Diego Kochen (born March 19, 2006) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

Club career

Born in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, to a Peruvian mother and Venezuelan father, Kochen started his career with the academy of Weston, initially starting his career as an outfield player, before switching to goalkeeper at the age of eight to cover for an ill teammate. He also played for West Pines United in Florida and, after his parents moved to Spain in 2018 for work-related reasons, he played for the

Marcet Football University The Marcet Foundation is a youth education and football organization. History The Marcet Football University was founded in 1978 by José Ignacio Marcet as a football youth training organization in Europe, which has established schools in various ...

as well as TecnoFutbol CF. Having progressed through Barcelona's ''

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...

'' academy, he signed his first professional contract with the club in March 2022. On October 11, 2023, he was named by English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as one of the best players born in 2006 worldwide. Kochen was included in the senior squad for a friendly against

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

on 22 December 2023. He substituted Ander Astralaga after an hour and played 30 minutes. On 2 February 2024, FC Barcelona reached an agreement with Kochen for a new contract, which will be signed on the 18th birthday of the American goalkeeper. He officially signed a new agreement on 19 March 2024 with FC Barcelona until June 2028. The club also agreed on an official inclusion of the Barça Atlètic roster for the remainder of the 2023–2024 season, where he will debut with the number 24. He made his

Barcelona B Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

debut on 14 April 2024 against Unionistas CF, which ended in a 4–1 loss.

International career

Kochen has represented the United States at youth international level. He remains eligible to represent Peru or Venezuela. In January 2022, Diego received his first US YNT call-up for a training camp at IMG in Brandenton. On 15 March 2022 Kochen debuted for the United States U17 Kochen made five appearances for the U17 team and captained the squad on one occasion. He then made his debut for the United States U19 on 24 March 2024 against England U19, which resulted in a 3–2 win for the United States.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kochen, Diego 2006 births Living people Soccer players from Miami American sportspeople of Peruvian descent American sportspeople of Venezuelan descent American men's soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers Weston FC players FC Barcelona players American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain