KANSAS CITY, Mo. — United Soccer Coaches announced its 2026 Hermann Trophy Watch List on Wednesday, a 27-man shortlist for the prize given to the National Player of the Year at season's end. UC Santa Barbara center back Calle Mollerberg is one of those 27.
 
The Big West Defensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-Far West Region selection in 2025, Mollerberg has grown into one of the nation's top defenders and was previously named to the United Soccer Coaches Defenders to Watch List ahead of the 2026 campaign. This season will be the swede's second wearing the armband as one of UC Santa Barbara's captains after he led the entire team in minutes played during the 2025 season. He also anchored one of the top defensive units in the country that year, leading the Gauchos to nine clean sheets and a 13-match unbeaten run that carried them into The Big West Championship Final. At season's end, the Gauchos had one of the top 50 team goals-against averages in the entire country.
 
The Hermann Trophy, presented by the Missouri Athletic Club, recognizes the National Player of the Year, as decided by Division I head coaches who are United Soccer Coaches members. The 2026 watch list was built by the Division I All-America Council from a list of the 2025 All-Americans and First Team All-Region honorees who return to college soccer in 2026. Mollerberg is one of only four players on the 27-man list to play in California, and he and the Gauchos will face two of the others this season: California Baptist's William Lawson and San Diego's Iain Wagner. Santa Barbara will also face Hermann Trophy candidate Connor Miller when they visit Cornell in September.
 
The Hermann Trophy is named in honor of the late Robert Hermann, the legendary St. Louis businessman and soccer executive who founded the National Professional Soccer League, the first pro soccer league in the United States which became the North American Soccer League. He was inducted in the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012. A list of 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy will be announced on December 4, with three finalists to be named before the winner is announced on January 8, 2027 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.