Eric McWoods (born October 21, 1995) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Swedish Ettan-Norra club

Sandvikens IF Sandvikens IF is a Swedish football club located in Sandviken. The club, formed 6 June 1918, has played 21 seasons in the highest Swedish league, but is in the third highest Swedish league, Division 1. Sandvikens IF are affiliated to the Gest ...

Early years

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

native, McWoods began playing soccer at the age of eight after his parents refused to let him play

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

. He played at

Kirkwood High School Kirkwood High School is a public education, public secondary school in Kirkwood, Missouri, United States. The school is part of the Kirkwood R-7 School District. Dr. Mike Havener started as principal in July 2011. History Kirkwood High School ...

for four years, where he set school records for goals scored in a game (5), season (40) and career (87). His senior year, he was named an All-American and the NHSCAA Missouri State Offensive Player of Year. He also played basketball and ran track and field.

Club career

Narva Trans

McWoods signed for

Narva Trans JK Narva Trans, commonly known as Narva Trans or just Trans, are a professional Estonian association football club based in Narva that compete in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home ground is Narva Kreenholm St ...

in January 2019. In his first season, he helped to win the

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup ( et, Eesti Karikas) is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifyi ...

for the 2018–19 edition. He scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on July 21, 2019, against Tulevik in a 3–2 home win. His form in July continued and he ended up becoming the Player of the Month for July of the 2019

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football (soccer), football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-p ...

season. In winning the Estonian Cup, McWoods and Narva qualified for the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

. They played in the first qualifying round and were drawn against Budućnost of Montenegro. Over the two-leg affair, Narva was beaten by an aggregate score of 6–1.

ZTE

In January 2020, McWoods moved to Hungarian side

ZTE ZTE Corporation is a Chinese partially state-owned technology company that specializes in telecommunication. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. ZTE's core business is wireless, exchange, optic ...

of the

NB I NB, Nb, or nb may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''N.B.'' (album), an album by Natasha Bedingfield * ''NB'' (TV programme), a Scottish arts television programme that aired 1989–1997 Businesses * NB Global, a British investment company ...

Balzan FC

In the summer of 2020, McWoods moved to Balzan F.C. of the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta (colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

Finn Harps

After a short spell in Jordan with Al-Aqaba, McWoods moved to the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

to join

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

Sandvikens IF

On 2 March 2023, McWoods signed for Swedish side

Honors

;Narva Trans *

: 2018–19

References

External links

*
Xavier Musketeers bio

Kansas City Roos bio

USL League Two profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McWoods, Eric 1995 births Living people Men's association football forwards American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Xavier Musketeers men's soccer players Kansas City Roos men's soccer players JK Narva Trans players Zalaegerszegi TE players Balzan F.C. players Shabab Al-Aqaba SC players Finn Harps F.C. players USL League Two players Meistriliiga players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Maltese Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Estonia Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland American expatriate sportspeople in Estonia American expatriate sportspeople in Hungary American expatriate sportspeople in Malta American expatriate sportspeople in Ireland African-American men's soccer players Soccer players from St. Louis American expatriate sportspeople in Jordan Expatriate men's footballers in Jordan Jordanian Pro League players League of Ireland players 21st-century African-American sportspeople