By Aiden Lu ‘24, Sports Writer

Throughout this crazy year, many different activities have been shut down, whether it be restaurants, schools, sports, or other recreations. The soccer community has been impacted just as much as anything else, whether it be on the professional or the amateur level. 

Throughout the season the revenue of most professionals has fallen by a significant amount due to the absence of ticket sales. Due to the pandemic, many teams have restricted fans from coming to their games, causing a huge loss in revenue. In order to address this lack of revenue, many teams have had to cut the salaries of some players. This has affected some clubs much more than others. For example, FC Barcelona, a soccer team in Spain, is currently in debt of up to one billion dollars. The team already had a large amount of debt before the pandemic, and was hoping to pay it off with the revenue from this year’s season. However, due to their loss in revenue, their debt has just been deepened. Adding to this fire is the fact that the Barcelona team has the highest salary in the world. Though most teams do not have a case as extreme as Barcelona’s, every team has been fiscally affected by the pandemic. 

Without fans at their games, soccer has lost the joy and excitement of being in the stadium. Scoring a goal and celebrating to a completely empty stadium is a much different feeling than scoring a last-minute goal in a fully-packed stadium. Many of the fans feel unable to support their teams throughout the season. In hopes of helping solve this issue, some teams have resorted to placing cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands. Other teams have used Zoom, where fans could be displayed on screens near the fields. These are more realistic ways that the fans can watch the games live, like a real game. 

Finally, the pandemic has drastically affected this year’s games and practices of countless adolescents. Many soccer games, tournaments, and practices have been canceled due to COVID-19. This has caused many younger kids to lose crucial experience, and in the long run, this could greatly affect others’ performances. 

This year has dramatically altered the soccer world, and people have had to greatly adjust their plans to cope with the Covid crisis. However, with determination and strength, the soccer community has managed to stay afloat, with professional as well as amateur games still being held and played.