The Division I college programme is so good, in fact, that America is exporting its soccer stars to other countries rather than importing them, as the men's national team has done in the past.The popularity of the game has already fuelled talk of starting a women's professional soccer league.
But in this port city along the Paraná River, the hometown of Lionel Messi and the departure point for most of Argentina's vast soybean exports, soccer breeds a division that is apparent on almost every street corner.
And it is marvelous that Brazil, which exports more soccer talent than any other nation yet seldom gets to see these players in person in their prime, has this opportunity to see them on their own soil.
In Europe's already robust professional soccer industry, exporting their training models to China where European soccer clubs already boast strong brand recognition opens up new revenue streams and chances for development.
Ajax is a fulcrum of the worldwide soccer market, exporting top players to the world's best clubs, because they take very young players and shape them.
The U.S. State Department lists the country's top three exports as oil, timber, and cotton, and its most famous cultural export is soccer (Samuel Eto'o is rumored to be the highest paid player in the world, playing for an oil baron on the Caspian Sea).
When Europe's major sporting export, Champions League soccer, is televised to 200 nations around the world Tuesday and Wednesday, the fraud police will be watching intently.
Argentina may not export much except its soccer players.
Franklin Foer, the author of "How Soccer Explains the World," compares its tours to Manchester United's modern trips to the Far East, but points out that Hakoah was exporting more than a successful sporting brand.
