Jeremy Kelly (born October 21, 1997) is an American

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 defender for club

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

Youth

Kelly signed an amateur contract with

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

on March 17, 2016. His amateur status would allow him to play

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 Kingd ...

for

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

when their college season began later in the year. Kelly played four years at UNC, starting 59 of his 79 appearances and tallying one goals and 2 assists. Kelly was an obstacle to the UNC's midfield en route to consecutive NCAA College Cup appearances. He was a second-team All-ACC selection in his senior year.

Professional

On January 9, 2020, Kelly was selected ninth overall in the

2020 MLS SuperDraft The 2020 MLS SuperDraft was the 21st edition of the MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The 2020 SuperDraft was the first SuperDraft held exclusively via conference call and web streaming. The first two rounds of the 2020 ...

by Montreal Impact. His rights were then immediately traded to

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

in exchange for $75,000 of General Allocation Money and the Rapids natural first round selection. On February 25, 2020, the Rapids officially announced the signing of Kelly to an initial one-year contract. He made his MLS debut against Real Salt Lake in the

MLS is Back Tournament The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League Soccer teams, 24 participated in the tour ...

on July 12, 2020. Kelly recorded his first career assist during a 5-0 win versus

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

on Sept. 12. He finished his rookie season with one assist in 246 minutes played across eight appearances at right back, two of them starts. In March 2021, Kelly joined

Phoenix Rising FC Phoenix Rising Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2014 as Arizona United Soccer Club, the team is a member of the USL Championship. History On March 13, 2014, Kyle E ...

on loan for the 2021 season. On July 1, 2021, Kelly was recalled from loan by the Rapids. Following the 2021 season, Colorado opted to decline their contract option on Kelly. On February 18, 2022, he signed with USL Championship club

Memphis 901 Memphis 901 FC is an American professional soccer team based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 2018, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. Stadium The club currently plays on the grounds of AutoZone Park, a baseball stadiu ...

. He left Memphis following the 2023 season. Kelly joined

FC Tulsa FC Tulsa is an American professional soccer team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma which competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. History The club was founded as Tulsa Roughnecks FC by Jeff and Dale Hubbard, bro ...

on January 5, 2024, but Kelly and Tulsa mutually agreed on a termination of his contract a month later. On February 1, 2024, Kelly signed for

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

on a deal until summer 2024.

International

Kelly was named to

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and current head coach of Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, ...

' U.S. U-20 squad for camp and two friendlies against

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

and

New York Red Bulls II New York Red Bulls II is an American professional soccer team based in Montclair, New Jersey. They are the reserve team of the New York Red Bulls and play in MLS Next Pro, the third tier in the American soccer pyramid. History Red Bull New Yo ...

in July 2016. Kelly scored in stoppage time to defeat NYRBII.

Personal

Kelly was born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in the Czech Republic, and lived in France until he was 10 years old. He later moved to North Carolina

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Jeremy Kelly
at MLSsoccer.com
UNC bio
1997 births Living people American men's soccer players CF Montréal draft picks North Carolina Tar Heels men's soccer players North Carolina FC players Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from North Carolina North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players United States men's under-20 international soccer players North Carolina FC U23 players Sportspeople from Chapel Hill, North Carolina San Francisco City FC players Colorado Rapids players Phoenix Rising FC players Memphis 901 FC players USL Championship players FC Tulsa players Crawley Town F.C. players American expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in England American expatriate sportspeople in England {{US-footy-midfielder-stub