Jozy Altidore

Josmer Volmy "Jozy" Altidore ( born November 6, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker.

He last played for the Major League Soccer club New England Revolution.

Altidore has represented the United States at various levels of international competition, featuring for the United States U-17 team at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, U-20 team at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and the U-23 team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Altidore made his professional debut in 2006, at the age of 16, with the New York Red Bulls.

Altidore was taken seventeenth overall in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft, with the MetroStars (now the New York Red Bulls) trading up to receive the selection.

Altidore spent the majority of the 2006 season away from the team while working towards his high school diploma in Florida.

Altidore made his professional debut on August 23, 2006, as a substitute in a 3–1 U.S. Open Cup loss to D.C. United.

He scored his first professional goal at the age of sixteen with an 83rd minute, 28-yard shot to beat the Columbus Crew 1–0 on September 16, 2006.

Exactly one week later, on September 23, 2006, in a 4–3 loss to D.C. United, Altidore scored again.

Scoring three times in seven appearances, including a crucial goal against Chicago Fire on September 30, 2006, Altidore became a fan favorite.

He scored the Red Bulls' only goal of their 2–1 aggregate loss to D.C. United in the Eastern Conference Semifinals Series when he headed in a cross in the second leg.

With that goal, he became the youngest player to score in the Major League Soccer playoffs at 16 years, 337 days (breaking DaMarcus Beasley's record by almost three years).

Altidore was also youngest to start in a Major League Soccer playoff match on October 21 against D.C. United (16 years, 349 days).

He made his debut for the senior national team in 2007 and has earned over 110 caps, representing them at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cups, and the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups.

The youngest of four children to Haitian immigrants, Altidore was born in Livingston, New Jersey and raised in Boca Raton, Florida.

He enjoyed playing soccer from the time he was a boy.

Altidore played for various South Florida youth teams such as Boca Raton Juniors Soccer Club, Schulz Academy and Sunrise S.C while also spending time training with the under-17 national team at the IMG Academy in Bradenton.

He was raised a Jehovah's Witness.

He also scored two goals in a 5–4 win over Los Angeles Galaxy on August 18, 2007.

In the middle of his third season with New York, in 2008, he transferred to Villarreal for a fee of $10 million.

On June 4, 2008, Villarreal of La Liga agreed in principle with Major League Soccer and the New York Red Bulls to sign Altidore for roughly $10 million or €7.4 million.

This transfer fee surpasses Fulham's fee for Clint Dempsey, which was $4 million or roughly £2 million, and was the largest fee paid for any MLS player at the time.

Altidore finalized his personal contract and was unveiled by the club on June 11, 2008.

On September 14, 2008, Altidore made his La Liga debut, coming on as a second-half substitute against Deportivo La Coruña.

On November 1, 2008, he became the first American international to score in La Liga when he came on in the 90th minute and scored against Athletic Bilbao.

On November 30, 2008, Altidore started his first game in La Liga against Recreativo Huelva.

After spending a year and a half on loan, Altidore returned to Villarreal.

He favored staying with Villarreal instead of another loan to try to prove to the club he was worth the investment they made two years ago.

During his time with Villarreal, he left on three loan stints – with Spanish Segunda División club Xerez in February–May 2009, English Premier League club Hull City for the entire 2009–10 season, and Turkish club Bursaspor where he went on a six-month loan.

On January 30, 2009, Villarreal agreed to loan Altidore to Xerez, leader of the Segunda División at the time of the transfer, until the end of the 2008–09 season.

It was expected that the move would allow Altidore to get more playing time, and also allow him to continue the process of assimilating into the Spanish culture.

On April 16, 2009, Altidore underwent minor surgery on an injured toenail that required more than a month of recovery, resulting in him never making an appearance for Xerez.

On August 5, 2009, Altidore announced on his Twitter page that he would be loaned to English Premier League club Hull City.

He joined Hull City the next day on a season-long loan with the option for Hull City to purchase his rights at the end of the 2009–10 season for a fee believed to be £6.5 million ($11 million).

On August 10, 2009, Hull City announced that they were successful in obtaining a work permit for Altidore.

Altidore made his debut for Hull on August 22, 2009, coming on as a second-half substitute against Bolton.

In the summer of 2011, he joined AZ in the Netherlands.

On March 3, 2013, Altidore surpassed Clint Dempsey for most goals by an American in a European club season with his 24th goal of the 2012–13 campaign.

During the 2013 summer transfer window, Sunderland signed Altidore.

He spent one-and-a-half seasons there, with a poor goal scoring record, then returned to MLS with Toronto FC.