Frankie Hejduk

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Frankie Hejduk
Frankie hejduk mls allstars 2005.jpg
Frankie Hejduk (2005)
Personnel
Surname Frank Daniel Hejduk
birthday 5th August 1974
place of birth La Mesa , California ,  USA
size 174 cm
position Right back , right midfield
Juniors
Years station
1992-1994 UCLA Bruins
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1996-1998 Tampa Bay Mutiny 57 (5)
1998-2003 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 19 (1)
2001 Bayer 04 Leverkusen Amat. 3 (0)
2002-2003 →  FC St. Gallen  (loan) 7 (0)
2003-2010 Columbus crew 147 (7)
2011 Los Angeles Galaxy 6 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1996-2009 United States 85 (7)
1 Only league games are given.

Frank Daniel "Frankie" Hejduk (born August 5, 1974 in La Mesa , California ) is a former American football player on the position of right full-back. In his active career, he played in the United States, Germany and Switzerland and was an American international .

Career

youth

His first football stop was on the school team at San Dieguito High School in Encinitas , California . After high school, he went to the University of California , where he played for the UCLA Bruins for three years .

Professional stations

Start of career and jump to Europe

In February 1996, before the start of the first American professional league Major League Soccer , Hejduk was drafted by Tampa Bay Mutiny . He established himself there as a regular player. His good performances during the soccer tournament at the Olympic Games in 1996 did not go unnoticed by clubs from Europe. One of these clubs was Bayer 04 Leverkusen . In 1998 Frankie Hejduk stood out in the US boys' first group game at the World Cup finals in France against Germany . He performed well in that game. The American received a contract from Bayer 04 Leverkusen five weeks later, which he also signed.

Unsuccessful years in Europe

There he became a regular player at the end of the 1998/99 season, as Bayer had many problems with injuries during that time. He played in ten of the last eleven games from the start and helped Leverkusen secure a place in the UEFA Champions League . At the beginning of the 1999/2000 season, then coach Christoph Daum changed the tactical direction of the team, so that Hejduk was no longer on the starting line-up. He was only on the pitch six games during the season, but was featured in as many Champions League games. In the following season he was only used three times in league games, which also had injury-related reasons. When Klaus Toppmöller became the new coach of Bayer Leverkusen, Hejduk saw no more chance of playing in the club or securing a regular place. 2001/02 Hejduk was not used. Without him, Bayer 04 Leverkusen played for the championship for a long time, but in the end Borussia Dortmund won. In addition, Leverkusen lost the DFB Cup final and the Champions League final without Hejduk .

In August 2002 Hejduk moved on loan to FC St. Gallen in Switzerland, for which he was also only used sporadically.

Return to the USA and end of career

At the beginning of 2003 he terminated his loan contract in St. Gallen and his contract in Leverkusen and went back to Columbus Crew in the USA in February 2003 . There he became captain and won after the MLS Supporters' Shield 2004 also the MLS Cup 2008. He scored the decisive goal in the final of the North American Championship.

After the 2010 MLS season , his contract with the crew was not renewed. As a result, he took part in the MLS Re-Entry Draft. He was selected on December 15, 2010 by Sporting Kansas City and handed over to the Los Angeles Galaxy in exchange for Luke Sassano the same day . After the 2011 season, he ended his career.

National team

Hejduk played for the United States Soccer Federation's youth selections since 1990 . After leaving UCLA in 1994, he trained full-time with the U23 national team and took part in the 1996 Summer Olympics. He was on the pitch in all three games.

His first international match for the senior national team he made on August 31, 1996 against El Salvador . During the next few years he was in almost all American roster for the soccer world championships and for the CONCACAF Gold Cups . For the 2006 World Cup , he was also in the national team, but could not participate due to a torn cruciate ligament . It would have been his third World Cup.

A year later he played again for the USA in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup . By his hit in the semifinals, the team reached the final and then won the tournament. He made his last international match on November 18, 2009, when he was in the starting line-up and played through in the 3-1 defeat in Aarhus against Denmark . The then coach Bob Bradley did not take him to the 2010 World Cup .

successes

With his clubs

With the national team

Private

Hejduk married Elissa Zurcher on December 31, 2005. He has three children with her.

He was also a surfer during high school. He was a member of San Dieguito High School's state and national championship surfing team . He became National Junior High School Surfing Champion in 1988, qualifying for the US Amateur Surfing Team, where he finished tenth.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kicker online (ed.): Negotiations about Hejduk return to the USA. January 10, 2003, accessed on November 28, 2012 : “ The midfielder from Bayer Leverkusen is currently on loan from the Swiss first division club FC St. Gallen. "
  2. ↑ kicker online (ed.): Hejduk change to Switzerland perfect. August 26, 2002, accessed November 28, 2012 .
  3. ↑ kicker online (ed.): St. Gallen separates from Hejduk. January 28, 2003. Retrieved November 28, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Wolff goes 1st in Stage 2 Re-Entry Draft, Ángel to LA ( English ) MLS. December 15, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
  5. ^ Galaxy, Sporting swap Sassano, Hejduk ( English ) The Miami Herald. December 15, 2010. Retrieved on December 23, 2010.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.miamiherald.com  

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hejduk, Frankie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hejduk, Frank Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION american soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 5th August 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH La Mesa