WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Christine Sinclair. Megan Rapinoe. Sarina Bolden.
Like many players in the Women’s World Cup, all three stars built their skills at the U.S. collegiate level.
Of the 736 players competing at this year’s Women’s World Cup, 137 have roots in American college-level soccer, according to the NCAA. The total includes 16 players who currently compete for Division I schools or lower divisions.
Across the 32 teams that qualified for the group stage, more than one in every six players has had a career stop at an American school.
Not all the NCAA athletes in the tournament are tied to the United States.
Canada has 22 of 23 athletes who played or still play on U.S. college teams, most of any team in the tournament. That includes Sinclair, the the all-time leader in international goals for men and women, who played at the University of Portland.
The United States ranks second with 20 players. Rapinoe also played at Portland, but Alyssa Thompson, Trinity Rodman, and Lindsey Horan all turned professional without playing a college match. Horan also did not play for a high school team.
More than 70 U.S. schools are represented in the 2023 tournament, with Florida State the leader with eight current or former players competing. Stanford and North Carolina each have six, Penn State has five and four universities have four former players.
Even schools with lesser-known soccer programs have players competing in New Zealand and Australia. Hilary Jaen of Panama plays for Jones County Community College in Mississippi, Carleigh Frilles of the Philippines plays for Coastal Carolina and Chiara Singarella of Argentina plays for South Alabama. Erin Nayler of New Zealand previously played at Purdue Fort Wayne in Indiana.
TITLE IX
The success of American college soccer can trace its roots back just over 50 years, with the introduction of Title IX. As the U.S. government required universities to establish equal opportunities for men and women in education, those protections – and funding – spread to college athletics.
“The U.S. was providing one of the only games in town so to speak, in terms of opportunities for women to get some kind of compensation,” said Ellen Staurowsky, a professor in sports media at Ithaca College.
Title IX drew female athletes from outside the United States to American schools. Since the passage of Title IX, the number of female athletes competing in NCAA athletics has increased seven-fold and currently represents 44% of all university athletes, according to the National Women’s Law Center.
NCAA TRENDS
In 2021, there were 1,464 international student-athletes playing in NCAA Division I and Division II women’s soccer.
