Steven Mitchell Birnbaum (born January 23, 1991) 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 is captain of and plays as a

center-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 ...

for D.C. United. Birnbaum started every game for D.C. United in the 2018 season. In 2018 he played every minute in all 34 regular season games, and led

Major League Soccer 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 Cana ...

in total clearances, headed clearances, and aerials won, and in 2019 he again led the league in headed clearances and aerials won.

Early life

Birnbaum was born in Newport, California, and is Jewish. His hometown is

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

. His mother is Peggy (Schmidt) Birnbaum, who played softball and volleyball at the University of Missouri. He completed high school early at

Northwood High School Northwood High School may refer to: * Northwood High School (Irvine, California) * Northwood High School (Louisiana) * Northwood High School (Montgomery County, Maryland) * NorthWood High School, Nappanee, Indiana * Northwood High School (North C ...

at age 17. Birnbaum also played volleyball and lacrosse in high school.

Career

Youth and college

Birnbaum played in the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

for Southern California club Pateadores, of which he was the captain. He played for the U.S. U-18 and U.S. U-20 national teams in tournaments in Portugal and Mexico in 2008. He played 72 games over five years of

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 Ki ...

on scholarship at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

for the California Golden Bears men's soccer team, between 2009 and 2013, though

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

the 2012 season, and was team captain. Birnbaum majored in social welfare. He was 2010 and 2011 Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention, 2011 and 2013 All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

first team, 2011 '' Jewish Sports Review'' first-team All-American, a 2013

Missouri Athletic Club The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. L ...

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

semifinalist, an

National Soccer Coaches Association of America The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 3 ...

(NSCAA) 2013 First Team All-American, NSCAA 2013 First Team All-Far-West Team, and a finalist for the ''Soccer News'' Net College Boot Player of the Year Award. While at college, Birnbaum also appeared for

USL PDL USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

club

Orange County Blue Star Orange County Blue Star was an American soccer team based in Irvine, California. Founded in 1997, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Southwest Division of the Wester ...

in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, he won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

with the U.S. team in the 2012 Pan American

Maccabi Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

in Brazil.

Professional

Birnbaum was selected in the first round (2nd overall) of the

2014 MLS SuperDraft The 2014 MLS SuperDraft was the fifteenth SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. The first two rounds of the four round draft took place on January 16, 2014, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Rounds three ...

on January 14, 2014, by D.C. United. He was loaned out to their

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

affiliate

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional ...

in March 2014, making his professional debut on April 5, 2014 in a 3–1 win over the

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...

. He is a crucial player of D.C. United because of his great defensive capabilities, and has played for them since 2014. Following an injury to Jeff Parke, in 2014 Birnbaum became United's starting center back alongside

Bobby Boswell Robert Allen "Bobby" Boswell (born March 15, 1983) is an American retired soccer player. He played his entire professional career in Major League Soccer, mostly with the Houston Dynamo and D.C. United. He retired in 2017 with over 360 appearances ...

. Birnbaum was named a finalist for the 2014

MLS Rookie of the Year The MLS Young Player of the Year Award (known as the Rookie of the Year Award from 1996 to 2019) is an annual award given to the top player in Major League Soccer under the age of 22. The award was initially awarded to a rookie, or a player who no ...

, but lost to Tesho Akindele. Birnbaum scored his first goal for United on February 26, 2015, in a

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

quarterfinal leg against

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...

. In 2016, Birnbaum was the subject of several rumors regarding a possible transfer to Europe or Israel, with

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

offering $1.5 million and mentioned as one possible destination. He was an MLS All Star in 2016. He became the team captain in 2017. Birnbaum started every game for D.C. United in the 2018 season. In 2018 he played a career-high and club record 3,060 minutes, playing every minute in all 34 regular season games. He led the league in total clearances (217), headed clearances (120), and aerials won (173), and came in 6th in the voting for the

MLS Defender of the Year Award Major League Soccer 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 ...

. In 2019, Birnbaum again started every game for D.C. United. His teamwork with fellow defender,

Frédéric Brillant Frédéric Brillant (born 26 June 1985) is a French former footballer who is currently an assistant coach for D.C. United in Major League Soccer. He has played most of his career with clubs in Belgium and in the United States. Career Belgiu ...

, and goalkeeper, Bill Hamid, helped DC to concede the lowest number of goals in the Eastern Conference in 2019. In 2019 he led the MLS in headed clearances (109) and aerials won (177).

International

Birnbaum played for the United States U18 and United States U20 national teams in 2008. Birnbaum debuted for the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team h ...

on January 28, 2015. His first goal for the USMNT was a 90th-minute winner versus

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 ...

on January 31, 2016, a game in which he had already provided an equalizing assist to Michael Orozco to make it 2-2. He also played for the team in the 2016

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario ( pt, Copa América Centenário, french: Coupe Amerique Centennaire, en, Centennial Cup America; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's association football tournament that was hosted by the ...

and World Cup Qualifiers. In 2017, he played against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

and

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

Accolades

Birnbaum was inducted into the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. He was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themsel ...

in 2020.

Personal life

Birnbaum married his fiancé, Jeanne, on December 15, 2018, in Virginia. They live in Logan Circle in Washington, D.C. He and Jeanne had a daughter together in October 2019 and a son in December 2020.

Statistics

College

Club

International

, - , 1. , , January 31, 2016 , ,

StubHub Center Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...

, Carson,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, , , , , , 3–2 , , Friendly ,
United States vs. Iceland - January 31, 2016 - Soccerway

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birnbaum, Steve 1991 births Living people All-American men's college soccer players American soccer players Association football defenders California Golden Bears men's soccer players Copa América Centenario players D.C. United draft picks D.C. United players Jewish American sportspeople Jewish footballers Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer players Orange County Blue Star players People from Mendocino County, California Richmond Kickers players Soccer players from California Soccer players from Washington, D.C. Sportspeople from Irvine, California Sportspeople from Newport Beach, California USL Championship players United States men's international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players USL League Two players People from Northwest (Washington, D.C.) 21st-century American Jews

Early life

Career

Youth and college

Professional

International

Accolades

Personal life

Statistics

College

Club

International

See also

References

External links