Khiry Lamar Shelton (; born June 26, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who plays for Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City. He has also represented the United States at the under-18 and under-23 levels.

Club career

College and amateur

Shelton was born in

Fort Carson Fort Carson is a United States Army post located directly south of Colorado Springs in El Paso, Pueblo, Fremont, and Huerfano counties, Colorado, United States. The developed portion of Fort Carson is located near the City of Colorado Springs ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and raised in

Leander, Texas Leander ( ) is a city in Williamson County and Travis County, Texas, United States. The population was 59,202 at the 2020 census and 67,124 at the 2021 census estimate. A suburb just north of Austin, and part of the metropolitan area, it was th ...

. He attended high school at Vista Ridge in

Cedar Park, Texas Cedar Park is a city and a major suburb of Austin in the state of Texas, approximately to the north-west of the center of Austin. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the city's population was 77,595. History Before the arrival of European sett ...

, becoming a four-year letterman for their soccer team, while in 2010 he was selected as Offensive

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

and was a first-team member of the All District select. Joining Lonestar SC, he was a member of the academy and played for them at under-17/18 level, winning the Disney Showcase Championship with them in 2010. Joining

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

, he worked his way immediately into their soccer program, starting the first six games of the season before an injury took him off the active roster for the rest of the season. In his second year, he received a Pac-12

Honorable Mention An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An aw ...

for his fifteen appearances, scoring in his first three appearances and finishing the season as the joint second highest scorer for the team. His third year saw him make ten appearances and equal his four goals from the season before.

New York City FC

On January 15, 2015, Shelton was selected 2nd overall by

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

in the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Janua ...

, with the expansion club turning down an offer of a considerable amount of allocation money in exchange for their pick to instead draft the player who Head Coach Jason Kreis described as "our top guy". He made his debut for the club coming in their first Major League Soccer match, away to fellow expansion team Orlando City SC at the Citrus Bowl; he came on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Mehdi Ballouchy in an eventual 1–1 draw. Shelton totalled 17 games in his first season as his team missed out on the

MLS Cup Playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams quali ...

, and scored one goal: on May 15 at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

against the Chicago Fire, he replaced

Patrick Mullins Patrick Michael Mullins (born February 5, 1992) is an American retired soccer player. A left-footed forward, he was a two-time winner of the Hermann Trophy as the top men's college soccer player and was the leading scorer in NCAA Division I s ...

after 60 minutes, and in added time he equalized for a 2–2 draw from

David Villa David Villa Sánchez (; born 3 December 1981) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Villa is regarded by pundits as one of the best forwards of his generation, and one of the best Spanish strikers of all time. ...

's pass.

Sporting Kansas City

On December 14, 2017, Shelton was traded to Sporting Kansas City in exchange for Saad Abdul-Salaam.

SC Paderborn

On January 5, 2019, Shelton signed a contract through 30 June 2021 with

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

Return to Sporting Kansas City

On December 9, 2019, it was announced that Shelton would return to Sporting Kansas City on a contract through to 2022 with an option for 2023.

International career

Shelton was called up to the United States under-18 team in 2010, attending a training camp with them in California before flying out to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in December 2010 to compete in an international tournament against the hosts plus

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He played in all three games, but failed to score in any. Some five years later, his drafting by New York City FC led to Shelton receiving a call-up to the United States under-23 in their games against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in March 2015. Shelton was brought on from the substitutes bench after 61 minutes against Bosnia and played the full match against Denmark, though again he failed to score on either occasion. In January 2016, Shelton received his first call up to the senior

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

squad for friendlies against

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 ...

and

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 ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

*
Oregon State University bio

Soccerway profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelton, Khiry 1993 births Living people African-American soccer players American soccer players Association football forwards Austin Aztex players Lane United FC players Major League Soccer players New York City FC draft picks New York City FC players Oregon State Beavers men's soccer players People from El Paso County, Colorado Soccer players from Colorado Soccer players from Texas Sporting Kansas City players Sporting Kansas City II players United States men's under-23 international soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players USL Championship players USL League Two players SC Paderborn 07 players 2. Bundesliga players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Bundesliga players 21st-century African-American sportspeople Expatriate footballers in Germany