Shaquell Kwame "Shaq" Moore (born November 2, 1996) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a

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 ...

for Major League Soccer club

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

and the United States national team. He spent his early professional career in Spain, playing six

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

games for Levante and 99 in Segunda División for

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is kno ...

and

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

. In 2022, he signed for

for a fee of $2 million. Moore made his debut for the United States national team in 2018 and was part of their team that won the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled t ...

Club career

Early career

Moore was born in Powder Springs, Georgia, and was an

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 ...

alumnus during his youth. In April 2014, he started training with Major League Soccer team

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 ...

. In August 2014, Moore moved to Spain and went on to train with three teams in the city of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

, Levante UD, and

Huracán Valencia CF Huracán Valencia Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Torrent, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 2011, it played in Segunda División B until 2016, when it was dissolved. History Huracán Valencia Club de Fútbol was founde ...

, being assigned to the latter's ''Juvenil A'' squad, as the club waited for an international transfer certificate. On May 9, 2015, he finally signed a contract with Huracán. Moore made his senior debut for the club on August 22, 2015, coming on as a second-half substitute for Javi Soria in a 1–1 Segunda División B home draw against CD Atlético Baleares. The following January 7, after being rarely used, he signed with

Real Oviedo Vetusta Real Oviedo Vetusta is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1929 as ''Unión Sportiva Ovetense'', it is the reserve team of Real Oviedo, and currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Gro ...

Levante

On August 30, 2016, Moore moved to another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, Atlético Levante UD in the third division. The following year, he was included in a first-team matchday for the first time on September 30, 2017, for a

match against

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 1 July 1920 as Sport Friends Club, it ...

. Moore made his main squad debut on October 26, 2017, starting in a 2–0 away win against Girona FC for the season's

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

. Three days later he made his La Liga debut, replacing Ivi in a 2–2 draw at

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

. Following success in the previous two fixtures, Moore started his first game for Levante on November 18, 2017, in a 2–0 away defeat of

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at t ...

. He became only the fourth American to play in La Liga after

Kasey Keller Kasey C. Keller (born November 29, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played in Europe and the United States, as well as being the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. national team. He is a four-time FIFA World Cup partici ...

Jozy Altidore Josmer Volmy "Jozy" Altidore ( ; born November 6, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. Altidore made his professional debut in 2006, at the age of 16, with ...

, and

Oguchi Onyewu Oguchialu Chijioke Onyewu (born May 13, 1982) is an American former soccer player who is the secretary-general of R.E. Virton. He was previously the sporting director for Orlando City B. During his professional career, he played as a defender ...

. He finished the campaign with eight first-team appearances. On July 13, 2018, Moore agreed to a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

-long loan deal with Segunda División side CF Reus Deportiu, but on December 28, he was one of five players who left the team due to unpaid wages.

Tenerife

On July 24, 2019, Moore signed a three-year contract with

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

also in the second division. The following May, his deal was extended until 2024. Moore played 101 total games for the team from the Canary Islands, scoring once to open a 4–2 win at

Extremadura UD Extremadura Unión Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 2007, it last played in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la He ...

on February 8, 2020. In his final match on June 19, 2022, the club lost 3–1 at home to Girona FC in the playoff final.

Nashville SC

On July 19, 2022, Moore signed with Major League Soccer side

for a reported fee of $2 million USD. He made his debut 11 days later in a 1–1 home draw with

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 ...

, playing for 63 minutes.

International career

After rejecting

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

at the under-15 level, Moore represented 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 territori ...

at the under-17, under-18, and under-20 levels. He captained the under-17s in 2012–13, including at the

2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was a North American international association football tournament that determined the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup participants from the CONCACAF region. The 2013 edition of the competition was held in Panama. Qu ...

, and appeared with the under-20s at the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

. Moore received his first senior team call-up for a friendly against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

on March 18, 2018. He made his full international debut on June 2, as a 70th-minute substitute for

DeAndre Yedlin DeAndre Roselle Yedlin (born July 9, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who plays for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the United States national team. Primarily a right-back, he has also featured as a right wing-back and ...

in a 1–2 friendly loss away to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. Uncapped since November 2018, Moore was called up by coach

Gregg Berhalter Gregg Matthew Berhalter (, ; born August 1, 1973) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is also the current head coach of the United States men's national soccer team. Berhalter previously coached Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soc ...

for the

. On July 18 in the final group game against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, he scored his first international goal and the only one of the American win; it came after 20 seconds, breaking

Clint Dempsey Clinton Drew Dempsey (; born March 9, 1983) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward and midfielder. During his career, he played in the Premier League for Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur and in Major League Soccer ...

's all-time record for the team's fastest goal by 14 seconds. He played all of his team's games as they won the title, though his appearance in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

was off the bench as

Reggie Cannon Reginald Jacob Cannon (born June 11, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a right-back for Portuguese Primeira Liga club Boavista and the United States national team. He played one year of college soccer for the UCL ...

had recovered from injury. On November 9, 2022, Moore was named by Berhalter to the final U.S. squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Shaq Moore is the son of former Trinidad and Tobago soccer player Wendell Moore. His older brother CJ played soccer for the

Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs The Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent Gardner–Webb University, located in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Gardner–Webb participates in 21 varsity sports at the NCAA Division I level. The school's program ...

in 2012. Through his mother, he is the nephew of Richard Goddard, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for the Caribbean nation.

Career statistics

International

International goals :''Scores and results list Moore's goal tally first.''

Honors

United States *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Individual *

Best XI:

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Shaq 1996 births Living people American sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent People from Powder Springs, Georgia Sportspeople from Cobb County, Georgia Soccer players from Georgia (U.S. state) African-American men's soccer players American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders IMG Academy alumni Huracán Valencia CF players Real Oviedo Vetusta players Atlético Levante UD players Levante UD footballers CF Reus Deportiu players CD Tenerife players Nashville SC players Tercera División players Segunda División B players Segunda División players La Liga players Major League Soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's international soccer players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players American expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Spain American expatriate sportspeople in Spain CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players 21st-century African-American sportspeople