The FIFA World Cup 2022 is the name on everyone’s lips currently. The USMNT led by Christian Pulisic has already qualified for the knockout phases and is looking good. However, there remains a deep lying issue in the sport which was revealed by Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently. 

Talking about the sport of soccer, Kareem pointed out the male domination which exists at the grassroots level. The Elites Club National League is the biggest league in the country for girls which is historically male-dominant.

Despite the number of women representatives increasing day by day in soccer, the culture in the ECNL remains the same. This was touched upon by Kareem in his popular blog. The NBA legend didn’t hold back while addressing the issue.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar bashes male dominance existing in soccer

Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not one to shy away from talking about socio-political issues around the world. Recently, on his popular blog, Kareem talked about the sport that is on everyone’s lips currently. You guessed it right, it is soccer.

The Elites Club National League trains thousands of girls around the country building the base for the future. However, everything from coaching to executive positions in the league are male-dominated. This wasn’t taken well by Abdul-Jabbar who bashed the culture in the ECNL which is stifling women’s development in the sport.

Kareem wrote, “A girl or woman player can become excellent but there is no place for her as a coach. Worse, they have to witness the mistreatment of the few women coaches that are allowed in. The lesson is that merit is meaningless, it’s still just an Old Boys Club.”

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He also revealed that while males dominate around 90 percent of positions in the ECNL, some elite clubs do not have a single women member in their club.

Abdul-Jabbar once talked about why soccer is not as popular as other sports

It is no secret that soccer is not as popular as other sports in the United States of America. Back in 2014, when the USMNT represented the USA at the FIFA World Cup, Abdul-Jabbar talked about why people do not appreciate soccer like other sports.

He said, “Soccer doesn’t fully express the American ethos as powerfully as our other popular sports.” Moreover, he also talked about how the less amount of goals in soccer are one of the reasons why it doesn’t appeal to the US audience as much as other sports.

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