Richmond International Academic & Soccer Academy (RIASA) is the world's only soccer programme offering a US college education alongside a professional soccer academy experience in the UK.
We’ve been the leading college soccer programme since 2010, seeing many graduated students go on to have successful careers within the professional sporting industry after completing their 2-year associates degree or 4 year Bachelor of Arts qualification.
Our college soccer programme is intense and rewarding. We train 4 times per week, compete in local leagues and arrange friendlies and showcase fixtures to help you develop. The RIASA coaches are all UEFA qualified and have either played professionally or coached at the highest level in Europe - player development is at the heat of what we do at RIASA.
RIASA has two locations in the UK for you to choose from. Leeds is home to the ultimate college soccer experience, where you can study international Sports Management at undergraduate level. If you're passionate about coaching, and you’re looking to work within the sporting industry, Leeds is the perfect choice for you.
If you’re interested in a different study topic but still want to train with RIASA for 9-months, then our London programme is right for you. You’ll be able to choose from 29 different degree pathways, including undergraduate and postgraduate, all US/UK accredited, whilst you train and compete in the capital.
Our Leeds programme is more inclusive offering students accommodation, the degree enrolment, the football enrolment and food, whereas London offers the degree choice and football enrolment for the programme fee. Whatever your academic passion may be, we have the degree waiting for you - London or Leeds, RIASA’s DNA is to help you reach your maximum playing potential on the pitch!
Play more, develop faster and compete in the UK football pyramid. RIASA offers a rewarding and challenging 2/4 year college soccer experience, here are some of our programme highlights:
- Compete for 9 months in the UK
- Train 4 times per week for 2 hours
- Over 150 training session per season
- Compete between 1–2 times per week
- The potential to compete 20-30+ times per season
- 30 US/UK degrees to choose from
- Play against pro and semi-pro teams
- Use world-class sporting facilities
- Undergraduate & postgraduare degrees
- Culturally grow in the UK
- Develop friendships that last a lifetime
- Enjoy our welcoming family culture
- Big opportunities to play in Europe
- Personal growth on and off the pitch
- Social media coverage and live-streaming
Book your place on this upcoming ID camp to find out how RIASA can help you achieve your soccer and academic ambitions.
If you're thinking of heading to the UK to train and study, we strongly advise you to come along and learn about RIASA's unique offering - we are the world's only college soccer programme offering a dual accredited US/UK degrees alongside a challenging and rewarding 9-month soccer season.
On the day of the event, you will meet our coaching staff, learn about our different degree options and find out how RIASA can help you achieve success on the pitch. We will athletically and technically assess your playing ability to see if you could fit into our future roster - this is the most important part. We will deliver a short presentation highlighting what options are available to you, and if you have any questions, we will hap illy answer them.
We welcome athletically strong players from the ages of 15-25. Furthermore, we have answered the most frequently asked questions below, if you do have any other specific questions, please contact hello@riasasoccer.org or drop us a message on Instagram.
If you're looking for more information about RIASA now, you can check out our Instagram account, we post daily with academy updates. You can also see some of the amazing facilities, who we compete against and what's on offer by having a scroll too!
More information available at riasasoccer.org.
