Soccer in The United States - Americans Playing in Foreign Leagues

Americans Playing in Foreign Leagues

Since the early 1990s, many American men have found opportunities playing association football at the highest levels of foreign leagues. Among the first Americans to become regulars in foreign leagues were John Harkes at Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County in England, Eric Wynalda at Saarbrücken in Germany, Kasey Keller at Millwall F.C. in England, and Earnie Stewart at NAC Breda in the Netherlands (Stewart is a special case; he is the Netherlands-born son of American and Dutch parents, and grew up in the Dutch football system). Stewart is now one of two Americans who hold executive positions within Dutch football—Stewart with AZ, and American-born Alex Pama with SC Cambuur.

The following is a list of prominent Americans playing in foreign leagues:

In Australia's A-League

• Alex Smith (Wellington Phoenix)

In Austria's Bundesliga

• Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna)
  • Boyd's development is similar to that of Earnie Stewart. Boyd was born in Germany and grew up in the German soccer system.

In Belgium's Pro League

• Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht)

In Bosnia's Premier League

• Danijal Brkovic (Željezničar)

In Chile's Primera División

• Jimmy Maurer (Universidad de Concepción)

In Colombia's Primera A

• Kevin Piedrahita (Itagüí Ditaires)

In Denmark's Superliga

• Charlie Davies (Randers)
• Clarence Goodson (Brøndby)
• Conor O'Brien (SønderjyskE)
• Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjælland)

In Egypt's Premier League

• Samir Badr (Haras El-Hodood)

In England's Premier League

• Geoff Cameron (Stoke City)
• Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur)
• Maurice Edu (Stoke City)
• Brad Friedel (Tottenham Hotspur)
• Brad Guzan (Aston Villa)
• Tim Howard (Everton)
• Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa)

In England's Football League Championship

• Conor Doyle (Derby County)
• Robbie Findley (Nottingham Forest)
• Stuart Holden (Bolton Wanderers)
• Will Packwood (Birmingham City)
• Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers)
• Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)
• Zak Whitbread (Leicester City)

In England's Football League One

• Frank Simek (Carlisle United)
• Mike Grella (Scunthorpe United)
• Robbie Rogers (Stevenage) - on loan from Leeds United

In Estonia's Meistriliiga

• Alex Nimo (Tammeka Tartu)
• Sean Tremaine Whalen (Tallinna Kalev)

In Finland's Veikkausliiga

• Daniel Antunez (Inter Turku)
• Mike Banner (FF Jaro)
• Jordan Seabrook (Haka)
• Johann Smith (KuPS)
• Etchu Tabe (KuPS)

In Germany's Fußball-Bundesliga

• Timothy Chandler (Nürnberg)
• Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96)
• Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim)
• Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04)
• Daniel Williams (Hoffenheim)
• David Yelldell (Bayer Leverkusen)

In Germany's 2. Fußball-Bundesliga

• John Anthony Brooks (Hertha Berlin)
• Joseph Gyau (St. Pauli) - on loan from Hoffenheim
• Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin)
• Bobby Wood (1860 Munich)
• Andrew Wooten (Sandhausen) - on loan from Kaiserslautern

In Germany's 3. Liga

• Royal-Dominique Fennell (Stuttgarter Kickers)
• Matt Taylor (Preußen Münster)
• Preston Zimmerman (SV Darmstadt 98)

In Guatemala's Liga Nacional

• Moises Hernandez (Comunicaciones) - on loan from FC Dallas

In Ireland's Premier Division

• Brendan King (Bray Wanderers)

In Israel's Ligat HaAl

• Leonard Krupnik (Maccabi Netanya)
• Ryan Adeleye (Hapoel Beer Sheva)
• Bryan Gerzicich (Ironi Kiryat Shmona)

In Italy's Serie A

• Michael Bradley (Roma)

In Mexico's Liga MX

• Ventura Alvarado (América)
• DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla)
• Jonathan Bornstein (UANL)
• Edgar Castillo (Tijuana)
• Joe Corona (Tijuana)
• Greg Garza (Tijuana)
• Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna)
• Alejandro Guido (Tijuana)
• Benji Joya (Santos Laguna)
• Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis)
• Esteban Rodríguez (Tijuana)
• José Francisco Torres (UANL)

In Mexico's Ascenso MX

• Isaac Acuña (Mérida)
• Alexandre González (Necaxa)
• Sonny Guadarrama (Mérida)
• Ernest Nungaray (Neza)
• Moises Orozco (Correcaminos) - on loan from UANL
• Adrian Ruelas (Veracruz) - on loan from Santos Laguna
• Marco Vidal (Lobos BUAP)

In the Netherlands' Eredivisie

• Jozy Altidore (AZ)

In the Netherlands' Eerste Divisie

• Charles Kazlauskas (Helmond Sport)

In Norway's Tippeligaen

• Chad Barrett (Vålerenga) - on loan from Los Angeles Galaxy
• Steve Clark (Hønefoss)
• Sean Cunningham (Stabæk) - on loan from Molde
• Mikkel Diskerud (Rosenborg)
• Josh Gatt (Molde)

In Peru's Primera División

• Diego Chávarri (Sport Huancayo)

In Portugal's Primeira Liga

• Tony Taylor (Estoril)
• Caleb Patterson-Sewell (Vitória de Setúbal)

In Portugal's Segunda Liga

• Steven Rodriques (Leixões)
• Jacob Wilson (Feirense)

In Russia's Premier League

• Eugene Starikov (Rostov) - on loan from Zenit Saint Petersburg

In Serbia's SuperLiga

• Matthew Dunn (Beograd)

In Spain's La Liga

• Oguchi Onyewu (Málaga) - on loan from Sporting

In Spain's Segunda División

• Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander) - on loan from Rangers

In Sweden's Allsvenskan

• Alejandro Bedoya (Helsingborg)
• Ryan Miller (Halmstad)
• Brian Span (Djurgården)

In Venezuela's Primera División

• Diego Restrepo (Deportivo Táchira)

During 1990 Dale Mulholland played for Lokomotiv Moscow in 1 Soviet Football League.,