The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tournament conducted by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champion. The tournament has been formally held since 1959, when it was an eight-team tournament. Since then, the tournament has expanded to 48 teams, in which every Division I conference tournament champion is allocated a berth. Among the most successful programs, Saint Louis won 10 titles during dynasty years between 1959 and 1973.

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

has won 8 titles beginning in 1982, whereas

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

has won 7 titles beginning in 1989. Syracuse won its first national title in its first appearance in 2022. Although the tournament is frequently referenced as the "College Cup", the NCAA applies the title only to the semifinal and championship rounds of the tournament proper. Since the tournament began, the semifinal and final fixtures have been held at a neutral site predetermined by the NCAA prior to the start of the regular season.

Format

The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament is a 48-team, single-elimination tournament. Currently, 23 spots are reserved for the winners of automatic bids. As of the 2022 editions, the following conferences were granted automatic qualification: *

America East The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research ...

* American Athletic * ASUN * Atlantic Coast *

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easter ...

* Big East * Big South *

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

* Big West *

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I whose full members are located in East Coast ...

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Mi ...

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

* Metro Atlantic * Mid-American * Missouri Valley *

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective g ...

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

* Summit League *

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — d ...

* West Coast * Western Athletic Each conference determines the format for its conference championship, which determines the school that receives its automatic bid. Many use conference tournaments, although three conferences award the championship and automatic bid to the regular season champion. The remaining 25 teams have received at-large bids. The at-large teams are selected by a committee consisting of representatives from each of the eight regions the NCAA has divided the country into. The committee uses a number of criteria, the most influential supposedly being the

Ratings Percentage Index The rating percentage index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule. It is one of the sports rating systems by which NCAA basketball, baseball, softball ...

, a mathematical formula designed to objectively compare the results and strength of schedule of all Division I teams. The top 16 teams are seeded into the bracket and receive first round byes. The other 32 are grouped by geographical proximity. The first four rounds are played on campus sites, with matches being hosted by the higher seed. The College Cup, comprising the semifinal and final matches, is played at a predetermined site. Clemson is the current champion, defeating

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

2–0 in overtime in the 2021 final.

List of champions

Below is a complete list of winning teams and finals held: ;Notes

Most successful schools

Team titles

;Notes

Appearances

This list consists of the top 25 men's college soccer teams in terms of appearances in the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.

Highest attendances

The highest recorded attendance for championship games are listed below: *22,512 – Saint Louis (5) vs. SIU Edwardsville (1), Busch Stadium, St. Louis Oct. 30 1980 *21,319 – Wisconsin (1) vs. Portland (0) / Duke (3) vs. Virginia (2), Richmond, Virginia (NCAA semifinals) Dec. 8, 1995 *20,874 – St. John's (NY) (4) vs. FIU (1), Richmond, Virginia (NCAA final) Dec. 15, 1996 *20,703 – Wisconsin (2) vs. Duke (0), Richmond, Virginia (NCAA final) Dec. 10, 1995 *20,269 – St. John's (NY) (2) vs. Creighton (1) / FIU (4) vs. Charlotte (0), Richmond, Virginia (NCAA semifinals) Dec. 13, 1996 *20,143 – UCLA (2) vs. Virginia (0), Richmond, Virginia (NCAA final) Dec. 14, 1997 *20,112 – Saint Louis (1) vs. SIU Edwardsville (0), Busch Stadium, St. Louis Nov. 9, 1973 Numbers in parenthesis indicate goals scored by participating teams.

References

External links

* {{USSoccer 1959 establishments in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1959