When can college coaches contact me?

In Division I, coaches may email and call you from 15 June after your sophomore year – by our own conversion, the summer after your first year of Swedish upper secondary school. Meetings and visits can happen from 1 August at the start of your junior year. In Division II, coaches may email and call you at any time, and meetings and paid visits can happen from 15 June before your junior year. You may email coaches yourself at any time.

Can I get a scholarship if I have a contract with a Swedish club?

In the NCAA, yes, as long as before you start college you have not received or been promised more than your actual and necessary expenses. Up to 300 dollars above expenses does not affect your eligibility. It is the money that decides, not the Swedish FA’s 10,000-kronor threshold. In the NAIA, however, any contract with a professional team makes you a professional.

Can I get CSN if I have an athletic scholarship?

It depends on how CSN classifies the scholarship. The programme must be approved by UHR or CSN, and full time means 12 credits per semester. If the scholarship covers tuition, you get no extra-cost loan for it, and study support or a scholarship from the country you study in cannot be combined with Swedish student aid. Ask CSN before you accept.

For players

A football scholarship in the US is usually a partial one – and the clock starts at 19

By Gustav, founder of Breakout · 5 min read

Most players who get a football scholarship in the US get a partial one. Athletic scholarships are given in the NCAA’s Division I and II and in the NAIA, but not in Division III. If you start in autumn 2027 or later, a new age clock applies: five years to play, and the clock starts no later than the academic year after you turn 19. This guide reflects the rules for the 2026/27 academic year.

In Division I the squad is capped, not the scholarships

In 2026/27 the NCAA has 361 schools in Division I, 296 in Division II and 416 in Division III. Division III gives no athletic scholarships. The NAIA has around 250 schools and a cap of 12 scholarships per team in football.

Since the House settlement, schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, and other Division I schools that have opted in, have no scholarship cap. Instead the squad may have at most 28 players, for both men and women (College Sports Commission). The school does not have to give full scholarships. Other Division I schools in practice follow the old limits: 9.9 scholarships for men, 14 for women.

In Division II the cap is 9.0 scholarships for men and 9.9 for women. Whatever the level, most players get a partial scholarship (NCAA).

Your year 9 grades count, and straight Es are not enough

For Division I and II you register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. You need 16 core courses, counted from year 9 – in Sweden, the last year of compulsory school. In Division I they must be completed within four years. The minimum average in core courses is 2.3 for Division I and 2.2 for Division II.

A higher education preparatory diploma (högskoleförberedande examen) is accepted. A vocational diploma (yrkesexamen) is accepted only if it gives basic eligibility for higher education. Your grades need a certified translation, line by line. The NCAA has not required the SAT or ACT since January 2023, but the school may. The school also decides on the English test.

A course worth 100 Swedish upper secondary credits or more becomes 1 credit, one worth 50 becomes half a credit. The diploma project (gymnasiearbetet) does not count as a core course. With the conversion below, straight Es give an average of 2.0 – below the requirement.

A and B: 4
C: 3
D and E: 2
F: 0

Division I coaches may get in touch only after your first upper secondary year

Our own conversion: sophomore roughly matches the first year of Swedish upper secondary school, junior the second. In Division I, coaches may not send you recruiting emails or call you before 15 June after your sophomore year (NCAA Division I Manual 13.4.1 and 13.1.3.1). Meetings and visits can take place from 1 August at the start of your junior year. Division II coaches may email and call you at any time, but meetings and paid visits can take place only from 15 June before your junior year.

You may email coaches yourself at any time, but Division I coaches are not always allowed to reply. Written offers of athletics aid can be signed from 12 November 2026 in Division I and II. The National Letter of Intent was abolished in Division I in 2024. Final certification takes place from 1 April before the autumn you start.

The age clock gives you five years and does not stop

If you start college in autumn 2027 or later, you have five years to play in Division I and II. The clock starts at whichever comes first – your first full-time enrolment at a college or university, or the start of the academic year after your 19th birthday. If you turn 19 before 1 September it starts that autumn, otherwise the year after. All higher education counts, including in Sweden (NCAA, June 2026).

From then on the clock runs continuously, even if you do not play. The only exceptions are pregnancy, military service, religious missions and similar service. In the NAIA the rule is four seasons within ten semesters.

Our own arithmetic: in Sweden you finish upper secondary school in the year you turn 19. If you were born between January and August, the clock therefore starts in the autumn straight after you finish school, whether you go or not. So for most Swedish players a gap year costs one of the five years.

In the NCAA it is the money that counts, not what the contract is called

In Sweden you count as a professional if you are paid at least 10,000 kronor a year (see the guide to training compensation). To the NCAA, a professional team is any team that pays any player more than actual and necessary expenses (Division I Manual 12.02.7).

Before you start college you may play for, and have a contract with, such a team as long as you are not paid or promised more than your expenses (12.2.2.2.1 and 12.2.4.1). Up to 300 dollars above your expenses does not affect your eligibility (12.02.4). So it is not the Swedish FA’s threshold that decides, but what you have actually received. Certification reviews contracts, payments, trials and play alongside professionals.

The NAIA is stricter: any contract with a professional team makes you a professional. If you start college on or after 1 August 2026, Division I lets you have an agent before you enrol (12.3.1).

The scholarship, CSN and the visa are three separate sets of rules

In 2025/26 a public four-year college charged students from other states on average 31,880 dollars in fees, with a total budget of 50,920 dollars. For private non-profit colleges the figures were 45,000 and 65,470 dollars (College Board). Division I has multi-year scholarships, and notice of renewal must come in writing by 1 July.

Student aid from CSN, the Swedish student finance agency, requires the programme to be approved by UHR or CSN, and full time means 12 credits per semester. Full time gives at most 16,552 kronor per four weeks in 2026, in grant, loan and the extra-cost loan combined. The loan for tuition fees is at most 3,788 kronor a week. If your scholarship covers the fees, you get no extra-cost loan for them. Nor can you receive Swedish student aid at the same time as study support or a scholarship from the country you study in. Ask CSN how your athletic scholarship is classified.

The F-1 visa requires an I-20 from the school and a SEVIS fee of 350 dollars. You may work on campus up to 20 hours a week. According to the NCAA’s handbook for international student-athletes, F-1 students may not take on NIL deals – being paid for their name, image and likeness – while in the US. Ask the school’s compliance officer before you sign anything.

You may email coaches yourself – an agency is a choice

The NCAA’s advice is to email coaches with your record, a highlight video, your name, position, NCAA ID and graduation year. The guides to highlight videos and to filming a match show you how.

Division I schools may only subscribe to scouting services that are open to all schools at the same price (Division I Manual 13.14.3.2). In Division II you become ineligible if you agree with an agent “for securing initial or continuing enrollment at a particular institution” (Division II Manual 14.4.9.3). Our advice: ask the agency to explain in writing how its contract relates to that rule.

Athleticademix publishes its price: 40,000 kronor, paid upfront when the help begins. The other agencies that show up in Swedish search results publish no price (October 2026).

Common follow-up questions

When can college coaches contact me?: In Division I, coaches may email and call you from 15 June after your sophomore year – by our own conversion, the summer after your first year of Swedish upper secondary school. Meetings and visits can happen from 1 August at the start of your junior year. In Division II, coaches may email and call you at any time, and meetings and paid visits can happen from 15 June before your junior year. You may email coaches yourself at any time.
Can I get a scholarship if I have a contract with a Swedish club?: In the NCAA, yes, as long as before you start college you have not received or been promised more than your actual and necessary expenses. Up to 300 dollars above expenses does not affect your eligibility. It is the money that decides, not the Swedish FA’s 10,000-kronor threshold. In the NAIA, however, any contract with a professional team makes you a professional.
Can I get CSN if I have an athletic scholarship?: It depends on how CSN classifies the scholarship. The programme must be approved by UHR or CSN, and full time means 12 credits per semester. If the scholarship covers tuition, you get no extra-cost loan for it, and study support or a scholarship from the country you study in cannot be combined with Swedish student aid. Ask CSN before you accept.