Geo Kids: How Soccer Explains the World

“Hey Dad, guess what?” It’s my son, Alex, wearing his Brazil soccer jersey. He’s been on the Internet again.

“What, Alex?”

“Did you know that France didn’t even get to the 2nd round in 2002? And they won the World Cup in 1998!”

“No, I didn’t know that.”

“And Dad, Korea almost made it to the finals and so did Turkey, but they didn’t do so good this year.”

“Really?”

Alex, at eight, knows more about soccer than anyone else I know. It all started innocently enough with me coaching his soccer team this summer. Then we watched several World Cup games together, and then he discovered www.worldcup.com, FIFA’s amazing site that includes video highlights of every game and a comprehensive history of the World Cup going back to the 1930’s.

“Dad, did you know the first World Cup was held in Uruguay?”

Anyway, to make a long story short, Alex got hooked on soccer. And it’s teaching him about the world, which is really cool.

I have a passion for geography, culture, and languages that comes from my Dad, who grew up in Germany and speaks five languages. Alex is lucky enough to have been to Europe once, and through soccer he is learning a tremendous amount about the world.

I think this is great, especially because so many American kids (and adults) know very little about the world. National Geographic’s latest survey concluded that our kids “don’t know much geography”.
“By and large, majorities of young adults fail at a range of questions testing their basic geographic literacy.
Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.
6 in 10 young Americans don’t speak a foreign language fluently.
20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It’s the largest country in Africa.)
48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It’s Hindu—by a landslide.)
Half of young Americans can’t find New York on a map.”

Pretty depressing stuff, no? But I think we have our educational system to blame. I mean, these kids don’t set out to be geographically ignorant. It’s just that geography is often not taught in a way that connects with their interests, whether that interest is sports, history, animals, food, or whatever.

I am amazed by how much Alex is learning about the world through his soccer obsession. He has learned the names of dozens of countries and where they are located. He learned what languages they speak, and why. “Dad, Angola speaks Portugese because Portugal used to rule Angola,” he told me, a fact that I doubt most adult Americans would know.

His interests have since expanded beyond national teams to European club teams, so thanks to the Internet and Fox Soccer Channel we now follow AC Milan (because of Alex’s favorite player, the Brazilian star Kaka), Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United.

And because European soccer (or football, as they call it) is extremely international, Alex continues to learn about other countries. Chelsea’s best player is from Cote d’Ivoire, Manchester United’s best player is Portugese, and so on.

One day I will take Alex to Europe and we will watch some of these teams in person, just like Franklin Foer does in his great book, “How Soccer Explains the World.” But for now, I’m glad we can be armchair travelers, and that he is learning about the world through a sport he loves. It’s also cheaper that way.