Toni Ståhl (born 11 May 1985) is a Finnish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who last played for

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

Career

Early career in Finland

Ståhl attended high school at Pohjois-Haagan Yhteiskoulu, and was part of the youth teams of the most successful Finnish club of all time,

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history ...

.UConn bio
/ref> After his time at HJK, he had a short spell with the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

team Atlantis Akatemia in late 2002, before joining

FC Espoo FC Espoo is a Finnish football club based in the city of Espoo, Finland. Founded in 1989, the first team plays in the Finnish Second Division (Kakkonen), the third tier of the Finnish football pyramid. The first team of FC Espoo plays its hom ...

in 2003.

American college career

Ståhl accepted an invitation from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

to play

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 Kingd ...

in the United States, and he joined the

Connecticut Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's fo ...

for the 2006 season. He was chosen as the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

Rookie of the Year after his first season with the Huskies, after being the only freshman to start and play in all 19 games that season. In 2009, he was named Big East Midfielder of the Year as he concluded his career with the Huskies tallying two goals and nine assists. He was also a nominee in the semifinal stage for the

M.A.C. 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 the ...

Professional

In December 2009, Ståhl signed a contract with

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 Canada ...

, even though clubs from Sweden, Denmark and English

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

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

showed interest in him. Ståhl was subsequently drafted in the second round (17th overall) of the

2010 MLS SuperDraft 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

. He was sent off on his MLS debut on 25 March 2010, in a game against

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

. In April 2010 he played on loan with the Union's

USL-2 The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer ...

affiliate

Harrisburg City Islanders Penn FC (formerly the Harrisburg City Islanders) was an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the United States soccer ...

. On 14 January 2011, the Union announced that they declined the option on Ståhl's contract and he subsequently became a free agent. Ståhl signed with

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profes ...

of the

on 1 April 2011. Following an impressive debut season for the Strikers, Ståhl was named to the NASL 2011 Best XI Team as one of four defenders.http://www.nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=1365

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stahl, Toni 1985 births Living people Association football defenders Association football midfielders Finnish footballers Finnish expatriate footballers Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players UConn Huskies men's soccer players Philadelphia Union players Penn FC players Fort Lauderdale Strikers players North Carolina FC players University of Connecticut alumni Expatriate soccer players in the United States Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players USL Second Division players North American Soccer League players Philadelphia Union draft picks FC Espoo players People from Tuusula Sportspeople from Uusimaa