Manu Duah makes UCSB history by going #1 overall in MLS SuperDraft 2025

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - He is one of one!

Manu Duah was selected number one overall by FC San Diego in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft 2025.

It is expansion team FC San Diego's first ever pick and Manu Duah is also the first UCSB student-athlete to ever be taken #1 overall in his or her sport's draft.

Earlier this week Duah signed an MLS Generation Adidas contract which guarantees him a roster spot for three years with FC San Diego.

Duah is from Ghana but attended Dunn High School in Los Olivos. He also played for the Santa Barbara Soccer Club.

He played just one season for UCSB but as a freshman he helped the Gauchos advance to the NCAA Tournament and beat UCLA in the first round.

The 6'4 Duah wowed scouts with his defensive midfield play, covering vast swaths of the field, winning the ball back strongly and cleanly, dribbling past opponents and shrugging off tackles as though they were hardly there, and spraying pinpoint passes short and long.

Before Duah the previously highest pick for a UCSB student-athlete in a draft was fourth overall.

Men's soccer's Luis Silva went #4 to Toronto FC in 2012 and baseball's Dillon Tate was selected fourth overall by the Texas Rangers in the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft.

(UCSB Athletics contributed to this article).