Reyna as New York City FC sporting director in March 2015
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Claudio Reyna | |||||||||||||||||
Date of birth | July 20, 1973 | |||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | |||||||||||||||||
Playing position | Midfielder | |||||||||||||||||
College career | ||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||
1991–1993 | Virginia Cavaliers | |||||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||
1994–1999 | Bayer Leverkusen | 26 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
1997–1999 | → VfL Wolfsburg (loan) | 48 | (6) | |||||||||||||||
1999–2001 | Rangers | 64 | (10) | |||||||||||||||
2001–2003 | Sunderland | 28 | (3) | |||||||||||||||
2003–2007 | Manchester City | 87 | (4) | |||||||||||||||
2007–2008 | New York Red Bulls | 29 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
Total | 282 | (23) | ||||||||||||||||
National team | ||||||||||||||||||
1994–2006 | United States | 112 | (8) | |||||||||||||||
Honours
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Claudio Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is a retired American soccer player and the current director of football operations for New York City FC.
He was the captain of the United States men's national team before retiring from international soccer following the U.S.'s exit from the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He is widely considered one of the greatest players the United States has ever produced. Reyna last played for New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer, where he was team captain.
Reyna's father Miguel moved to the United States in 1968 from Argentina, where he had gone through the youth system of Independiente and played professionally with Los Andes. He settled in Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey in the 1950s, married a Portuguese American woman, Maria Silva, and raised a family. Reyna was born in Livingston, New Jersey, where he learned the game from his father.
In New Jersey, Reyna would go on to become a youth player at Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, as a teammate of Gregg Berhalter. He graduated from St. Benedict's in 1991. During Reyna's three years with the team, St Benedict's went undefeated (65–0) while Reyna was named as the only two-time Parade Magazine's national high school Player of the Year and the Gatorade National Player of the Year. In 1999, he was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1990s.
Highly recruited out of high school, Reyna elected to attend the University of Virginia from 1991–1993 on a full-ride scholarship. While at Virginia, he spent three seasons on the men's soccer team, coached by future U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena. The Cavaliers would go on to win the NCAA championship each of his three seasons. On an individual level, Reyna won the Hermann Trophy in 1993 and the MAC Award in 1992 and 1993; and was named the 1992 and 1993 Soccer America Player of the Year. In 2000, the magazine placed him on its Team of the Century and named him the male player of the century.