FIU Panthers men's soccer

The FIU Panthers men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of Florida International University. As of the upcoming 2022 season, the team is a member of the NCAA Division I American Athletic Conference (The American).

FIU Panthers men's soccer
Founded	1972; 53 years ago (1972)
University	Florida International University
Head coach	Kyle Russell (4th season)
Conference	The American
Location	Westchester, Florida
Stadium	FIU Soccer Stadium (Capacity: 2,000)
Nickname	Panthers
Colors	Blue and gold[1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament championships
Division II: 1982, 1984
NCAA Tournament runner-up
Division I: 1996 Division II: 1980, 1985
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
Division II: 1977, 1979, 1983
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
Division I: 2003, 2022 Division II: 1978
NCAA Tournament appearances
Division I: 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 Division II: 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985
Conference Tournament championships
TAAC: 1991 C-USA: 2015 The American: 2022
Conference Regular Season championships
ASC: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 C-USA: 2017, 2021 The American: 2022

History

FIU started their soccer program in 1972. They were unaffiliated from any collegiate organization until they joined the NCAA Division II from 1975 to 1986. During this time, FIU went to 11 NCAA Division II Tournaments where they won the national championships in 1982 and 1984 and runners up in 1980 and 1985.^[2]

Due to the success of their program in Division II, they became an NCAA Division I team in 1987. The team has represented FIU at 8 NCAA Division I Tournaments finishing runners up in 1996.^[2]

FIU's most recent conference change was announced during the 2021–22 offseason, when it left Conference USA (C-USA) for The American. The decision of the Sun Belt Conference to reinstate its men's soccer league effective with the 2022 season dropped the C-USA men's soccer membership to four (Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, UAB).^[3] Of these four schools, all but FIU (which remains a full C-USA member) were scheduled to move fully to The American in the near future, with a July 2023 entry date later confirmed.^[4] Accordingly, The American brought all four remaining C-USA men's soccer teams into its own soccer league. FIU will remain an affiliate of The American after the other three schools fully join that league.^[5]

Conferences

Throughout their history, the team has been part of several collegiate athletic conferences. They were members of the Trans America Athletic Conference (now known as the ASUN Conference) from 1991 to 1997 where they won the Conference Tournament in 1991. They joined the Atlantic Soccer Conference from 2000 to 2004 where they were Conference Regular Season Champions in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004. From 2005 to 2021, the team was a member of Conference USA,^[2] and it joined the American Athletic Conference in 2022.

• Independent (1972–1990)
• TAAC (1991–1997)
• Independent (1998–1999)
• ASC (2000–2004)
• C-USA (2005–2021)
• The American (2022–present)

Roster

As of 21 Sep 2024^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  USA Thomas Wallis 1 GK  ESP Beltran Fernandez 2 DF  DEN Lucas Christensen 3 DF  USA Owen Travis 4 DF  ISR David Houja 5 DF  MEX Edgar Aguilar 6 MF  FRA Matthias Lavenant 7 FW  POR Bernardo Dos Santos 8 MF  USA David Boccuzzo 9 FW  MEX Eduardo Mustre 10 MF  MEX Diego Castillo 11 FW  GHA Michael Appiah 12 FW  USA Enrique Mutsoli 13 DF  MEX Leo Vilchis

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 FW  CGO Prince Ngeleka 15 MF  USA Juan Pablo Correa 16 DF  MEX Bruno Alcocer 17 MF  USA Nicolas Villalobos 18 MF  POR João Domíngues 19 DF  NOR Adrian Barosen 20 FW  MEX JP Ozuna 21 MF  FRA Driss Nasser 22 MF  FRA Julien Gastaldy 24 DF  FRA Joackim Betina 25 FW  ISR Ron Arie 26 MF  TKM Adrian Ebersbach 27 DF  USA Diego Sanchez 48 GK  NED Nigel Van Haveren

Coaches

Current staff

As of 21 Sep 2024

Position	Staff
Head coach	Kyle Russell
Associate head coach	Dannie Merida
Assistant coach	Lucas Champenois
Assistant coach	Matteo Gasperoni

All-time head coaches

NAt.	Coach	Tenure
USA	Dr. Greg Myers	1972–1974
USA	Bill Nuttall	1975–1979
GER	Karl Kremser	1980–2007
DRC	Munga Eketebi	2007–2011
USA	Kenny Arena	2012–2013
USA	Scott Calabrese	2014–2016
USA	Kevin Nylen	2017–2020
USA	Kyle Russell	2020–Present

Notable alumni

• Robin Fraser
• Steve Ralston
• Jeff Cassar
• Greg Vanney
• Bobby Boswell
• Tyrone Marshall
• Ignace Moleka
• Alen Kozic
• José Carlos Fernandez
• Sebastien Vorbe
• Juan Francisco Guerra
• Chris Antonopoulos (soccer)