College soccer

College soccer is played by teams of football students throughout colleges and universities. College soccer is probably most widespread in the United States, but is also prominent in South Korea and Canada. In these countries the institutions typically hire full-time professional coaches and staff, although the student athletes are strictly amateur and are not paid.

In the United States, college soccer is sponsored by the sports regulatory body for major universities, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and those for smaller universities and colleges, including the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).

Many top American college soccer players play for separate teams in the Premier Development League (PDL) during the summer. One college club, the BYU Cougars men's team, has foregone playing in the NCAA or NAIA and instead play all of their games in the PDL. At the end of the NCAA college season, there is a college soccer 'draft', and during this draft the Professional Clubs in the USA can opt to draft the most talented college players to the professional leagues directly from college. The professional leagues who have the opportunity to cast their picks are usually MLS (Major League Soccer) with the lower professional leagues such as the USL and NASL having other ways to draft.