanding corporate career for your future.

In soccer, you can learn leading skills if you are the captain of the team or if you simply play a major role for success.

Playing soccer may free your mind

You might also be able to free your mind by playing soccer.

If you work in a demanding office job, you may need something that frees your mind after work so that you can regenerate and sustain a good mental state over the long run.

Good against stress

In general, sports of several sorts are quite helpful to reduce our stress level due to the physical activities related to them.

Thus, if you suffer from excessive stress at work or in your private life, playing soccer might help you reduce this stress.

Can improve your reflexes

Since soccer can be a quite fast sport, especially if you get to a higher level, you might also be able to improve your reflexes and your reaction time.

This may be quite beneficial, since better reflexes may prevent you from accidents or other unpleasant things in your daily life.

Disadvantages of Playing Soccer

1. Injuries
2. You can’t play it alone
3. You may lose motivation
4. Trouble with your teammates
5. Can be time-consuming
6. You may need a trainer
7. You may need a referee
8. Unnecessary pressure
9. May conflict with your career
10. Success in soccer also significantly depends on individual talent
11. Other sports may fit you better

Injuries

Even though playing soccer has many benefits, it also implies some issues.

For instance, you might suffer from serious injuries. This can include torn ligaments and several other unpleasant conditions from which it might take you a quite long time to recover.

You can’t play it alone

Another downside of soccer is that you can’t play it by yourself or in smaller groups.

You need a minimum amount of people for it and in case your friends don’t have time to play soccer with you, you might have to look out for other things to do in your leisure.

You may lose motivation

Some people might also simply lose the motivation to play soccer when they get older.

Once you grow up, you have so many different things on your mind and to manage in your daily life that you might simply no longer have the time to play soccer on a regular basis.

Other things, like taking care of your family and pursuing a career might become more important to you instead.

Trouble with your teammates

Over time, you might also experience some problems with your teammates.

It is quite common that during difficult times of a season, people get frustrated and the overall mood in a soccer team might be quite bad.

In such a case, it becomes more likely that trouble of some sort occurs and you might not have the nerves to deal with this trouble.

Can be time-consuming

Especially if you reach a certain level, playing soccer can also be quite time-consuming.

You might have to practice several times a week and you might also have to travel to away games on weekends.

Thus, this may lead to a state where you will not have too much time to meet friends anymore or to take care of your family.

Hence, this might be another reason to quit playing soccer after a while.

You may need a trainer

If you want to play soccer on a professional level, you also need a good coach.

However, finding such a coach who has plenty of knowledge and is affordable at the same time is not always easy.

Therefore, you might also have to invest plenty of time and money in a professional coach who can bring you as a team to the next level.

You may need a referee

In order to avoid any sort of trouble, you will also need a referee for your games.

Many times, those games become quite emotional and a good referee is crucial in order to calm down the atmosphere and to lead the game in an objective manner.

Those referees may also cost you additional money and searching for them may also cost you some time.

Unnecessary pressure

Some parents also take soccer way to seriously and impose plenty of artificial pressure on their kids.

However, this excessive level of pressure will often do more harm than good since children will often suffer from mental issues due to that.

May conflict with your career

Especially if you pursue a demanding corporate career or if you want to have your own business, it may be quite hard for you to continue to play soccer since you have so much going on at work and coordinating all your tasks will be quite difficult.

Hence, many people also decide to invest all their effort into their corporate career and stop playing sports like soccer.

Success in soccer also significantly depends on individual talent

If you want to succeed in soccer, it is crucial that you put in plenty of time and effort.

However, there is one component for success you cannot control and that is talent.

Thus, if you don’t have a certain minimum level of talent, you will most often not have the chance to play professional soccer.

Other sports may fit you better

There are also some people out there who simply do not like playing soccer.

They may have many other interests which are much more fun to them.

Consequently, if you are one of those people, you might want to refrain from playing soccer and engage in other hobbies instead.

Top 10 Soccer Pros & Cons – Summary List

Soccer Pros	Soccer Cons
Good for your fitness level	Potential injuries
Overall health improvements	Soccer takes time
Development of team spirit	May conflict with your career
Boost in confidence	Motivation problems
Soccer is easy to learn	Need for a trainer
You will learn to compete	You will need referees for games
Good for other parts of your life	You can’t play soccer alone
You may find good friends	Trouble with teammates
Measure against stress	Frustration
Improvements in reflexes	Overmotivated parents

Should You Play Soccer?

As we can see from the previous analysis, there are several advantages to soccer.

Yet, playing soccer also implies some problems and you have to evaluate by yourself whether soccer is a sport that is in line with your personal preferences and your plans for your future life or not.

If you think playing soccer is for you, make sure to get your soccer ball right now!

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_football

https://www.ducksters.com/sports/soccer.php

https://www.britannica.com/sports/football-soccer

https://www.sportsrec.com/4716437/description-of-the-game-of-soccer

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

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