Landon Donovan

Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player.

Donovan is co-founder and vice-president of soccer operations for USL Championship side San Diego Loyal.

Considered one of the greatest American players of all time, he is frequently debated with Clint Dempsey for the title.

Donovan holds the world record for the male with the most international assists (58) and is tied with Dempsey for the most international goals scored by an American player (57).

Landon Timothy Donovan was born (along with twin sister Tristan) on March 4, 1982, in Ontario, California, to Donna Kenney-Cash, an American special education teacher, and Tim Donovan, a semi-professional ice hockey player originally from Canada.

Donovan's parents are both of Irish descent, and he holds Canadian citizenship by way of his father.

His mother raised Landon and his siblings in Redlands, California, and he attended Redlands East Valley High School when not engaged in soccer activities elsewhere.

Donovan first played soccer with his older brother and when Donovan was six, his mother allowed him to join an organized league, where he scored seven goals in his first match.

Donovan was a member of Cal Heat – a club based in nearby Rancho Cucamonga, California.

In 1997, he was accepted into U.S. Youth Soccer's Olympic Development Program.

An early soccer product of IMG Academy, Donovan signed for Bayer Leverkusen in 1999.

In 1999 Donovan attended the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, with other members of the U-17 national team as part of U.S. Soccer's youth development program.

Donovan was a member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Soccer youth residency program in Bradenton, Florida.

He was named Player of the Tournament for his role in the United States under-17 squad that finished fourth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship before signing with German club Bayer Leverkusen later that year.

Later in 1999, Donovan signed a six-year contract for German Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen, whose sporting director Michael Reschke spotted him at a youth tournament in Europe.

Despite becoming a regular starter for the club's reserve team upon arrival, Donovan had trouble adapting to life overseas and was allowed extended training periods with United States youth national teams.

He played in a German Cup match for the reserve team.

Donovan made his senior debut for the United States men's national team in 2000.

He is the all-time leader in assists, tied with Clint Dempsey as the all-time leader in scoring, and is the second-most-capped player of his country.

Donovan is the only American player to reach the 50 goals/50 assists mark.

He is tied with Christian Pulisic for the record of four U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year awards (the first man to win in consecutive years), as well as the only seven-time winner of the Player of the Year award.

Unhappy with his situation with Leverkusen, Donovan was loaned to the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer (MLS) for the 2001 season.

In MLS, Donovan had immediate success, leading the Earthquakes to MLS Cup championships in 2001 and 2003 and becoming one of the only recognizable faces of soccer in the United States.

In four years in the league, he scored 32 goals and 29 assists in league play, and ten goals and six assists in the playoffs.

Donovan starred in the U.S. team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup where he received the Best Young Player Award.

Two of those goals were in the 2003 MLS Cup, a 4–2 Earthquakes triumph over Chicago Fire SC.

Donovan earned Man of the Match for his actions.

He was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2003.

In 2004, Donovan became the first man to be named the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year three years in a row before returning to the Bayer Leverkusen first team in January 2005.

After playing seven matches with Leverkusen in the 2004–05 season, only two of which were starts, Donovan requested to leave the club.

Despite a late offer from English Premier League club Portsmouth, Donovan expressed a desire to return to the United States.

Upon his re-entry to MLS, San Jose was denied the chance to re-sign Donovan because Earthquakes general manager Alexi Lalas had traded away his rights.

LA Galaxy, his hometown team, were able to trade leading scorer Carlos Ruiz to FC Dallas to get on top of the MLS allocation order as Donovan prepared to leave Germany.

In 2005, after six years with Leverkusen, the majority of which were spent on loan with the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS, Donovan moved back to the United States permanently to sign with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

He later returned to Germany for a loan with Bayern Munich, and twice went on short loans to English Premier League club Everton in 2010 and 2012.

His three goals in the 2010 World Cup made Donovan the highest-scoring male American player in World Cup history.

He retired as a player in 2014, but made a brief comeback with LA Galaxy late in the 2016 season and then in 2018 to play for León.

He further played one season with the San Diego Sockers of the Major Arena Soccer League.

Overall Donovan won a record six MLS Cups and is the league's all-time assists leader with 136.

The Major League Soccer MVP Award has been renamed the Landon Donovan MVP Award in his honor.