Joshua Pynadath (born February 20, 2002) 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

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

team

Jong AZ Jong AZ is a Dutch association football team, based in Zaandam in the Zaanstreek The Zaan () is a small river in the province of North Holland in the northwestern Netherlands and the name of a district through which it runs. The river was origina ...

Club career

Ajax

Pynadath, whose family is

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

, started playing soccer at Red Star Soccer Academy in his youth. In 2013, he made headlines when Spanish giants

Barcelona 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 ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

showed interest in signing him into their youth systems. Pynadath ended up signing with Real Madrid, becoming the first American—and the first player of Indian descent—ever to join the club's youth program. In 2015, Pynadath moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and joined the

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

youth system. On September 16, 2019, he made his professional debut when he came on as a substitute for

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

in an

match against

Jong PSV Jong PSV is a Dutch football team based in Eindhoven. It is the reserve team of PSV Eindhoven and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2013–14 season. History Until 2013, Jong PSV played in the Beloften Eredivisie, a league exclusively for ...

. On April 9, 2020 it was announced that Pynadath had decided to leave the

Ajax Youth Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

at the age of 18, seeking to play in a higher competition. After seemingly going missing for over a year, it was reported that Pynadath was trialing with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

AZ

On June 30, 2022 Pynadath signed a two year contract at

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

, joining its second team. He made his

debut for Jong AZ on 16 August, 2022 in a 2-0 victory against

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

International career

Pynadath has been capped by the United States at the U15, U17, and U18 levels.

References

External links

*
Pynadath's Profile at Real Madrid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pynadath, Joshua 2002 births Living people People from Mountain View, California Soccer players from California Sportspeople from Santa Clara County, California American sportspeople of Indian descent Association football forwards American soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players Eerste Divisie players Jong Ajax players Jong AZ players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands De Anza Force players