Jacen Rex Orlando Russell-Rowe (born September 13, 2002) is a Canadian

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

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

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 ...

and the Canada national team.

Early life

He began playing soccer at age three with Brampton YSC. He later joined the

Toronto FC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 young players. The senior academy team is ...

College career

In 2020, he committed to the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

where he would play for the

Terrapins Terrapins are one of several small species of turtle (order Testudines) living in fresh or brackish water. Terrapins do not form a taxonomic unit and may not be closely related. Many belong to the families Geoemydidae and Emydidae. The name " ...

. In his debut for Maryland on February 19, 2021, he scored a goal from 30 yards out against the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

for his first NCAA goal. On March 7, he scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

to give Maryland its first victory of the season. For his freshman season, he was named to the 2020/21 Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

Club career

In 2018, he made one appearance for

Toronto FC III Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian so ...

. On July 3, 2019, he made his professional debut with

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as i ...

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

(while on an academy contract), coming on as a substitute against

FC Tucson FC Tucson is an American soccer club based in Tucson, Arizona that plays in USL League Two. The club has an amateur women’s team, FC Tucson Women, that play in the WPSL. Organized in 2010, the club first fielded a team in March 2011, then joine ...

. In March 2022 Russell-Rowe signed with

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS club ...

side

Columbus Crew 2 Columbus Crew 2 is a professional soccer team based in Columbus, Ohio that competes in the MLS Next Pro league, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Columbus ...

. He scored his first professional goal on April 10 against

Philadelphia Union II Philadelphia Union II is an American professional soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania competing in MLS Next Pro. Founded in 2015 as Bethlehem Steel FC, the team is the official affiliate of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. T ...

. On May 28, he signed a short term loan with the first team,

, ahead of their MLS game against

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

. On June 18, he signed another short-term loan with the Crew for their match against

Charlotte FC Charlotte FC is an American professional soccer club based in Charlotte. The team competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The team is owned by David Tepper, who was awarded the expansion franchise ...

, in which he appeared as a substitute for his MLS debut. Russell-Rowe was named MLS Next Pro Player of the Month for both May and June 2022. Russell-Rowe won the 2022 MLS Next Pro MVP, the 2022 MLS Next Pro Golden Boot Award after leading the league with 21 goals and was also named to the MLS Next Pro Best XI. On June 29, 2022, Columbus traded $50,000 in General Allocation Money to acquire his homegrown rights from

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

, and signed him to their first team's roster. He made his first MLS start the same day against Toronto FC, recording two assists in a 2–1 victory. Russell-Rowe scored his first MLS goal on March 25th, 2023 in a 6–1 victory versus Atlanta United

International career

Born in Canada, Russell-Rowe is of Jamaican descent. In 2016, he made his debut in the Canadian youth program when was called to a training camp for the Canada U15 team. Russell-Rowe represented Canada's Under-17 side at the

2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (19th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in the United States betw ...

. He was subsequently named to the team for the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

, where he scored both of Canada's goals at the tournament. In 2019, he was a nominee for Canadian Youth International Player of the Year. In May 2023, Russell-Rowe was listed on the

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

preliminary roster for the

2023 CONCACAF Nations League Finals 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. In June 2023, he was named to the final squad for the

2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup will be the 17th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament will take place from Ju ...

. Russell-Rowe made his debut in the tournament opener against

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

on June 27, where he scored an own-goal in an eventual 2-2 draw.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell-Rowe, Jacen 2002 births Living people Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canadian sportspeople of Jamaican descent Men's association football forwards Soccer players from Toronto Toronto FC II players USL League One players Maryland Terrapins men's soccer players Black Canadian men's soccer players MLS Next Pro players Columbus Crew 2 players Columbus Crew players Major League Soccer players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Canada men's international soccer players