Hope Solo said American soccer has become "a rich white kid sport" and many other communities have become alienated from it because of cost.
The two-time Olympic gold medal winning goalie for the women's national soccer team was speaking at the Hashtag Sports conference in New York City on Wednesday when she addressed the absence of the U.S. soccer team in this year's World Cup, the Sporting News reported.
"We have alienated the Hispanic communities," Solo said. "We have alienated our black communities. We have alienated the underrepresented communities, even rural communities. So soccer in America right now is a rich white kid sport."
"Then we have to ask ourselves, 'Well, no wonder why we are not qualifying for the World Cup, when we have alienated a huge population of really talented youth soccer players.' And that's the state of the game right now."
Solo added that her family would not be able to afford her soccer dream if they had to pay for her today. Solo said the average cost for players participating "right now in the United States is $15,000 per year," according to the website The Post Game.
Solo, who helped the U.S. women's soccer team win the female version of the World Cup in 2015, ran unsuccessfully to become president of the U.S. Soccer Federation.
The Post Game said Kyle Martino, another former candidate for U.S. Soccer president, made similar comments about cost earlier, saying that the "privatized" nature of youth soccer puts so much financial pressure on parents where it drives kids out of the sports.
Solo drew angry comments from many about calling American soccer a "white kids" sport.
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