Jacob Everett Shaffelburg (born November 26, 1999) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

and the Canadian national team.

Early life

Shaffelburg played youth soccer for Valley United SC and Team Nova Scotia. In 2012, he joined FC Nashville Heroes, where he played in the 2012 U.S. Club Soccer National Cup. In January 2014, he joined the Sporting Kansas City Academy, where he played for a month. At age 15, he began attending high school in Massachusetts at the

Berkshire School Berkshire School is a private, co-ed boarding school for grades 9 through 12 located in Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA. History 1907–1943: Founding and early years Berkshire School (for boys) was established in 1907 at the foot of Mount Ever ...

, where he played for their highly regarded soccer program. He played an instrumental part in the team, scoring four goals in two games in the NEPSAC playoffs his senior year (2018), helping Berkshire win their fifth title in seven years and he was named 2017–18 Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Soccer Player of the Year. While in the US, he also played youth soccer with

Manhattan SC Manhattan Soccer Club is an American soccer organization based in New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States ...

where he won U.S. Club Soccer U-16 National Championship in 2016. He joined the

Toronto FC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the Youth system, 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 aca ...

in 2016. He appeared in a friendly for the

HFX Wanderers FC HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer l ...

Atlantic Selects team in 2018 against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

's U-21 team, where he scored a goal. He had originally committed to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

on a soccer scholarship, but ultimately decided to sign a professional contract instead.

Club career

He played a game with Toronto FC III in

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's association football, 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 ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

. In 2018, he played with Black Rock FC in the Premier Development League. He finished as the team's leading scorer with eight goals, tied with Ifunanyachi Achara. On November 28, 2018, he signed his first professional contract 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 a ...

and began the 2019 season with them in

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 ...

. Shaffelburg made his first appearance for

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 BM ...

in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League on February 19, 2019 and then signed with

as a Homegrown Player on June 21, 2019. He made his first

MLS 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 ...

appearance the following day, playing 31 minutes against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Its population was 200,509 at the 2 ...

. Four days later on June 26 he had his first start for Toronto FC at

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Constructed on the site of the former ...

scoring an assist in a 3–2 win against

Atlanta United FC 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 ...

, setting up the fastest goal in TFC history only 29 seconds into the game. Shaffelburg would quickly find himself in the starting lineup shortly after signing, earning rave reviews for his pace from the coaching staff. He scored his first goal in the 74th minute on May 15, 2021, in a 1-1 draw against

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. On September 3, he was loaned to

. Upon completion of the 2021 season, Shaffelburg's option for the 2022 season would be picked up by Toronto. He went on a short loan to the second team again in 2022. In August 2022, Shaffelburg joined

on loan for the remainder of the 2022 season, with an option for a permanent transfer in 2023. He made his debut for Nashville on August 21 against

and scored a goal in a 4-0 victory. After the season, Nashville exercised the purchase option for the 2023 season and signed him to a four-year contract extension with a club option for 2027.

International career

Youth

Shaffelburg was named to the Canadian U-23 provisional roster for the

2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fifteenth and final edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organised by CONCACAF to determine which men's ...

on February 26, 2020.

Senior

Shaffelburg received his first senior international call-up to Canada on January 3, 2020, for matches against

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. On January 10, 2020, he made his debut as a substitute against Barbados.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Toronto FC * Canadian Championship:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Individual

* Canadian Championship Best Young Canadian Player Award:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaffelburg, Jacob 1999 births Living people Association football forwards Canadian soccer players Soccer people from Nova Scotia People from Kentville, Nova Scotia Toronto FC II players Toronto FC players Major League Soccer players USL League One players Canada men's international soccer players Homegrown Players (MLS) Berkshire School alumni Nashville SC players MLS Next Pro players League1 Ontario players USL League Two players