College Soccer Recruiting Timeline

Key dates at a glance

These are the dates that open each kind of recruiting contact. In the NCAA, men's and women's soccer follow the same timing rules. The grades refer to the player's year in high school.

A player can email any coach, at any level, at any age. Every date above is about what the coach is allowed to do. For the full picture of how the process fits together, start with our college soccer recruiting guide.

NCAA Division I rules for soccer

The 2026-27 Division I Manual has no soccer-specific timing exceptions, so men's and women's soccer follow the general rules. Here is what each one says.

• Recruiting materials and electronic messages, including email, texts and direct messages: not before June 15 after sophomore year.
• Phone calls, from the coach or from the player: not before June 15 after sophomore year.
• In-person contact off the college campus with the player or family: not before August 1 before junior year.
• Official visits, paid for by the school: not before August 1 of junior year.
• Unofficial visits that involve the athletic department, such as meeting the coaches, an athletics tour or free tickets: not before August 1 before junior year.
• A written offer of athletic aid: not before August 1 of senior year.

Before June 15, a Division I staff member can answer your email only with information that doesn't start recruiting you, such as an explanation of NCAA rules or a referral to the admissions office. Emails about camp logistics, like a missing registration form, are allowed at any time as long as they contain no recruiting language. The NCAA's guide for recruits warns that, depending on sport and grade, Division I coaches may not be permitted to write back. Keep emailing anyway. Coaches read, and they can still come watch you play.

Your family can tour a campus on its own before junior year, the way any prospective student would. What can't happen before August 1 is a visit that involves the soccer staff or the athletic department.

2026-27 Division I dead and quiet periods

Soccer doesn't have a full Division I recruiting calendar. Outside the periods below, coaches can contact and evaluate players under the rules above. During a dead period there's no in-person recruiting contact or evaluation on or off campus and no official or unofficial visits, though coaches can still call, text and email. During a quiet period, in-person contact can happen only on the college's campus.

November 9 to 12 is the Monday through Thursday of the week of the fall signing date. December 11 to 14 covers Friday through Monday of the Division I Men's College Cup, though a coach may attend an event held alongside the championship in the host city. The NCAA last updated this calendar on August 4, 2026, so check it again before planning a visit around these dates.

NCAA Division II rules

Division II changed its communication rule in August 2024. Its coaches, like Division III coaches, can now talk to players at any age.

• Calls, texts, emails and private messages: allowed at any time, at any grade.
• In-person contact off the college campus: not before June 15 before junior year.
• Official visits: from June 15 before junior year, one per school. The player must send a transcript, register with the NCAA Eligibility Center and be placed on the school's request list first.
• Unofficial visits: unlimited, at the family's expense.
• Tryouts on campus: allowed from June 15 before junior year, under conditions set in the NCAA rules.
• Signing: the first date is the second Wednesday in November, which is November 11, 2026 for the class of 2027.

Division II uses recruiting reminders rather than a full calendar. One to know: no in-person recruiting or visits in the 48 hours before 7 a.m. on signing day.

NCAA Division III rules

Division III has the fewest timing rules and doesn't use recruiting calendars at all.

• Recruiting materials, emails, texts and phone calls: no timing restrictions.
• In-person contact off the college campus: after the player finishes sophomore year.
• Official visits: from January 1 of junior year, one per school, lasting no more than 48 hours.
• Unofficial visits: unlimited, and allowed before junior year.
• Signing: no binding agreement. After admission, a player can sign a nonbinding celebratory form.

Because Division III gives no athletic aid, the deadlines that matter most are the school's admission and financial aid dates. Ask each coach which application round they'd like you to use.

How the NAIA and junior colleges differ

The NAIA describes its recruiting process as less cumbersome than the NCAA's, with few restrictions on contact between coaches and recruits. It caps tryouts at two days over a player's entire career. There's no association-wide letter of intent. Players can sign one with an individual NAIA school but aren't obligated to attend, though some NAIA conferences require member schools to honor letters signed with other schools in the same conference.

The NAIA has its own eligibility center at PlayNAIA.org, separate from the NCAA's. Players who have finished junior year with at least a 3.0 GPA and the minimum test score can get an NAIA eligibility decision before graduating.

Two-year colleges in the NJCAA aren't bound by NCAA recruiting calendars. They sign players with the NJCAA Letter of Intent, and the NJCAA sets signing dates and the number of letters a program can use sport by sport in its Sports Procedures Chart. Ask each junior college coach when they make offers and when their soccer signing period opens.

Grade-by-grade plan

8th grade

Eighth grade is early for recruiting, and that's fine. This year is about getting better and setting up high school well.

• Sit down with a high school counselor and plan ninth grade around NCAA-approved core courses. A high school course like Algebra I taken in eighth grade can count if it's on your high school transcript and on the school's approved list.
• Create a free Profile Page with the NCAA Eligibility Center. The NCAA tells families to register before ninth grade.
• Pick a club for playing time, coaching and a schedule that will get you in front of college coaches in a year or two, rather than for the name on the jersey.

9th grade

• Tell your counselor you plan to play in college. Every core course from ninth grade on counts toward your NCAA core-course GPA.
• Start a broad list of schools at every level. Learn what separates them in our divisions guide.
• Record your games. You'll want footage from this year and next when you build your first highlight reel.
• Try a camp near home to see what college training looks like.

10th grade

• Put together your first highlight video. Our recruiting video guide walks through it.
• Start emailing coaches across divisions with film and your club schedule, using the approach in how to email college soccer coaches. Division II, III and NAIA coaches can write back. Most Division I coaches can't until June 15.
• Choose ID camps at schools on your list. The ID camp directory by state lists them.
• Ask your counselor to upload your transcript to the Eligibility Center at the end of the year.
• If a Division I or II school is recruiting you, switch your Profile Page to an Academic and Athletics Certification account.

June 15 and the summer before 11th grade

On June 15 after sophomore year, Division I coaches can start calling, texting and emailing, and Division II coaches can meet you off campus and host official visits. Have your NCAA ID handy, since schools use it to add you to their request list. If your phone stays quiet that day, don't read much into it. Coaches recruit on their own schedules, and the process runs for another year or more.

On August 1, Division I off-campus contact and visits open. For women's soccer recruits, the August 1 to 11, 2026 dead period means Division I visits and in-person contact had to wait until August 12 this year.

11th grade

• Take visits. Before a Division I official visit, your certification account needs the fee paid or a fee waiver processed.
• Ask direct questions about roster plans, playing time and aid. Use our list of questions to ask college soccer coaches.
• Keep updating your film and send coaches new clips and results.
• Division III official visits open January 1.
• Have your counselor upload your junior-year transcript.
• Decide on the SAT or ACT. The NCAA doesn't use test scores for eligibility, but colleges may want them for admission or merit aid, and the NAIA uses them as one of its eligibility paths.
• If a coach offers a spot, remember that a verbal commitment isn't binding on you or the school.

Summer before 12th grade

This is often the busiest stretch. Players who are still deciding take their last ID camps and official visits, and those who have committed verbally should confirm with the coach what the written offer will include. Start college applications over the summer, and line up the teachers and counselor you need for recommendations.

12th grade

• Division I schools can send written athletic aid offers from August 1.
• Apply for admission. NCAA certification isn't an acceptance to the college.
• The first Division I and II signing date for the class of 2027 is November 11, 2026.
• Division III recruits can sign a nonbinding celebratory form once admitted.
• Request final athletics certification, the amateurism review, in your Eligibility Center account on or after April 1 if you're enrolling in the fall.
• After graduation, have your counselor upload your final transcript with proof of graduation.

If you're starting late

Plenty of players begin in junior or senior year, and the rules leave room for them. Division II and III coaches can talk to you at any time. Division III official visits stay open through senior year, and the NAIA has few contact limits. Rosters also change every year through graduation and transfers, so openings come up at every level, Division I included. Email widely, send film, and get to an ID camp or showcase where those coaches will be.

Late starters also need their paperwork in order quickly. Register with the eligibility centers, check your core courses with your counselor, and ask coaches which admission deadlines apply to recruited players.

Staying on schedule

From sophomore year on, the dates pile up: camp registrations, follow-ups, visit windows, application deadlines. Families often track it all in a spreadsheet. With Recruitly, players filter NCAA Division I and II programs by division and conference, email coaches from their own inbox, see when a coach opens the email or watches their film, and follow up on the same thread. Its Roster IQ feature projects each roster to the player's class year by position.