Zachary "Zach" Pfeffer (born January 6, 1995) is an American former

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. In 2010 at the age of 15 he became the fourth-youngest player ever to sign a

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 ...

contract. He retired from soccer in 2016 at 21 years of age, and was an investment banker with

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

and currently works in private equity at Brightstar Capital Partners.

Early life

Pfeffer is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and was born in

Dresher, Pennsylvania Dresher (previously Dreshertown) is a community in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The population was 5,610 at the 2000 census. Because Dresher is neither an incorporated area nor a census-designated place, all statist ...

. He attended

Upper Dublin High School Upper Dublin High School (UDHS) is a four-year public high school located in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. It is the sole high school in the Upper Dublin School District. UDHS is recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by th ...

, finishing on time as he played soccer for Union. He played for YMS Celtics, FC Delco Academy along with the Montgomery Maniacs as a young man in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

before spending a semester at the U-17 national team residency at IMG in 2010. After retiring from soccer in 2016 at 21 years of age, as of January 2017, he was a junior at the

Fox School of Business and Management The Richard J. Fox School of Business and Management is the business school of Temple University. Located in Philadelphia, the Fox School offers several Master of Business Administration programs (full-time MBA, part-time MBA, international MBA, e ...

department of

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

; he became an investment banker thereafter.

Career

Philadelphia Union

Pfeffer then spent several months training with the

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 ...

first team and made an appearance for them in a friendly against

C.D. Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divi ...

on September 1, 2010. Pfeffer was a member of Philadelphia's U-17 squad that competed in the MLS U-17 SUM Cup in Houston, Texas. On December 22, 2010, the Union signed Pfeffer at the age of 15 as their first-ever homegrown player. He was the fourth-youngest player ever to sign an MLS contract, behind

Freddy Adu Fredua Koranteng Adu (born June 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder. The last club he played for was Ettan Fotboll club Österlen FF. From before the time of his signing with D.C. United at th ...

Fuad Ibrahim Abdusalam Abas Ibrahim, known as Fuad Ibrahim and Ibee Ibrahim (born 15 August 1991), is an Ethiopian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Early and personal life Ibrahim was born in Ethiopia and raised in Richfield, Minneso ...

, and

Diego Fagundez Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. E ...

. He scored his first goal for the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in a preseason friendly against

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

on February 14, 2011, off a brilliant, long-range effort. He made his regular season

debut on September 17 against

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

, at 16 years of age. In 2015 in 21 games (11 starts) he had two goals and an assist. Pfeffer was one of the longest-tenured Union players when he left the team.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (loan)

Pfeffer was loaned to

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1899 ...

for the whole of 2013, beginning on January 7, 2013. In the 2012–2013 campaign, Pfeffer scored 2 goals in 9 matches playing for the Hoffenheim U-19 side.

Colorado Rapids

Pfeffer was traded to the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

in January 2016 in exchange for the overall second pick in the

2016 MLS SuperDraft The 2016 MLS SuperDraft was the seventeenth 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 2016 convention was held in Ba ...

, which was used to draft defender

Josh Yaro Joshua Yaro (born 18 November 1994) is a Ghanaian footballer who currently plays for St. Louis City SC in Major League Soccer. Career Youth and college Joshua moved to the United States on a scholarship to attend Cate School in Carpinteri ...

. In 2014 and 2015 he played in the

Major League Soccer Homegrown Game The MLS Next All-Star Game, formerly known as the MLS Homegrown Game, is an exhibition match between selected players in MLS Next Pro. Similar to events such as Major League Baseball's All-Star Futures Game, the National Hockey League's NHL A ...

. He decided to leave soccer, to go to college and then pursue a career in finance. Pfeffer explained: "I sat down and took a look where I wanted to be long-term, and I knew that in a year, five years, 10 years, the financial industry is where I wanted to be. Everything came together nicely with my contract expiring and where I was at academically and where I was professionally.... I looked at where my heart was and where my passions were. Obviously I love the game and I always will, but there was an overriding passion to pursue this next part of my life."

Jim Curtin Jim Curtin (born June 23, 1979) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the current head coach of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. He spent most of his playing career with the Chicago Fire. Youth and ...

, who had been his manager at Union, said: "I want to say he should still be playing because he’s that talented... It’s too young to have a career come to an end."

International

Pfeffer represented the United States at the U-14 and U-15 levels and trained at the

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

, as part of U.S. Soccer's U-17 residency program. On April 18, 2011, he was called up to the U-17 National Team to play in the Mondial Minimes Montaigu Tournament in Montaigu, France, from April 18–26. Pfeffer was called into the first U-18 National Team camp of 2012 by then-Manager

Richie Williams Richard "Richie" Williams (born June 3, 1970) is an American former professional soccer player and coach. Known for his diminutive height and his dogged tackling, Williams spent the vast majority of his playing career in the United States, pla ...

. He was also called up to numerous U-18 National Team camps in 2012. He scored a goal in their November friendly against Canada.

Career statistics

Club

Updated January 15, 2016

Career after soccer

Pfeffer had taken

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

online courses during his soccer career, and completed over three semesters of college before he stopped playing soccer. He as of 2020 was an investment banking analyst for

References

External links

*
U.S. Soccer Development Academy bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfeffer, Zach 1995 births Living people Jewish American sportspeople Jewish footballers American soccer players American expatriate soccer players Philadelphia Union players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Penn FC players Colorado Rapids players Charlotte Independence players Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC players Association football midfielders Soccer players from Pennsylvania Expatriate footballers in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Major League Soccer players USL Championship players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Fox School of Business and Management alumni People from Upper Dublin Township, Pennsylvania Homegrown Players (MLS) Goldman Sachs people 21st-century American Jews