13 US internationals · every club, every year
Where they actually played at 10, 15 and 20.
Every club, in order, with the years attached. One of them didn’t play soccer at all until he was 14. One was gone from the club that drafted him inside six months. Useful things to have in your head the next time somebody tells you your nine-year-old is behind.
The men's side
Half of these routes run through college soccer. Three of them left the United States as teenagers.
Miles Robinson
Center back · FC CincinnatiOne club from the age of nine, basketball alongside it right through high school, then two years of college. Here’s the route he actually took, club by club.
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Matt Turner
Goalkeeper · New England RevolutionUS Soccer’s own bio opens with the fact that he did not begin playing soccer until he was 14. No youth academy, no club badge, a baseball and basketball kid. He walked on in college and was picked for two World Cup squads. Here’s the climb, rung by rung.
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Aaron Long
Center back · Los Angeles FCA second-round pick who was gone from the club that drafted him by July. Three years in the lower divisions and on reserve teams, which is the stretch most players quit during. Then MLS Defender of the Year and 35 US caps. Here’s the long way around, rung by rung.
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Christian Pulisic
Winger · AC MilanPulisic is one of the rare American kids who really was a young prodigy, with a family that had the means and the right passport to chase it in Europe. He left central Pennsylvania for Borussia Dortmund at 16, broke into a Bundesliga first team at 17, then played in a Champions League final and captained the United States. It’s a real route, and worth laying out in full, just not the one most families should plan around.
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Weston McKennie
Midfielder · JuventusAn FC Dallas academy product who first learned the game on a US Air Force base in Germany before turning pro at 18. He had a college spot lined up at Virginia, then turned it down to sign with Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga. From there it was Juventus, a Premier League loan at Leeds, and a starting job for the US at two World Cups.
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2014 + 2022 World CupsDeAndre Yedlin
Right back · Real Salt LakeAn O’Dea High kid from Seattle who didn’t skip the college step. Yedlin played two seasons at Akron, signed home with the Sounders, and turned a breakout 2014 World Cup into a move to the Premier League. Going to college cost him nothing.
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Brenden Aaronson
Attacking midfielder · Leeds UnitedA kid from Medford, New Jersey who came up through the Philadelphia Union academy instead of going to college, then signed as a Homegrown player at 17. He turned that into a move to Europe with Salzburg and Leeds United and a spot on the US national team. His path is the modern MLS-academy route working from start to finish.
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Tyler Adams
Midfielder · BournemouthTyler Adams grew up in Wappingers Falls, a small town in New York’s Hudson Valley, and joined the New York Red Bulls academy as a kid. He signed with the Red Bulls as a Homegrown player, moved to Europe at 19, and went on to captain the United States at the 2022 World Cup. It’s the rare case of an MLS academy product who stuck and kept climbing.
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Tim Weah
Winger · MarseilleTim Weah is George Weah’s son. His father won the 1995 Ballon d’Or and was President of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Tim grew up between New York and Florida, played youth soccer in both, then left for Paris Saint-Germain’s academy at 14. A real route to the top, but one shaped by a soccer family and a move abroad that almost no American kid gets to make.
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2022 World CupWalker Zimmerman
Center back · Toronto FCA Georgia kid who skipped the academy-to-pro express lane. Zimmerman played two years at Furman, a small South Carolina school, got drafted by FC Dallas, then spent three seasons fighting for minutes before he became one of the best center backs in MLS and started for the USA at the 2022 World Cup. The slow route worked.
See the climbThe women's side
Three different answers to the college question: two seasons and out, enrolled but never played a game, and skipped it for Paris at 18.
2024 Olympic goldSophia Wilson
Forward · Portland Thorns FCSophia Wilson, who played as Sophia Smith earlier in her career, grew up in Windsor, Colorado and played club ball for Real Colorado before two seasons at Stanford. She left college early as the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NWSL draft, then won a league title and MVP with the Portland Thorns at 22 and took Olympic gold with the USWNT in 2024. Her route is a reminder that on the women’s side, the college game can still carry a player to the very top.
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2024 Olympic goldTrinity Rodman
Forward · Washington SpiritTrinity Rodman is Dennis Rodman’s daughter, and she has described their relationship as a strained one. She built her own game at a top California club. When COVID canceled her freshman college season, she turned pro instead, went second in the 2021 NWSL Draft at 18, won Olympic gold in 2024 and in 2026 signed the biggest contract in the league’s history.
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2024 Olympic goldLindsey Heaps
Midfielder · Denver Summit FCLindsey Heaps, who played as Lindsey Horan earlier in her career, grew up in Golden, Colorado and went straight from high school to Paris Saint-Germain at 18. US Soccer calls her the first American woman to sign a professional contract straight out of high school. She later came home to the NWSL, captained the USWNT, won Olympic gold in 2024, and in 2026 signed with the new Denver team an hour from where she grew up.
See the climbWhere does your kid sit on this ladder?
These are the same six rungs the clubs near you sit on. Tell us your kid’s age and where they play now, and we’ll place them and name the one move worth making next.