Benny Feilhaber

Benny Feilhaber

Feilhaber posing with fans in Pretoria during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
Personal information
Full name	Benny Feilhaber
Date of birth	(1985-01-19) January 19, 1985 (age 32)
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Sporting Kansas City
Number	10
Youth career
2000–2003	Irvine Strikers
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2004	UCLA Bruins	36	(7)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2007	Hamburger SV II	49	(3)
2006–2007	Hamburger SV	9	(0)
2007–2008	Derby County	10	(0)
2008–2011	AGF Aarhus	65	(5)
2011–2012	New England Revolution	52	(5)
2013–	Sporting Kansas City	106	(23)
National team‡
2005	United States U20	11	(0)
2007–2008	United States U23	6	(0)
2007–	United States	43	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 22, 2016. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of February 3, 2017

Benny Feilhaber (/ˈfeɪlhɑːbər/; born January 19, 1985) is an American professional soccer player who plays for Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer and the United States men's national soccer team as a midfielder.

Feilhaber was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is Jewish, and was raised in his father's Jewish religion. His paternal grandfather emigrated from the Austrian capital city of Vienna to Brazil in 1938 to escape the Nazi regime.

Feilhaber was six years old when his family moved from Brazil to settle in the United States and spent approximately eight years in the New York City suburb of Scarsdale where he played for the local soccer team, the Scarsdale Lightning. He attended Nottingham Country Elementary in Katy, Texas. In 1996, he led the team and won the New York State Cup for the U-12 division. He attended Northwood High School in Irvine, California where he was a standout midfielder on the school’s soccer team. He also played club soccer for the Irvine Strikers, winning various youth national titles. He was coached by youth coach Don Ebert.

After graduating in 2003 he played college soccer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he became a mainstay in the Bruins' midfield. At UCLA he was roommates with future national team-mate Jonathan Bornstein. Feilhaber made the team as a walk-on, rather than being recruited with a scholarship offer. After his second year at UCLA Feilhaber was called up by the U.S. U-20 national soccer team to play in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.