Union Jack Traditional: Arizona State Solar Devils convey school soccer to Wembley in 2026 – here is why it is a huge deal

Tens of 1000’s of followers within the stands. Gamers and coaches signing contracts price tens of millions. Video games nationally televised and weekends devoted to protection… School soccer is a giant deal.

Earlier than Tom Brady was successful Tremendous Bowls with the New England Patriots after which Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he was enjoying in entrance of 110,000 followers – for the College of Michigan.

Earlier than Patrick Mahomes received three championships in his first 4 years as an NFL starter, he was a Texas Tech ‘Pink Raider’, starring in entrance of 55,000 followers and throwing for over 400 yards per sport in his school profession.

On prime of the large viewership, proper now 9 school coaches earn over $10 million yearly, and 2021’s NIL (title, picture and likeness) ruling has meant that some gamers are incomes near $5 million a 12 months – as 18-to-23-year-olds!

In 2026, school soccer is coming to Wembley within the type of the ‘Union Jack Traditional’ because the Arizona State Solar Devils face off in opposition to the Kansas Jayhawks. In September, Sky Sports activities visited Arizona to see what the faculty soccer expertise is all about…

After a roughly 10-hour journey from London, we arrived to a 35-degree night warmth (thought-about fairly chilly for the time of 12 months) earlier than heading to a lodge within the ‘school city’ of Tempe. There, the three males behind the Union Jack Traditional – Brian Dubiski, Thomas Hensey, and Rob Yowell – beamed in regards to the 12 months forward and a undertaking that has been years within the making.

Why Arizona State? As a result of the Solar Devils characterize all of the issues Dubiski, Hensey and Yowell wish to showcase throughout the border subsequent 12 months. ASU is a large college, with one of many highest enrolment charges within the nation (over 160,000 college students in 2025). They lead the nation in ‘innovation,’ in accordance with the US Information rankings. The soccer group, based in 1897, has nice custom. Their followers are extremely passionate. If any school group could make waves internationally, it’s ASU.

The subsequent morning, we toured the excellent Mountain America Stadium, a 54,000-seater nestled between mountains. On gamedays, 12,000 of these seats are allotted to college students in a piece often known as ‘The Inferno’. The necessities? “Wear gold! Cheer loud! Bring the heat!”

If 54,000 appears like a giant crowd, it’s – it could rank because the seventh-biggest within the Premier League – however on the dimensions of faculty soccer, it falls within the 50s. Eight schools have stadiums with over 100,000 capability, and seeing them full and vigorous on gamedays gives some concept of the dimensions of help.

On our tour of the amenities, you could possibly see how a lot has been invested. There are over 100 gamers on the roster, however they’ve all the things they should thrive. An enormous cafeteria with a number of stations that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner for all scholar athletes. State-of-the-art fitness center gear. A video games room arrange with pool, desk tennis, a golf simulator, PlayStations and Xboxes. An enormous assembly room (extra of a gathering corridor) for the entire group together with a number of smaller ones for every place group and their coach.

Then there’s the Solar Devils Corridor of Fame, a showcase of why these amenities are so essential. Some names with their photos and achievements in that room? NFL legend Terrell Suggs, the NBA’s James Harden, golfers Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, and swimmer Leon Marchand, who scooped up 4 golds ultimately 12 months’s Olympics.

Sport is a large a part of ASU’s custom, and so they compete in 26 of them at varsity stage, with nice success. Their groups have received 165 nationwide championships throughout these sports activities, and Marchand’s Olympic medals are simply a few of the 60 received by former Solar Devils. As one in every of our tour guides informed us: “When you buy a ticket for an NFL game, you support a business. When you buy a ticket for college sports, you fund a scholarship.” Since former college students are usually those that come again and help the group, the cycle of success continues.

The ultimate a part of the tour included a dialogue with ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham, the 35-year-old native who was born in Phoenix, studied at Arizona State, coached highschool soccer throughout the state, then ultimately turned head man in 2023 after assistant coach stints at Memphis, Auburn, Florida State and Oregon.

Not solely does DIllingham need the Solar Devils to rise to change into one in every of school soccer’s prime groups, however he needs to “create memories” together with his gamers on the worldwide journey. Nearly all of his college students have by no means travelled overseas, and he expects the Union Jack Traditional to each tempt new recruits to decide to the college, and persuade present gamers to remain quite than go away for the NFL or switch to a different school. The pull of a global journey is that robust.

The day was rounded off with a Q&A with a gaggle of journalism college students and a go to to a neighborhood bar, fairly fittingly known as ‘Chilly Beers and Cheeseburgers’. In one other instance of simply how huge Solar Devils soccer is in that city, the menu supplied up ‘Sam Leavitt’s QB 10 Wrap’ and ‘Jordyn Tyson’s Landing Sandwich’, a nod to 2 of ASU’s largest stars.

I might like to let you know in regards to the tailgate expertise on gameday. Nonetheless, after the fantastic climate of yesterday, we have been met with the worst storm in Arizona in years. Each facet of the tailgate was cancelled and there have been questions on if – and when – the sport, which pitted ASU in opposition to Twenty fourth-ranked Texas Christian College, would go forward.

We have been, nevertheless, promised that the well-known ‘Solar Satan Stroll’ (the place the group together with the mascot Sparky, the Spirit Squad and the group’s marching band, stroll to the sport collectively) will happen forward of subsequent 12 months’s sport at Wembley.

Fortunately, with little time to spare, the skies cleared, the gates opened and followers flocked in for a Friday evening ‘blackout’ sport in opposition to their Massive-12 rivals. Fairly than carrying the standard gold, ‘The Inferno’ was rocking with college students all in black as AC/DC’s Thunderstruck appropriately accompanied the group’s arrival on the sector, and the sport didn’t disappoint.

Regardless of being down 17-0 halfway by means of the second quarter – whereas some followers have been nonetheless battling by means of the climate delays to reach – Dillingham’s group fought again to win 27-24 in an electrical ambiance. Leavitt and Tyson shone, and the Solar Devils crowd made an enormous distinction.

Tyson, who managed eight catches, 126 yards and two excellent touchdowns, is projected to be a top-10 decide within the 2026 NFL Draft and a star within the skilled sport. He’s set to be one of many subsequent athletic stars to graduate from ASU. Leavitt, in the meantime, has but to make the choice. Will he be in London subsequent 12 months? Both method, the group is full of expertise and Dillingham hopes they’ll solely be higher by then boosted by new recruits.

ASU moved as much as twenty first within the official school soccer rankings after that win and, six video games later, are at present ranked twentieth and nonetheless in competition for the Massive-12 title.

Once they head to Wembley in 2026, they’ll convey custom, success, and maybe one of many prime groups in school soccer.

Tickets at the moment are on sale for the inaugural Union Jack Traditional at Wembley Stadium on September 19, 2026. Click on right here to purchase tickets and right here to view hospitality packages.