The concept "professional soccer player" implies that you get paid to play soccer. It's a basic concept, so to speak. The path to professional soccer, like any sport, is fraught with great difficulties. Around the age of 6 some academies at soccer clubs hold a casting among the pupils of the city sports school and select the most interesting and promising boys to continue their education at the club's soccer school.Of course, this selection is quite serious, so the child needs to be a head stronger than their peers. Many world-renowned players, such as Ronaldinho, used to score a crazy number of goals in tournaments of his age when he was a kid. About 7-8 per game. Accordingly, these guys have high potential and the opportunity to learn the skills under the supervision of more experienced coaches. Further way of a young player - daily training, learning the technique, strength of impact, etc.д. If a child is lucky, he may qualify for the national teams of his age (U9, U10, U11) and represent the club academy there.  Depending on his skills and talent, a young player, who has reached the age of 15-16 years, begins to be allowed to the reserve team, and then with serious successes - and the main team. At the age of 16 a player signs a professional contract. From that moment the player is considered a professional. Further destiny depends on many factors: good luck, efficiency, presence of superstars in the main squad on his position, own ambitions, etc. A player can either go on loan to practice or try to break into his club. Options may vary.