Daniel Pereira Gil (born 14 July 2000) is a Venezuelan professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

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 club

Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q2 ...

and the Venezuela national team. He played two seasons of

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...

with the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 v ...

before being selected with the first overall pick by Austin FC in the

2021 MLS SuperDraft The 2021 MLS SuperDraft was the 22nd edition of the MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held every January prior to the start of the MLS season. The 2020 SuperDraft was the first held exclusively via conf ...

Early life

Pereira was born in Caracas,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, but at the age of 15 emigrated to the United States, where he settled in the

Roanoke metropolitan area The Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Virginia as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Roanoke MSA is sometimes referred to as the Roanoke Valley, even though the ...

Southwest Virginia Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Virg ...

. Prior to emigrating to the U.S., Pereira played for the Venezuelan U-14 and U-17 national teams. In high school, Pereira played club soccer for Virginia Blue Ridge Star and high school soccer for Northside High School. While at Northside, Pereira was named the 2019

Virginia High School League The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VHSL first sponsored debate and also continues to sponsor sta ...

Class 3 Boys' Soccer Player of the Year. Ahead of the

2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 61st season of National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 30, 2019 and continued into the third weekend of November 2019 ...

, Pereira signed a National Letter of Intent to play

for

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

. During his freshman season, Pereira started in all 19 matches, scoring five goals and providing five assists. During the season, the Hokies were ranked as high as ninth in the

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

poll. Virginia Tech reached the third round of the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, before falling to Stanford. His sophomore season was more truncated due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Nevertheless, during the fall segment of the season, Pereira started in all seven of the team's matches, providing a goal and an assist.

Club career

Following the fall segment of the

2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 62nd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The season was originally slated to begin on August 28, 2020 and conclude on November 15, 2020. The season was to culminate with the 2020 ...

, Pereira was tabbed as a potential top draft pick for the

. On 30 December 2020, Pereira waived his final two years of collegiate eligibility and signed a

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U. ...

contract with Major League Soccer. On 21 January 2021, he was selected as the first overall selection in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft, being drafted by expansion team,

. Pereira is the first Venezuelan and first South American to be selected first overall in the MLS Draft, as well as the first player from Virginia Tech to be selected first overall. After a successful 2022 season and with continuing success in the 2023 he was called up to the national team to play friendlies in the United States

International career

Pereria received his first international call-up in June 2023. Dani's first cap came on 15 June 2023. He was subbed in during the 46th minute of a 1-0 victory against Honduras.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Daniel Pereira
at Virginia Tech Athletics {{DEFAULTSORT:Pereira, Daniel 2000 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Venezuelan men's footballers Soccer players from Virginia Sportspeople from Roanoke, Virginia Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Virginia Tech Hokies men's soccer players Austin FC draft picks Austin FC players Major League Soccer first overall draft picks Footballers from Caracas Venezuela men's youth international footballers Major League Soccer players