The Most Influential Colleges in Soccer Today

Badge for MOST INFLUENTIAL COLLEGES IN SOCCER

By Dr. Winston Ewert and Dr. Jed Macosko

Updated: Mar 19, 2024

Find the colleges and universities that have the biggest impact in soccer based on the influence of their alumni in soccer. See which schools have proven histories of attracting and cultivating some of the most influential athletes today.

The best soccer colleges and universities are represented by a diverse list of both players and coaches in men’s and women’s soccer. In fact, a number of college athletics programs are included on our list for producing top soccer club managers, as opposed to players.

For instance, at the top of the list is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, owing largely to the influence of UNC Women’s Soccer coach Anson Dorrance. With 21 championships, Dorannce is the most successful NCAA women’s soccer coach of all time. UNC’s program can also boast alumni like Olympic Gold Medalist Mia Hamm.

Another fascinating and noteworthy inclusion on this list, the Nassau Community College in Garden City New York, is the rare public two-year school to appear on a list of top athletics programs. Most college soccer teams on this list are dominated by major athletics programs at four-year colleges. Nassau actually ranks #5 on our list thanks to the distinguished coaching career of alumnus Bruce Arena.

The United States excels in various sports, primarily in football and basketball. However, the nation has recently seen a rise in soccer, gradually breaking long-standing barriers.

Only 2% of Americans chose soccer as their favorite sport in 2004. That percentage has increased to 8% after 18 years.

Soccer will undoubtedly expand significantly due to its popularity among young people. After basketball and football, soccer was the third most popular sport among Americans between 18 and 29.

Influential collegiate soccer programs are essential to the growth and success of soccer as its popularity continues to soar. Here are the best colleges in the US with excellent college soccer programs.

Most Influential Colleges in Soccer

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Portland
University of Virginia
Nassau Community College
Indiana University Bloomington
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
Duke University
University of Maryland, College Park

University of California, Berkeley
Stanford University
Princeton University
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Washington
Duke University
University of Virginia
Indiana University Bloomington
University of Notre Dame
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Portland 93%
Saint Louis University 85%
University of Akron 83%
Indiana University Bloomington 82%
Creighton University 76%
Furman University 67%
Florida International University 64%
University of Connecticut 55%
University of Washington 48%
North Carolina State University 47%

San Diego State University 25 to 1
Florida International University 24 to 1
University of South Florida 22 to 1
University of Washington 21 to 1
University of California, Berkeley 19 to 1
University of Maryland, College Park 18 to 1
University of California, Los Angeles 18 to 1
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 17 to 1
University of California, Santa Barbara 17 to 1
Indiana University Bloomington 17 to 1

Duke University $62,688
Wake Forest University $62,128
University of Notre Dame $60,301
Stanford University $58,416
Princeton University $57,410
Furman University $55,772
University of Portland $51,812
Saint Louis University $50,644
Creighton University $45,590
University of Virginia $18,059

Duke University $60,220
University of Notre Dame $59,644
Princeton University $57,410
Stanford University $56,487
Wake Forest University $38,650
University of Portland $24,804
Saint Louis University $22,500
University of Virginia $18,382
University of Connecticut $18,174
Creighton University $17,496

Princeton University
University of Connecticut
Furman University
Creighton University
Pennsylvania State University
University of California, Santa Barbara
San Diego State University
University of Akron
Saint Louis University
University of Washington

Nassau Community College
Creighton University
University of Portland
Furman University
University of Akron
Florida International University
University of South Florida
San Diego State University
Wake Forest University
Saint Louis University

Stanford University 4%
Duke University 6%
Princeton University 6%
University of California, Los Angeles 9%
University of California, Berkeley 11%
University of Notre Dame 13%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 17%
University of Virginia 19%
Wake Forest University 21%
University of California, Santa Barbara 26%

Princeton University 5 to 1
Stanford University 5 to 1
Duke University 6 to 1
University of Notre Dame 9 to 1
University of Portland 9 to 1
Furman University 9 to 1
Saint Louis University 9 to 1
Wake Forest University 10 to 1
Creighton University 11 to 1
University of Virginia 15 to 1

University of South Florida $4,559
Florida International University $4,721
San Diego State University $5,742
Nassau Community College $5,800
North Carolina State University $6,535
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $7,019
University of Maryland, College Park $9,695
Indiana University Bloomington $10,012
University of Akron $10,097
University of Washington $11,189

San Diego State University $7,176
University of Akron $7,958
University of South Florida $8,350
North Carolina State University $9,095
Florida International University $9,119
Indiana University Bloomington $10,033
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $10,552
University of California, Los Angeles $11,700
University of California, Santa Barbara $11,700
University of California, Berkeley $11,700

How We Determine the Most Influential Athletes

For the time period from 2012 to 2022, we identified thousands of influential athletes in 10 of the most popular collegiate sporting fields, who attended or are attending college within the US or Canada. Being influential in the last 10 years does not necessarily mean that someone had to be playing during the last ten years. Influential people can cast very long shadows that can impact a sport for decades. While that is true, our algorithm is time sensitive, meaning that if one athlete’s influence is fading, while a younger athlete’s influence is capturing the world’s attention now, we catch and compare those, as well. The result: we have fun and insightful lists that highlight not only colleges with historical influence in a given sport, but also colleges that are shaping future legends now.

To build the list, we used our machine-learning-powered InfluenceRanking™ Engine (originally developed for DARPA) to find athletes associated with specific sports. Once we find all the mentions of “golfer,” “basketball player,” etc., we produce a numerical score of achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia and Wikidata. Our machine-learning algorithm does not just count citations. It goes several steps further by weighing the importance of web links to and from an athlete’s mentions, meaning larger publications have more weight. Furthermore, we consider web searches and page views associated with a given athlete.

Once we’ve identified and ranked athletes individually, our AI finds the colleges and universities the athletes attended and calculates the accumulative score of all of the athletes associated with the school, for a given sport. In the end, we list the colleges with the largest accumulative scores, and we show, in order of influence, all the athletes that helped produce the schools’ scores.

Find out more about our Methodology. Note: for the purposes of our overall list, the influence of entertainers, TV personalities, and models were adjusted downward.

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