Christopher John Albright (born January 14, 1979) is an American former soccer player and current general manager for

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

in Major League Soccer.

Youth and college

Albright attended

William Penn Charter School William Penn Charter School (commonly known as Penn Charter or simply PC) is an independent school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1689 at the urging of William Penn as the "Public Grammar School" and chartered in 1689 to be op ...

. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

early in his career, Albright 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 ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

for two years; he was named an All-American in 1999.

Club career

Considered one of the best attacking prospects in the country, he leveraged foreign interest into getting assigned to

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 ...

, despite the club being low on MLS's pecking order for Project-40 players. The league forced a trade with the

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

for future considerations, which turned out to be

Roy Lassiter Roy Lee Lassiter (born March 9, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He played the first few years of his professional career in Costa Rica. He returned to the United States to play in Major League So ...

, but not until both Albright and Lassiter helped DC to the 1999

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

. But Albright's club career did not live up to the lofty expectations. He struggled to find the back of the net, scoring just four goals total in his first three years in the league. D.C. dealt him to

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 ...

for a draft pick prior to the 2002 season. Albright drifted further onto the midfield, and then found himself in the back as the Galaxy's starting right defender for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. With Los Angeles Albright became one of the league's top

right-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 s ...

s, and was honored as an

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

selection in 2005. During his time with the Galaxy he helped the club capture two

and one U.S. Open Cup title. He appeared in 116 league matches, scoring 7 goals. On January 18, 2008, Albright was traded to

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

in return for allocation money. During the 2008 season Albright was a fixture for New England at right-back appearing in 26 league matches; however during the 2009 season he suffered a season-ending injury that limited him to only one appearance. Albright was traded to

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

on January 14, 2010 in exchange for picks #31 and #48 in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. After beginning the 2010 season on injured reserve Albright regained his form and became the club's starting right-back and helped New York capture the regular season Eastern Conference title. Following the 2011 season, the Red Bulls declined the 2012 option on Albright's contract, making him eligible for the 2011 MLS Re-Entry Draft. Albright was not selected in the draft and became a free agent. On February 13, 2012, Albright signed to play for his hometown Philadelphia Union. He retired at the conclusion of the 2013 season

International career

Albright's first attempt at playing defense came with United States national team coach

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...

, who gave him his first cap on September 8, 1999, against

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 ...

. Albright scored his lone U.S. goal that day and has accumulated 21 caps as of 2007. Albright was listed as an alternate for

's 23-man squad for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and made the final squad two days after the initial roster announcement due to the injury of

Frankie Hejduk Frank Daniel "Frankie" Hejduk (born August 5, 1974) is an American former soccer player who played as a wingback and midfielder. At the club level he represented the Tampa Bay Mutiny, Bayer Leverkusen, St. Gallen, Columbus Crew, and the LA G ...

. Albright did not appear in a match in the tournament.

International goals

Post playing career

In January 2014, Albright was announced as joining the Philadelphia Union's technical staff as assistant technical director. His responsibilities would focus on assisting in player management and movement along with player and coaching decisions. In October 2021, FC Cincinnati announced Albright had been hired as the new General Manager of the club.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

D.C. United

* Major League Soccer MLS Cup (1):

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

* Major League Soccer MLS Supporters Shield (1):

New England Revolution

North American SuperLiga The SuperLiga was an official North American association football competition between teams from the Liga MX of Mexico and Major League Soccer of the United States and Canada, the top divisions in each country. The competition was sanctioned by C ...

(1): 2008

Los Angeles Galaxy

* Major League Soccer MLS Cup (2): 2002, 2005 * Major League Soccer MLS Supporters Shield (1): 2002 *

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

U.S. Open Cup (1): 2005

Individual

: 2005

Technical Director

;Philadelphia Union * ''Supporters Shield'':

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albright, Chris 1979 births Living people American soccer players Soccer players from Philadelphia Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer players D.C. United players MLS Pro-40 players LA Galaxy players New England Revolution players New York Red Bulls players Philadelphia Union players Major League Soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players Major League Soccer All-Stars Olympic soccer players of the United States Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics United States men's international soccer players 2006 FIFA World Cup players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Philadelphia Union non-playing staff William Penn Charter School alumni Association football defenders All-American men's college soccer players