WHAT IS A FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP?
An athletic football scholarship (UK) or soccer scholarship (US) is a form of scholarship to attend a U.S college or university awarded to an individual based on their academic and athletic capabilities. A football scholarship can cover anywhere between 0-100% of costs and these offers are authorised by the coaches at American colleges/universities.
WHAT DETERMINES HOW MUCH SCHOLARSHIP I GET IN US?
Your scholarship will depend on many factors including your playing ability and academic standing, as well as your coaches assigned budget for the season. However, don’t worry it is our job to ensure that we find you an American college which best suits your preferences and capabilities. If, for example, a university costs $50,000 a year all in and the coach is giving you a scholarship worth $42,000, then this is a partial scholarship as there is a $8,000 shortfall that the coach wants you to contribute towards the costs of attending the university. Most partial scholarships come with the incentive that if you perform well, both on the field and in the classroom, then the coach can reward you with a scholarship increase and cover any costs that you had been contributing towards.
CAN I RECEIVE A FULL FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP IN US?
The level of scholarship granted is fundamentally dependent on what the coach of the American college wants to offer. A 100% scholarship or ‘full ride’ covers the costs of tuition and fees, room and board, and textbooks, leaving only incidental costs to pay for the student-athlete. In this case, 100% of the costs are covered and it can be worth up to a staggering $400,000 over four years. At U.S Sports Scholarships, one in every four of our athletes will receive a full scholarship.
CAN A FOOTBALL PLAYER GO ON TO PLAY MLS AFTER UNI?
MLS teams do draft college players into their rosters after they have completed their University education and therefore for top level student-athletes playing in MLS is definitely a realistic opportunity; however, competition for places is understandably extremely competitive. In fact under 2% of soccer players at NCAA schools do go on to play Major League Soccer. That being said, at U.S Sports Scholarships we are firm believers that if you are good enough you will get picked up and playing at college in America for four years gives you the perfect platform to get spotted.
WHEN DOES THE US COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON TAKE PLACE?
Because football is regarded as a ‘fall sport’ this means that competition takes place between September and around November time depending on how was your team progresses in the regional and national tournament. That being said, most players fly out for pre-season training at the start of August and then come home for a month during the Christmas break after the end of the Fall semester. Spring semester runs from January until May time. During that time although it is regarded as off-season training scrimmage matches still take place.
HOW TO GET NOTICED
Getting college coaches to watch your matches is not easy, especially if you are located in another country. Because of small recruiting budgets, many football coaches require you to come to them or rely heavily on the footage supplied to them. In fact, for the top schools in the country it is mandatory that athletic prospects attend their summer football camps for further consideration but this isn’t always the case. For more info on our match filming services click here.
HOW THE FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP RECRUITMENT PROCESS WORKS…
There are a lot of international players looking for USA football scholarships and thousands of high school domestic athletes for football coaches to choose from, and it takes a lot of hard work to show coaches that you are exactly what they are looking for. If you want to play football at the top level, it is mandatory that coaches watch you in person. Finding those opportunities is up to you; more info on the process can be found by clicking here.
AM I ACADEMICALLY ELIGIBLE FOR A SCHOLARSHIP?
Based on what level you want to compete, the requirements change. Keep in mind that just meeting the minimum standards does not guarantee you admission into your school of choice.
HOW GOOD DO I NEED TO BE FOR A FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP?
There is a definite misconception that you need to of played at a pro club academy in order to be good enough for a soccer scholarship in America, this definitely isn’t the case but naturally a lot of successful student-athletes do come from academies as they are among the best young players in the country. That being said, although at U.S Sports Scholarships we are super selective each year our cohort consists of a mixture of youth international players, ex academy players and players from semi-professional or college led setups.
Over 95% Division II, III, and NAIA soccer players have club experience and nearly 70% of Division II, III, and NAIA soccer players have earned individual recognition at the high school level if they played high school soccer.
Preferred Grades for All Divisions: 3.0 GPA or higher, 24 ACT score or higher and 1000 SAT score (out of 1600) or higher
HOW DO I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIPS?
To find out more about the football scholarship process, fill out our form and a U.S Sports Scholarships consultant will be in touch to answer any questions you may have. Alternatively, you can register for one of our UK Football Trials where our expert team will deliver a detailed presentation that will provide you with information on the entire process and how we can help you with securing a soccer scholarship. If this is of interest please complete our free online application now.
The process of finding a football scholarship in America is by no means straight forward and with there being over 1,000 universities that offer student-athletes the chance to play college football it can be difficult knowing where to start in your search for a school. Coaching teams do not have the resources to find and evaluate every qualified athlete and as you can imagine there are tens of thousands of student-athletes looking to go out to America on a sports scholarship every single year. At U.S Sports Scholarships we work closely with our players to help them navigate through the many football playing universities to find the school that is the right fit for them from an athletic, academic and financial perspective. If you want to increase your chances of being considered for a football scholarship complete our online application today.