Christian Eissele

Christian Eissele (born 23 June 1992) is an American former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently head coach at Lake Mary High School in Florida.

Early life

Eissele was born in Orlando, Florida. His father, Bill, works as a high school drama teacher and football coach. His mother, Susan, plays the piano for a local church. Eissele also has a sister who works as a lieutenant who is stationed in Valdosta, Georgia. At a young age, Eissele had a keen interest in tennis however football was, with the help of his tennis coach Steve, his chosen sport.
ChristianEissele.com. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

He left the United States to go to Europe in order of finding a professional contract. He first travelled to Leeds, England to join the Richmond University International Academic & Soccer Academy.
Richmond University. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015. Despite developing at the Academy, Eissele's hopes of playing professionally were stopped due to the American not being eligible for a Work permit (United Kingdom), work permit. In March 2012, he landed a trial at Finnish club PS Kemi and subsequently received a professional contract which he signed at the age of 19.

Career

PS Kemi

Eissele made his PS Kemi debut on 29 April 2012, in a 0–2 home defeat to KPV. He scored his first professional goal against YPA on 12 May, scoring a penalty to draw the match level at 1–1 and PS Kemi went on to win 3–1. After scoring goals in matches against Santa Claus and, again, YPA, Eissele scored his first career hat-trick in a 5–0 home victory against HauPa, with all three goals coming within 16 minutes.
Soccerway. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

Eissele wasn't done there though, as little over three weeks later he scored five goals in one match against Warkauden Jalkapalloklubi, Warkaus. The match ended 8–0 in Kemi's favour. Warkaus' results from that season were cancelled in August 2012 due to Warkaus not turning up to a Kakkonen fixture against TP-47 and therefore were kicked out of the league, but the Football Association of Finland decided that statistics from all matches involving Warkaus would still stand.
Football Association of Finland. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2015. In the club's final Kakkonen fixture, Eissele scored another hat-trick in a 3–1 win versus AC Kajaani, Kajaani.

The following season, 2013, went just as good for Eissele with the forward scoring seven goals between April and May. However, June was Eissele's standout month as he scored ten goals in five matches, including two hat-tricks and two braces. The hat-tricks came against ORPa and Tervarit while the braces were scored against KPV, the team he played on his professional debut, and GBK Kokkola. Eissele scored seven more goals, including another hat-trick (versus KPV), in the remainder of 2013.

At the start of 2014, Eissele had trials at two Veikkausliiga clubs. In February, he spent time with RoPS and featured in a Finnish League Cup tie against Honka in which he played 62 minutes without scoring.
Soccerway. 8 February 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2015. Around two months later, in March, Eissele had a trial at Kuopion Palloseura, KuPS and again played as a trialist in a League Cup tie. He participated in the full match versus SJK but didn't score.
Soccerway. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

He left Kemi on 29 March 2014.

IK Brage

On 29 March 2014, Eissele moved to Sweden to join IK Brage, signing a three-year contract.
IK Brage. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2015. He made his first appearance for Brage on 21 April 2014 in a 2–1 win versus AFC United, he played 90 minutes before being substituted for Viktor Ekervik-Eriksson. It took Eissele eight matches to score his first goal for the club when he scored a 54th-minute equaliser against Umeå. Around a month later Eissele scored two goals in a 1–3 win away to Valsta Syrianska, but again didn't score for another month. However, he then scored in five consecutive matches in August and September which included a hat-trick in the final of those five matches against Huddinge. He scored once more in the 2014 season when he scored an equaliser against Valsta Syrianska to earn a draw for Brage on 19 October.

2015 was less successful for Eissele at Brage as he scored just four goals in thirteen matches, but did get two of those goals in his penultimate appearance for the club on 28 June versus Nyköpings. His last match for Brage was against Carlstad United 5 July. He left the club on 28 July.
IK Brage. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

Return to PS Kemi

After his release from Brage, Eissele returned to Finland to sign for former club PS Kemi. He made his second debut for Kemi against Vasa IFK, VIFK, he scored two goals to complete a comeback win for the club. He then scored in the following fixture versus Jazz which ended 0–4. He scored three future goals in August and September to continue his fine return to Kemi. In total in 2015, Eissele scored seven goals in eleven appearances which helped Kemi win the Ykkönen and gain promotion to the Veikkausliiga for 2016.
Football Association of Finland. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015. He made his Veikkausliiga debut on 9 April 2016 in a 3–0 home win against reigning champions SJK.
Soccerway. 9 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016. He scored his first Veikkausliiga goal on 13 August versus FC Inter Turku, Inter Turku.
Soccerway. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.

FF Jaro

On 14 February 2017, Eissele joined Ykkönen side FF Jaro.
FF Jaro. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017. He made his debut on 17 February in a Finnish Cup tie against Kerho 07 and scored four goals in a 1–8 away win.
Soccerway. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.

Sacramento Republic

On 17 January 2018, Eissele signed with USL Championship, United Soccer League side Sacramento Republic. Five goals, notably two against Seattle Sounders FC 2 on 8 September, in twenty-seven matches followed as Sacramento reached the post-season play-offs; where they lost to Swope Park Rangers. He was released by the club on 30 November.
Sacramento Republic. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018. Subsequently, in December, Eissele rejoined former club FF Jaro on trial.
FF Jaro. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.

Oklahoma City Energy

Eissele returned to the USL Championship on 16 January 2019, signing with Oklahoma City Energy. He was released in December, having scored seven goals in thirty-two matches across all competitions.

Retirement

Eissele announced his retirement on 6 April 2020, subsequently taking over from his father as Lake Mary High School's girls soccer head coach in August.
Orlando Sentinel. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020. He also set-up a training business for local footballers in the Orlando, Florida area.

Career statistics

Honours

;PS Kemi
*Ykkönen: 2015 Ykkönen, 2015

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eissele, Christian
1992 births
Living people
American soccer players
Expatriate footballers in Sweden
Expatriate footballers in Finland
Expatriate footballers in England
American expatriate sportspeople in England
American expatriate sportspeople in Finland
American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden
American expatriate soccer players
Association football forwards
Kakkonen players
Ettan Fotboll players
Ykkönen players
Veikkausliiga players
USL Championship players
RIASA players
FF Jaro players
IK Brage players
Kemi City F.C. players
Sacramento Republic FC players
Soccer players from Orlando, Florida
OKC Energy FC players