Most people in Europe think college soccer in America is just “another season” – it’s not.
In this video, I break down how college soccer ACTUALLY works in the U.S.: preseason, season, playoffs/nationals, and summer league, all from a European player’s perspective.
If you’re a player (or a parent) trying to understand scholarships, travel, study-life balance, and what the day-to-day really looks like, this will give you a clear picture of the system before you make the decision to come.
If you want to take the next step, do like I did and apply here:
If you’re from Portugal:
https://www.sports-4me.com/pt/apply
If you’re from anywhere else:
https://www.sports-4me.com/apply
🔔 Subscribe for more videos about college soccer in America, recruiting, and life as an international student-athlete.
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Why does humanity do this to itself
I do not get, why an European guy should come to US to try go pro?
The fact is the vast majority of youth players in US and European academies will never earn a paycheck playing football and stop playing having zero skills that translate to the workforce. US College football is a good option for players to earn a degree, play football, and if they’re good enough, they’ll move on to professional leagues.
Yes. The problem with this system as i was a player of it as well. American soccer is a pay to win system. If you dont have the money from your parent to get better coaching, you dont get better.
Now there is the few exceptions but also in American if you have money you have more options to get into academy teams and connections to get you to the next level.
If they made sporting developments where is was basic free then America would have much better development
The schedule is about to change though. In 2027/28, college soccer with will be going to a two-semester sport. So basically the same schedule as a professional club.
Really this applies to most American college sports. Each sport just has these at different times. Sports are either spring or fall sports. Basketball is a bit of an odd one as its regular season is normally late October/November with the NCAA tournament in March.
Really enjoyed this insightful video, not a soccer player but really ENJOYED this.
The Fall Season does sound brutal for sure. I like how you described that even though the season is short, the various options to help a player develop, learn valuable skills like working with others/community building through camps/coaching work. People talk about how the real work happens off the field (and the way you described the Spring Season sounds exactly that, knowing what you need off the pitch in order to be better whether it is nutrition, a certain style of workout etc)
Really also loved how you put out the summer league teams in NPSL/USL2/UPSL. It reminds me alot of the College Summer Ball Teams for Baseball!
Great breakdown 💯
Former D1 player, the season feels like its 10 mins long. Tore it up my first season all-conference as a freshman, I got kidney surgery right before my 2nd preseason, tore my hamstring in pdl befor the 3rd and 4th season. I could not pass the fitness test as I was hiding the injuries and had to come clean when I had to pull up in the 2-mile test. Took me until October to get back into the starting lineup. Ended up starting 10 games for my last 3 years. Depressing. We won our conference first year and got and automatic bid the other years. Spring season was way more difficult as we were doing heavy heavy fitness and weight training because the games really don't matter. Spring is an absolute grind.
Seems ridiculously overcomplicated.
It's because they don't care and there is no money in it compared to other avenues. It's the 5th or 6th sport in America so no incentive to improve the scouting process
And remember guys nothing in america ever changes so this is a manual valid from now up until the year 3000
é foda, irmão
As somebody who played academy football in Europe, where did you play? We had such a different experience of European youth football.
We had tryouts (1–2 days in mid-July). Your tryout could have been over after 20 minutes if the coaches thought you lacked the skill or talent. If you made it past the tryout, you were able to join the pre-pre-season, which usually lasted about a week locally. There, you had the fixed team, players who were fighting to keep their spot, and players from the tryouts.
After that week, the final squad was selected and went to pre-season, usually for one to three weeks abroad (we often went to Spain or Italy), with the focus on fitness, tactics, and a few friendlies to get minutes in the legs.
After that, the season started (early to mid-August) and lasted until the end of June, with a short break over the festive period and because of the weather. If you were younger (roughly up to U13), the season lasted until early December, and a new one started at the end of January and ran until the end of June.
After that, the season was over unless the team decided to attend an international tournament, organized a camp with multiple other teams, or you enrolled in another club's summer camp yourself. So, without any summer commitments (tournaments or camps), you had roughly seven weeks off (≈1 week in June, ≈2 weeks in July, and ≈4 weeks in December/January). With tournaments, you usually lost the week in June and maybe the first week in July. With summer camps, you would lose all three weeks in the summer.
For training frequency, we usually trained twice a day (apart from the day before a match, when we normally had only one session) and went to the gym twice a week. If we had a midweek game, the gym session was skipped. We trained from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and then again from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (or 8:00 p.m. if we had post-match or pre-match analysis). And yes, we didn't have our own gym—we had a partnership with a local gym where we could train for free.
For the academic part, the club didn't help with or care about our education. (Shortly after I stopped playing, they introduced a program to support players with school.) We had players doing apprenticeships and learning manual trades, as well as others who were on track to attend university (for example, our goalkeeper is now a plumber, while I went on to study at university). The club didn't really care either way, but the schools and employers (for apprentices) were generally very supportive. They allowed students to arrive late after training or even miss lessons, as long as their grades remained good enough.
I would be really interested to know what the academy system was like where you lived and what club you played for. I have a coaching licence and I'm very interested in youth development. Hearing different experiences from different countries and different levels could give me insights that I'm currently missing, as I only really know the Swiss youth system.
0:59 the college soccer season is odd af🎉😂
How the fuck are you all Portuguese players named the same?
Ao menos não te enganaste no nome e disseste futebol. 👍
sports4me infinitamente melhor que os chulos ladrões da Next Level
USL2 is pretty important for college players
Dá-lhe João!
Anay NIL dealz?
College soccer is so overrated. I have watched better UPSL and USL games.
US college soccer is kinda terrible and then feed int he MLS system ? coaches picking small players
I was looking for a video too see. And I mean, let's go, i'll see this haha boa sorte!!
Trabalhaste com o Seabolt? Abraço
I’m 38 now, but I played D-1 (all conference and all-region), then pro in Sweden (4th division and on trial with 2nd division) and came into this ready to criticize the video – but you nailed it spot on. Great commentary and explanation.
My son is hoping to go directly pro, maybe start at USL. You can get cheap degrees online, college is a scam unless it’s free IMO. No way I would pay for him to play at any college.
Name one world class player to come from any American college? Not many even make our own National team and play unless a keeper or former coach’s son.
Men's div 1 soccer is the worst run shit ive ever witnessed. All of the players are usually there because of nepotism (not everyone) , the talent fucking sucks all round. Barley anyone goes pro because your basically 21 playing in a garbage league and system they need to go figure out academy football and just delete the NCAA (former div 1 starting goalie)
Please please please tell me, wtf is on your ceiling? I have to know. It looks like it holds candles lol
It’s not that we hate regular season points endings. we like the playoffs for the “Cinderella story” possibility
Grande video mano tenho o sonho de ir para lá 👏🫡
Eu sou português e continua a fazer estes videos na europa quase ninguem fala disto só apareceu-me este conteúdo q é de alta qualidade tenho 15 anos e vou tentar entrar em um clube tens alguma dica?
The amount of talent in College is actually insane, It does not matter which Division, BUT…. The coaches are horrible and the system the game is play under is pure garbage.
hats the bubble for
parabens mano, eu também jogo nos Estados Unidos e esta 100% accurate!
Do final four team D1 soccer players get scouted for MLS?
And I thought my sons u11 Premier team was chaotic. Yikes.
The precursor to all this, from what I understand, is betting on some academy program to help develop your child and shilling out money hand over fist. The system in the US is broken from as early as U6.
sounds like an awful system. But it is enough for european youth acadamy players who didnt make it in europe directly to get a sponsored college degree
Everything the USA touches turns to shit! In the USA, they've transformed an innocent sport played by innocent amateurs—minors!—into a business even more despicable and as lucrative as the worst kind of prostitution. However, in Europe or South America, football is completely different: amateur football is passion, community, and, thirdly, a business as respectable and deeply rooted as the production of wine for Eucharist's Sunday Mass.
Yo, as an international yeah, I know earlier is always best, but when exactly is best to to get recruited, like if I'm looking to start in fall, is now the time to do it?
Obg mano pelo o vídeo eu sei q isso vai me ajudar mto 🇵🇹❤️🔥
Great video thanks for the info very well described and really helpful