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Soccer

The common look of a soccer ball. There are many different designs out there

Popularity of soccer

Since 1990, when the U.S. qualified for the World Cup final round for the first time in 40 years, and especially since 1994, when the U.S. hosted the world's most popular sporting event, soccer has taken off in America, settling behind only football, baseball and basketball in nearly all statistical measures of popularity — especially among Latinos and younger players. Here's a look at some of the measurements: 24,472,778 Number of people who play soccer at some level in the U.S. second only to China. (Source: FIFA World Football Big Count) 24.3 Million Number of U.S. television viewers of the 2010 World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands more than watched the Rose Bowl (24.04 million), the NCAA men's college basketball championship (23.99 million) or the Winter Olympics closing ceremony (21.4 million). (Source: Nielsen) 3,055,148 Youth players officially registered with U.S. Soccer programs in 2014 up by 89 percent since 1990, the first year the U.S. qualified for the World Cup final round since 1950.