Conor Stephen O'Brien (born October 20, 1988) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player.

Youth career

Conor O'Brien won a State Cup as a Boys-Under-10 player with the Long Island Junior Soccer League's Terryville Fire in 1999. He was the only Fire player remaining the next time they won the State Cup—as an Under-18 side in 2007. In 2007, O’Brien pulled off a stunning accomplishment when he led his club team, the Terryville Fire, to a U-18 national title. For those who follow youth soccer in this country, Terryville's national title was a Hollywood–style Cinderella run that would surpass what was seen in either “Miracle” or “Hoosiers.” A Long Island native, O'Brien was one of the most decorated players at

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

, finishing his career 2nd in school history in assists and 9th in goals. He also was named first-team all-

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

twice, winning the league's Offensive Player of the Year Award twice. He also became Bucknell's first All-American in 33 years and was named a finalist for the Hermann Trophy, given to the national player of the year. At Bucknell he started every game over four years and led the club to their first ever Patriot League title.

Club career

After finishing his Bucknell career, O’Brien went undrafted in the 2010 MLS Superdraft despite rave reviews at the MLS Combine in 2010. Not wanting to give up on his professional ambitions, O’Brien joined

Blokhus FC Jammerbugt Fodbold Club was a Danish club based in Pandrup, Jammerbugt Municipality, that folded after the court in Hjørring issued a bankruptcy decree on 22 August 2022. History Jetsmark IF The club was founded on 27 August 1973 as a merger b ...

, a tiny club playing in the third division of Denmark. At Blokhus, the midfielder found immediate success. O'Brien found the net 10 times as the club stormed to the 2nd Division West title and then emerged victorious in the promotion Following the 2010–11 season, he signed an eighteen-month contract with

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

in the Danish SuperLiga. In his first year, he scored 3 goals in 25 league appearances. After scoring 4 goals in 20 appearances during the first half of the 2012-13 Danish Superliga, O'Brien's contract expired, and he did not choose to resign with the club. After his contract expired with SønderjyskE, O'Brien signed with reigning SuperLiga winners

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish association football, football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the to ...

. and participated in the team's 2012-2013 Champions League campaign. Following O'Brien's brief stay with the Wild Tigers he would head to

Odense Boldklub Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city of Odense, in southern Denmark. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play ...

. When struggling to maintain position in the league table, Odense BK seemed to prefer to play a product from the team's youth system rather than the American. During his stay in Denmark's top flight, O'Brien logged 9 goals and 5 assists across all competitions for Odense BK, SönderjyskE and FC Nordsjælland, for whom he made his Champions League debut in 2013. Conor O'Brien has the most goals in Denmark's SuperLiga as an American born player with 8 and is third in most games played with 79. In the summer of 2014 O'Brien signed a one-year contract with Austrian Bundesliga side

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

, in which-given the opportunity to play-he returned to form, recording 29 appearances on the pitch with 4 goals in Austrian Bundesliga domestic matches. In addition to competing interest from the Danish Superliga, MLSsoccer.com has learned that O'Brien also had free agent contact from Major League Soccer. Conor O'Brien has started his current season with

AC Horsens Alliance Club Horsens (), commonly referred to as AC Horsens () or simply Horsens, is a Danish professional football club based in Horsens, Central Denmark Region. Founded in 1994, as a superstructure on Horsens fS (founded 1915), Stensballe ...

in 2016 after recording 21 starts and 23 appearances with the squad in the 2015-16 SuperLiga season. He left the club in the summer 2017 and briefly went to

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start) is a Norwegian Association football, football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the Norwegian First Division, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was ...

in neighboring country Norway. O'Brien had a short stint with

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

side

Charlotte Independence Charlotte Independence is an American soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that plays in the USL League One, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid. The Independence currently play their home games at American Legion Memoria ...

during their 2018 season.

References

External links

*
Conor O'Brien
at

Bucknell Bison The Bucknell Bison are the athletic teams that represent Bucknell University. The program is a member of the Patriot League for most NCAA Division I sports and Division I FCS in football. List of sports History The Bucknell Bison are the a ...

website
Conor O'Brien
at NIFS.no ( NTB) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Conor 1988 births Living people Soccer players from New York (state) Bucknell Bison men's soccer players North Carolina FC U23 players Jammerbugt FC players Sønderjyske Fodbold players FC Nordsjælland players 1. Wiener Neustädter SC players AC Horsens players Charlotte Independence players USL League Two players Danish Superliga players American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players People from Mount Sinai, New York Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Norway American expatriates in Austria American expatriates in Denmark American expatriates in Norway IK Start players Norwegian First Division players