How to get recruited for college soccer

College coaches fill a small number of places each year, and a coach cannot recruit a player they have never heard of. So the player makes the first move. Being good is the entry ticket; being known to the right coaches is the job.

The job has five parts, and they go in this order. Each has its own guide: the list, the email, the video, the follow-up and the visit.

1. 1Build a list that fits. Level, position, grad year and grades, at schools you would attend without soccer.
2. 2Make it easy to judge you. A short highlight video, a one-page profile and your game schedule.
3. 3Email the coach. A few sentences and the link, to the staff of each program on the list.
4. 4Follow up and be seen. New video, results, and the school’s own ID camp when it makes sense.
5. 5Visit, then decide. Meet the staff and the team before you commit to anything.

Start wide and honest. There are 562 Division I programs, 460 in Division II, 820 in Division III and 373 in the NAIA. Most college soccer is not Division I, and the levels overlap more than families expect.

A good list has schools at more than one level: a few that are a stretch, more that match, and some where the player would be among the stronger recruits. Then check room. The median Division I roster lists 28 players, and a program that already carries several players at your position in the two classes ahead of you has less room than one that is about to graduate them.

You can read that off any roster. Every program page on Startline shows the squad by class year, free: start from the program lists.

Start building the list and the video in the first two years of high school. Start emailing when you have video worth watching. A Division I coach cannot call or message you before June 15 after sophomore year (Bylaws 13.1.3.1 and 13.4.1), but they can read what you send, and they can may reply with information that does not begin recruiting (Bylaw 13.4.1.12).

Division II coaches may message a player at any time (Bylaw 13.1.3.1). Division III coaches may send materials at any time (Bylaw 13.4.1). The full sequence, grade by grade, is in the recruiting timeline. If you are a junior or senior reading this late, read is it too late? first.

• Who you are, in one line: graduation year, position, club and team, height, and where you are from.
• Video: a few minutes of your best moments, the strongest first, with you marked before each clip.
• Grades: your GPA, and test scores if you have them. Admissions decide who a coach can take.
• Where to see you: your game schedule and the events you are playing in.
• A reason for this school: one true sentence about why this program.

The profile template puts all of that on one page.

No. Nothing in the process needs a paid service: the rules, the rosters and the coaches’ addresses are all public. A service saves time or adds a person to guide you, and whether that is worth the price depends on the family. We set out what each kind costs, from each company’s own page, in what recruiting services cost.