Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu (born April 26, 1996), commonly known as Jordan Pefok, 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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Union Berlin () or Union Berlin, is a professional German football club in Köpenick, Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweid ...

and the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. He is a former youth international for France.

Club career

Reims

Pefok is a youth product of

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

, having joined the club as a 7-year-old. He made his

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

debut on January 31, 2015, against

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, replacing Alexi Peuget after 67 minutes in a 1–0 away defeat. On August 9, 2015, Pefok scored his first

goal in only his second appearance, against

Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The ...

. He signed his first professional contract in September 2015 committing to a three-year deal with Reims. On October 24, 2017, Pefok was named the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

Player of the Month for September due to ranking among the league's best in both goals and assists, while leading Reims to the top of the Ligue 2 table. On December 16, 2017, he set a career high for goals in a match by netting a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

against

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

. Pefok helped Reims win the

2017–18 Ligue 2 The 2017–18 Ligue 2 (referred to as the Domino's Ligue 2 for sponsorship reasons) season was the 79th season since its establishment. Teams There are 20 clubs in the league, with three promoted teams from Championnat National replacing the th ...

season and promotion to

for the 2018–19 season while also setting a record for the number of points in a Ligue 2 season. He finished the season with 17 goals, the second-highest total among all Ligue 2 players, as well as seven assists.

Rennes

On June 12, 2018, Pefok signed a contract with

side

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. On September 20, he made his European debut in the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

group stage for Rennes. On November 8, he scored his first European goal, against

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

. On December 22, he had his first Ligue 1 brace, scoring two goals and adding an assist against

Nîmes Olympique Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded on 10 April 1937 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second level of French football. Until November 2022, t ...

in a 4–0 victory.

Young Boys

On September 13, 2020, Pefok was loaned to Swiss side Young Boys. After recording 15 goals and four assists across all competitions during the loan, Young Boys exercised the option to make the move permanent, effective July 1, 2021. On September 14, 2021, Pefok scored the winning goal in the opening match of the

2021–22 UEFA Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid ...

group stage. His winner for Young Boys came in the final minute of

stoppage time 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 ...

for a 2–1 win against

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 ...

. Pefok earned the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

scoring title for the 2021–22 season with 22 league goals, despite missing most of May 2022 due to injury. He became the first American to win the Golden Boot for a European league. Pefok recorded a career-best 27 goals and five assists across all competitions during the year including UEFA Champions League and its qualifiers.

Union Berlin

On June 30, 2022, Pefok joined

on a transfer from Young Boys. He scored on his debut for the club against

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany as well as West Berlin. It i ...

club

Chemnitzer FC Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 193 ...

in the first round of the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

on August 1, then scored again against city rivals Hertha in the league opener on August 6.

International career

Pefok was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to Cameroonian parents and grew up in France. As a result, he was initially eligible to play for France, Cameroon, or the United States internationally. Pefok was called up for the first time to the France under-21 national team for two friendly matches in June 2017. He scored against Albania under-21s in his debut, and also played against Cameroon under-20s. The

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

inquired about Pefok, and he was invited to 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 ...

camp for a match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in June 2018 but declined the call-up, citing his transfer from Reims to Rennes, while leaving the door open for possible inclusion in the United States squad in the future. On March 10, 2021, he announced that he had committed to play for the United States. Pefok made his debut for the United States on March 25, 2021, in a 4–1 friendly win over

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 His ...

. On June 3, 2021, he scored the winning goal in the 89th minute of a 1–0 win over

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

in the

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...

semifinal, after entering the game as a late substitution.

Name

Jordan wears Pefok, his mother's maiden name, on the back of his jersey for the United States and did for BSC Young Boys, though he will wear "Jordan" for Union Berlin. On the Squad page for Union Berlin, he is identified as Jordan Siebatcheu.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pefok goal''.

Honors

Reims *

: 2017–18 Rennes *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 2018–19 Young Boys *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

United States *

: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pefok, Jordan 1996 births Living people Soccer players from Washington, D.C. United States men's international soccer players American soccer players French footballers France under-21 international footballers France youth international footballers American emigrants to France American people of Cameroonian descent French sportspeople of Cameroonian descent Association football forwards Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players Stade de Reims players LB Châteauroux players Stade Rennais F.C. players BSC Young Boys players 1. FC Union Berlin players American expatriate soccer players French expatriate footballers American expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland American expatriate soccer players in Germany