Charles Bimbe-Renken (born December 19, 1993) is a former American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player.

Early life

He was born as Charles Bimbe in

the suburbs ''The Suburbs'' is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on August 2, 2010. Coinciding with its announcement, the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing the title track and "Month of May".

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

, Zambia. He moved to the United States in 2003 to live with the Renken family in Edwardsville, Illinois, and was officially adopted by the Renkens in 2005."Renken the next big thing for U.S. soccer"
ESPN FC, September 12, 2008. Renken grew up in the soccer hotbed of Saint Louis, where he played on a number of local youth teams. As a 10-year-old, he dominated his local under-14 league.

Career

Youth

Renken spent time with various U.S. youth teams. Renken played with the U-14 national team at the age of 11 in 2005, and at the age of 12 he played with the U-15 national team in 2006. He joined the U.S. Soccer under-17 academy in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

in 2007 at the age of 13. By the age of 14, Renken was hyped by the soccer media as "U.S. soccer's next rising star" and was often compared to Freddy Adu.

Professional

Renken was scouted by some of the biggest clubs in Europe, including English giants Manchester United and Liverpool. Renken signed with German club

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1899 ...

alongside teammate

Joe Gyau Joseph-Claude Agyeman Gyau (born September 16, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger for Allsvenskan club Degerfors IF. From 2014 through 2019, Gyau represented the United States national team and earned three cap ...

, moving to the Vancouver Whitecaps academy until his 18th birthday. Renken played 10 matches for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's U19 team. Renken never made a first-team appearance with Hoffenheim, however, due to a series of knee injuries, and left the club. Renken signed for the 2012 season with the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

via the MLS waiver process. He played in all ten of the Timbers' reserve league matches, but didn't make a first team appearance and was waived on November 19, 2012. Renken trialed with numerous clubs in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

but failed to sign with any, until signing with 7th-tier club Gimo IF FK, who he helped to promote to Sweden's 6th division. In April 2014, Renken signed with USL Pro club Arizona United. On January 20, 2015, it was announced that Renken had returned home to St. Louis and signed with USL expansion club Saint Louis FC. On November 9, 2016, Saint Louis FC released Renken. On May 26, 2017, Renken signed with USL club Seattle Sounders FC 2. He made his first appearance on May 28, 2017, in a 2–2 draw against Sacramento Republic. For 2018 he joined NPSL side FC Columbus, late in the season.https://www.fccolumbus95.com/player-statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renken, Charles 1993 births Living people American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Portland Timbers players Phoenix Rising FC players Saint Louis FC players Tacoma Defiance players USL Championship players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players Men's association football midfielders National Premier Soccer League players Soccer players from Illinois