Matthew Olawale Olosunde (born March 7, 1998) 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Cymru Premier club

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

Club career

New York Red Bulls

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and raised in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.New York Red Bulls Academy The New York Red Bulls Academy is the multi-layered youth system of the New York Red Bulls. It is the first cost-free program in Major League Soccer that provides a professional soccer training environment for youth players in the New York Tri-Sta ...

as a right-winger, and represented the club's under-16 and under-18 academy teams. On August 16, 2014, he played 71 minutes for the New York Red Bulls Reserves in a 1–0 win over the Wilmington Hammerheads in the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

. Having verbally committed to play college soccer at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, Olosunde left the Red Bulls following the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup to further his education.

Manchester United

In January 2016, it was announced that Olosunde would join

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. It was reported that the club had offered him online courses at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

to persuade him to join. He received international clearance and officially joined the team on March 11. He initially joined the Under-18 set-up, and was promoted to the Under-23 team ahead of the 2016–17 season. He made 18 appearances in his inaugural

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

campaign. In April 2017, Olosunde was nominated for the club's Goal of the Month Award for his solo effort against

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 ...

in the

Dallas Cup The ''Dallas Cup'', is an annual international Football (soccer), football tournament for invited youth teams. The tournament was established i1980and is held in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, with FC Dallas serving as its host club. Venues used for the t ...

. The following month, he traveled with the first team squad to

games against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. In June 2019, Olosunde was released by Manchester United.

Rotherham United

On July 5, 2019, Olosunde signed a two-year contract with Rotherham United. He scored his first goal for the club, and his first professional goal, in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie against Everton on January 9, 2021. On June 7, 2021, it was announced that he would leave the club as a free agent at the end of the month, having turned down a new contract offer.

Preston North End

On June 30, 2021, it was announced that Olosunde had agreed to join Preston North End on a two-year deal. In his first year, Olosunde played in only 2 games after suffering from

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

and Groin injuries for most of the season.

The New Saints

On February 16, 2024, Cymru Premier side

announced the signing of Olosunde on a one-year deal.

International career

Olosunde has played for the United States at several youth levels. For the United States under-17, he played 22 matches and was part of the 21-player roster that represented United States at the

2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the sixteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, held in Chile from 17 October to 8 November 2015. Host selection The following four countries bid to host the tournament: * * * * Venues Along with proposing ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He only appeared in the team's first match against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Due to his heritage, he is also eligible to represent

at the international level. He made his senior debut for the

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 territorie ...

on May 28, 2018, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olosunde, Matthew 1998 births Living people American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Manchester United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players The New Saints F.C. players English Football League players Cymru Premier players Soccer players from Trenton, New Jersey Expatriate men's footballers in England American soccer players of Nigerian descent United States men's international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players Men's association football fullbacks United States men's under-23 international soccer players 21st-century African-American sportspeople