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The college soccer recruiting timeline, year by year

Updated · 8 min read

Recruiting has a calendar, and the rules decide when college coaches may call, meet your player and make an offer. Choose your player's graduating class: the dates below are worked out for them, and move on with each school year.

Rules checked for the 2026–27 school year on , at the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA's own rulebooks. Rules change: confirm anything important with the college's compliance office.

Choose your player's graduating class to see the dates for them.

Freshman year

  1. This yearNCAA D1NCAA D2

    Meet the school counselor and plan the core courses. NCAA Division I and II count 16 "core courses" (English, math from Algebra I up, science, social science and a few more), and Division I wants 10 of them finished before senior year, 7 of those in English, math or science. Those grades are then locked in. A missing class found in junior year is hard to fix (the academic rules).

  2. This yearNCAA D1NCAA D2NCAA D3

    Make the free NCAA Profile Page at the Eligibility Center. It gives your player an NCAA ID that coaches use, and it can be turned into the paid certification account later.

  3. This yearAll levels

    Grades count from now. Every college looks at the whole high-school record, not only the last year. For many players, good grades open more doors than soccer does: they bring academic aid, and the schools that care most about grades are often the ones that recruit hardest for them.

  4. This yearAll levels

    Start filming the games. Keep every full game, not only the goals. College coaches ask for full games, and a season of video is what a highlight reel is made from later.

  5. This yearAll levels

    Talk honestly with the club coach about what level your player might reach, and what it would take. It is too early to decide, and that's fine. The aim this year is to keep options open.

  6. This yearNCAA D2NCAA D3

    Your player can email college coaches already, and Division II and III coaches may write and call back at any time. Division I coaches can't answer about recruiting yet, but they read the emails.

Sophomore year

  1. This yearAll levels

    Make a long list of schools, 30 or more, across the levels: some reaches, many that fit, some sure things. Think of the school first: would your player be happy there if soccer ended?

  2. This yearAll levels

    Email the coaches on the list: who your player is, their position, graduation year, grades, club team and league, a link to a highlight reel and a full game, and the next tournaments where they'll play. Write to each coach by name; a copied email is easy to spot (how to write it).

  3. This yearAll levels

    Showcases and ID camps. Go where the coaches on your list will be: your club league's showcase events, and the camps of the schools you're most interested in. A camp run by one college is mostly seen by that college's coaches.

  4. This yearNCAA D1NCAA D2

    If Division I or II coaches are interested, upgrade to the certification account (US$120 in the US). It's needed before an official visit and before signing. Ask about a fee waiver if you qualify for one.

  5. This yearNCAA D1

    Division I coaches may call, text, email and send recruiting material, and your player may call them. In women's soccer especially, offers and commitments often follow in the weeks after this day.

  6. This yearNCAA D2

    Division II coaches may meet your player off campus and pay for an official visit (one per school while in high school).

  7. This yearNCAA D3

    When sophomore year ends, Division III coaches may meet your player in person off campus, such as at a tournament or at home.

Junior year

  1. This yearNCAA D1

    Division I coaches may meet your player off campus, and official visits can start: a few days on campus, paid for by the school. Unofficial visits (at your own cost) that meet the soccer staff, and recruiting conversations at a college's camp, start now too.

  2. This yearAll levels

    Visit, and narrow the list. See the campus, a practice and a game; meet the players without the coaches. By the end of the year most families know their top five or ten.

  3. This yearAll levels

    Talk about money early. Ask each coach what aid they're offering (athletic, academic or both), for how many years, and what happens if your player is injured. Run each school's net price calculator so you compare real costs (how the money works).

  4. This yearNCAA D3

    Division III official visits may start: one per school, up to 48 hours.

  5. This yearNCAA D3NAIANJCAA

    Take the SAT or ACT in the spring. The NCAA no longer asks for a test score, but many colleges still look at them for admission and academic aid, and NAIA uses one as a route to eligibility.

  6. This yearNAIA

    Register with the NAIA Eligibility Center if NAIA schools are on the list (US$110 in the US). NAIA coaches have few contact rules, so the conversations can start any time.

Senior year

  1. This yearNCAA D1

    Division I schools may make a written offer of aid. A verbal offer before this day is a promise, not a contract: ask what it really includes.

  2. This yearAll levels

    Apply to the colleges, on time, even with a commitment: a coach's support helps admission, but the application still has to be made. Ask each coach whether to apply early.

  3. This yearAll levels

    File the FAFSA as soon as it opens in the fall, and the CSS Profile if a school asks for it. Need-based aid is often worth more than an athletic scholarship.

  4. This yearNJCAA

    Junior colleges may sign soccer players to a letter of intent from this day.

  5. Second Wednesday in NovemberNCAA D1NCAA D2

    Signing day for Division I and II soccer. Your player signs the school's written offer of aid. Once it's signed, the other Division I schools that give aid, and Division II schools, have to stop recruiting your player.

  6. This yearNCAA D1NCAA D2

    Ask the NCAA Eligibility Center for the final amateurism certification (for a fall start), and make sure every school on your list has what it asked for.

  7. This yearNCAA D1NCAA D2

    After graduation, send the final transcript and proof of graduation to the Eligibility Center. Your player can't practice or play until it's done.

If you're starting late

Plenty of players are recruited in senior year and after, especially by Division II and III, NAIA and junior colleges, and many coaches fill their last places in the spring. Do the same steps quickly: a list, the emails, a reel and a full game, then visits. A year at a junior college is also a good way to play, grow and move on.

Sources

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