Christopher James Durkin (born February 8, 2000) is an American professional

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 who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

Professional

Richmond Kickers

After spending time with the youth sides of

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

and

, Durkin signed with

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

side

on March 27, 2015. He made his professional debut in a friendly match against

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

West Bromwich Albion F.C. West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

D.C. United

On June 14, 2016,

signed Durkin, making him the sixth homegrown player in

history and the fifth-youngest homegrown signing in the history of the league (16 years, 127 days). Durkin debuted for D.C. United on June 15, 2016, during a

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

fourth round tournament fixture, going 86 minutes against the

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profes ...

. On March 3, 2018, Durkin made his Major League Soccer debut against Orlando City, coming on in the 73rd minute for

Yamil Asad Yamil Rodrigo Asad (born 27 July 1994) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Universidad Católica. Club career Vélez Sarsfield Asad played youth football and debuted professionally with Vélez Sa ...

. Just a few weeks later on March 24, 2018, Durkin made his first professional start for United, going the entire 90 minutes in a 3–1 loss against

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

. He was ranked #14 in

MLSsoccer.com Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

's 2018 22-Under-22 Rankings which identifies the league's top young talents. On April 13, 2019, Durkin scored his first MLS goal in a start against the Colorado Rapids.

Sint-Truiden

On August 30, 2019, Durkin officially joined

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

side

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The muni ...

on a loan that lasts until June 2020. Durkin debuted for Sint-Truiden in a 2–0 win against

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

in the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

on September 25, 2019. Durkin earned his first

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

start for Sint-Truiden in a 2–1 loss against

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

on December 7, 2019. Durkin scored his first goal for Sint-Truiden on February 8, 2020, in a 5–2 win over

KAS Eupen K.A.S. Eupen (short for Königliche Allgemeine Sportvereinigung Eupen, English: ''Royal General Sports Association Eupen'', simply referred to as Eupen) is a Belgian professional association football club located in Eupen, Liège (province), Provi ...

. On May 7, 2020, Durkin's move to Sint-Truiden was made permanent for a reported transfer fee of $1.1 million.

Return to D.C. United

On March 24, 2022, Durkin returned to

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

selected his rights with the second spot in the Allocation Order and traded those rights to United in exchange for $325,000 in General Allocation Money as well as the number ten allocation slot. United also paid a reported fee of $600,000 to bring him back to the United States. After scoring a late equalizer in the club's 2023 week three match against Orlando, Durkin was named to the league's Team of the Matchday.

International

Durkin played for the U.S. Under-17 team at the

2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2017 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (18th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in Panama between 21 ...

and the

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India between 6 and 28 October 2017, after the ...

. Prior to the World Cup, Durkin wore the captain's armband for a number of friendly matches as well as in the group stage match against El Salvador in the CONCACAF Championship. Durkin scored his first goal for the U.S. Under-17 team in a group stage match against Jamaica, and again in the U-17 World Cup against the host country of India. Durkin was named to the roster of the U.S. men's national Under-20 soccer team during the first-ever U.S. Soccer Men’s YNT Summit Camp in

Lakewood Ranch, Florida Lakewood Ranch is a planned community and census-designated place in southeastern Manatee County and northeastern Sarasota County, Florida, United States, consisting of approximately . It is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida Met ...

from January 2–11, 2018. Born in 2000, Durkin was among five players called up to the U-20 roster (birth year 1999) who were playing one year above their natural age group (U-19). After being selected for the USMNT U-20 roster for the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

, Durkin started and played in the first two group stage matches.

Statistics

Club

''As of October 7, 2023''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Durkin, Chris 2000 births Living people American men's soccer players Richmond Kickers players D.C. United players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from Richmond, Virginia USL Championship players Major League Soccer players Belgian Pro League players American expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players People from Henrico County, Virginia Homegrown Players (MLS)