Introduction

For decades, American college soccer has occupied an unusual position in the global game. Operating outside the FIFA-regulated ecosystem of professional clubs and academies, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has nonetheless become a significant pathway for international talent. Today, roughly 33% of Division I men’s college soccer players are foreign.

The system that drew those foreign players to the U.S. to pursue an education and the chance to play soccer for their university, however, is in the midst of an extraordinary transformation. In the span of less than five years, a wave of antitrust challenges has dismantled the NCAA’s longstanding amateurism model and paved the way for a pay-for-play model. While this sea change has enormously benefited some college athletes (notably American football and basketball players), it has imperiled the future for college soccer players, since soccer is a...

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