FIU Panthers men's soccer

FIU Panthers men's soccer
Founded	1972;53 years ago (1972)
University	Florida International University
Head coach	Kyle Russell (5th 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
1982, 1984
NCAA Tournament runner-up
1996, 1980, 1985
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
1977, 1979, 1983
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
2003, 2022, 1978
NCAA Tournament appearances
1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023; 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985
Conference Tournament championships
1991, 2015, 2022
Conference Regular Season championships
2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2017, 2021, 2022

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).

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 August 31, 2025 ^[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 1 GK   ESP Beltran Fernandez 2 DF   FRA Tibo Gobet 3 DF   USA Owen Travis 4 DF   GER Jesse Osei 5 DF   BEL Emmanuel Gore Bi 6 MF   FRA Mathys Lefebvre 8 MF   USA David Boccuzzo 9 FW   MEX Eduardo Mustre 10 MF   USA Nicolas Villalobos 11 MF   SCO Scott Neil 12 FW   USA Enrique Mutsoli 13 DF   KOR Dohyun Koh 14 MF   SCO Dominic Brady 15 MF   CAN Lukas Pareja

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF   ITA Leonardo Consoloni 17 FW   FRA Johan Helan 18 MF   POR João Domíngues 19 FW   USA Alejandro Nasato 20 FW   ITA Pasquale Capriati 21 MF   SUI Emilio Maldonado 22 DF   CAN Damian McGregor-Wickham 24 DF   PAN Alfonso Soriano 25 FW   MEX Johan Arevalo 26 DF   CAN Jameel Durhan 27 DF   USA Diego Sanchez 30 GK   GER Florian Grollmann 48 GK   NED Nigel Van Haveren

Coaches

Current staff

As of August 31, 2025

Position	Staff
Head coach	Kyle Russell
Associate head coach	Dannie Merida
Assistant coach	Matteo Gasperoni
Volunteer goalkeeping coach	Giuseppe Weller

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

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

Honours

National

• NCAA D-I
  • Runners-up (1): 1996
• NCAA D-II
  • Winners (2):1982, 1984
  • Runners-up (2): 1980, 1985

Conference

Atlantic Soccer

• Regular season (4): 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004

Atlantic Sun

• ASUN tournament (1): 1991

C-USA

• Regular season (2): 2017, 2021
• C-USA tournament (1): 2015

American

• Regular season (1): 2022
• American tournament (1): 2022

References

1. "FIU Style Guide" (PDF). Retrieved July 12, 2022.
2. "Media Guide" (PDF). 2015 FIU Men's Soccer Media Information Guide. Florida International University. 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
3. "Sun Belt Conference Announces Return of Men's Soccer This Fall" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
4. "American Announces Entrance Agreements With Incoming Members for 2023-24 Season" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. June 16, 2022. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
5. "American Announces Affiliate Members in Men's Soccer and Women's Swimming and Diving" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
6. "Men's Soccer Roster". Florida International University.

External links

• Official website