Andrew Jacobson (born September 24, 1985) is a retired American professional soccer player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Early life

Jacobson is Jewish and was born in Fort Myers, Florida. He attended

Gunn High School Henry M. Gunn Senior High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California, the other being Palo Alto High School. Established in , Gunn High School was named after Henry Martin Gunn, who served as the Palo Alto superintendent fr ...

, where he was named 2003 Central Coast Section Player of the Year, and played

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 K ...

UC 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 uni ...

from 2003 to 2006, where he was named to the all Pac-10 team three times.

Professional career

Jacobson was the 24th overall pick in the

2008 MLS SuperDraft The 2008 MLS SuperDraft took place on January 18, 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the ninth annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection was made by the Kansas City Wizards, after acquiring the selection from the expansion San ...

and the first pick by

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

. However, instead of playing in MLS, Jacobson signed a contract with

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

’s Ligue 1. However, injuries limited his playing time, and he never played a first team game for ''Les Merlus''. Despite trialling with several clubs in Europe, Jacobson returned to MLS in 2009 and was allocated to the team which originally drafted him,

. He made his United debut as a substitute in DC's first game of the 2009 MLS season against

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

. Jacobson was selected by Philadelphia Union in the

2009 MLS Expansion Draft The 2009 MLS Expansion Draft took place on November 25, 2009, and was a special draft for the Major League Soccer expansion team Philadelphia Union. FormatSource * Only 1 player may be selected from each team. Five of the league's 15 current teams ...

on November 25, 2009. Jacobson was traded to

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

on February 18, 2011, in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft. He scored his first professional goal on May 28, 2011, while playing for Dallas against Houston Dynamo. After three and a half years served at the Texas club, Jacobson was traded to

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

for a third-round 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 B ...

, becoming only their fifth ever player. As the new expansion club was not due to begin competitive games until 2015, he was immediately loaned out to

Stabæk IF Stabæk Idrætsforening is a Norwegian multi-sports club in Bærum, a municipality bordering on Oslo in the west. It has sections for football, bandy, handball and alpine skiing. While the football team Stabæk Fotball is the most prominent, the m ...

of the

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

to preserve his match fitness. He returned to NYC for the 2015 season and appeared in 33 matches. On March 11, 2016, NYC traded Jacobson to

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

in exchange for targeted allocation money. Jacobson announced his retirement on January 17, 2018.

International

Jacobson was named to the

United States national futsal team The United States national futsal team represents the United States at international competitions. It is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and affiliated with CONCACAF. The U.S. Futsal Federation was founded in 1981 and the first ...

and was a substitute in four matches at the

2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup The 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup was the sixth edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was the first tournament to use t ...

in Brazil.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Andrew 1985 births Living people American soccer players Jewish American sportspeople Jewish footballers California Golden Bears men's soccer players FC Lorient players D.C. United players Philadelphia Union players FC Dallas players New York City FC players Stabæk Fotball players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Association football midfielders Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California Major League Soccer players Eliteserien players D.C. United draft picks Soccer players from California All-American men's college soccer players American men's futsal players Gunn High School alumni 21st-century American Jews