There’s a question almost every parent asks before their child commits seriously to football: what happens if it doesn’t work out?
It’s the right question.
And this summer, the World Cup hosted across the USA, Canada and Mexico is showing an alternative path. One where players have secured their future with a degree while also going on to play on football’s greatest stage.
Among the squads are five players who did exactly this.
They’re proof that the US college soccer route lets talented athletes pursue both at once. For families weighing up a US soccer scholarship, there’s no better evidence that academics and elite football aren’t always in competition.
Here are the five-degree holders and why their stories matter for your child.
Matt Freese - Economics, Harvard University
If you wrote Matt Freese’s story as a film script, it would get rejected for being too far-fetched.
Freese turned down a teenage move to a major European club to attend Harvard, where he studied economics. He left after two seasons to sign professionally, then completed his Harvard degree remotely in 2022, working with professors online during the pandemic. His academic research project? It was on penalty kicks - knowledge he put to dramatic use in 2025, saving three penalties in a Gold Cup shootout.
Twelve months before this World Cup, Freese had never played a senior international match. He goes into the tournament as the United States’ first-choice goalkeeper at a home World Cup.
Tim Ream - Finance & Economics, Saint Louis University
Tim Ream is the longevity story.
He completed the full four-year programme at Saint Louis University between 2006 and 2009, studying finance and economics, and worked part-time in a soccer retail store throughout his studies to get by. He graduated before turning professional through the 2010 MLS SuperDraft.
What came next is one of the most decorated careers in US soccer history: nine seasons at Fulham with more than 300 appearances, and the national captain’s armband at the age of 38.
Matt Turner - Finance, Fairfield University
Matt Turner’s path is the one for any athlete who feels overlooked.
He only took up football seriously at 14, never attended a development academy, and arrived at Fairfield University as a walk-on. He completed a full four-year finance degree between 2012 and 2015, then went undrafted out of college. He earned his professional contract the hard way, as a preseason trialist.
He now has 54 caps for the United States.
Dayne St. Clair - Psychology, University of Maryland
Here’s the one that should resonate most with families from outside the US, because Dayne St. Clair isn’t American — he’s Canadian.
St. Clair spent four years enrolled at the University of Maryland studying psychology, winning the NCAA national championship in 2018 and being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He used the US college system purely as a launchpad, and is now Canada’s first-choice goalkeeper.
Miles Robinson - Marketing Management, Syracuse University
Miles Robinson enrolled at Syracuse University in 2015 to study marketing management. He was a standout on the pitch — ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2016 — and equally serious in the classroom, named to the ACC All-Academic Team and the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. He went on to become the first-ever Syracuse alumnus to play at a World Cup.
The Thread That Connected All Five
Look at what these players studied: economics, finance, psychology, marketing. These aren’t token qualifications. They’re credible, career-relevant degrees that hold real value in their own right — the kind of academic foundation that stands up long after the boots are hung up.
That’s the whole point of the US soccer scholarship model. Your child trains and competes within a structured, high-level environment while earning a degree that opens doors regardless of how the football unfolds. The degree and the career aren’t rivals. For these five players, they were built together.
Could This Be Your Pathway?
The US college system gave these players a way to chase a professional career without gambling their education on it.
FirstPoint USA helps athletes find the right US college programme and scholarship to make that possible. If your child is aged 15–21 and serious about football, the first step is signing up for a trial or by creating a free profile.
