Shane Edward O'Neill (born September 2, 1993) is a professional

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 who plays as a center-back for

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

club Radnički 1923. Born in Ireland, he represented the United States at international level.

Club career

Colorado Rapids

O'Neill joined the U.S. Soccer Development Academy with the

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

youth system in 2009. He led the Rapids U18 team in scoring in 2011–12 with 10 goals in 15 games, helping them reach the playoffs. O'Neill originally signed to play college soccer at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, however on June 19, 2012, O'Neill signed with the

as a Home Grown Player. Three months later, he made his professional debut in a 3–0 victory over the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

, coming on as an 86th-minute substitute for Jeff Larentowicz. O'Neill became a regular starter in 2013 and received strong reviews, earning the Rapids' Young Player of the Year award and a nomination for U.S. Soccer Young Athlete of the Year as the Rapids returned to the playoffs. His first career goal came in a 4–1 home win over Montreal Impact on May 25, 2014.

Apollon Limassol

On August 7, 2015, O'Neill was bought by Cypriot club

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

for an undisclosed fee. On August 31, 2015, he was loaned out to Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz in Belgium. The loan was cut short on December 23, 2015, and he returned to

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

having not made an appearance for the Belgian club. He had subsequent loan spells with League 2 side

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

and

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

in Jupiler League, never featuring for

Excelsior

O'Neill joined

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

on a one-year deal for the 2017–18 season.

Orlando City

In June 2018, O'Neill returned to MLS when he signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

. He made his debut in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal defeat to

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

on July 18 and made his

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

debut for the club three days later at Columbus. On November 21, 2019, it was announced O'Neill had his contract option for the 2020 season declined by Orlando as part of the end-of-season roster decisions.

Seattle Sounders FC

On January 14, 2020, O'Neill signed with

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

. O'Neill made his Sounders debut on February 20 coming in as a substitute against CD Olimpia in the

Concacaf Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs on December 1 against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

Toronto FC

On December 22, 2021, O'Neill signed a three-year contract, beginning in 2022, as a free agent with

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

. He made his debut on February 26 in the season opener against

, as a substitute.

Radnički 1923 Kragujevac

On February 13, 2025, O'Neill signed with Radnički 1923. He made his debut on February 27, 2025 against Novi Pazar.

International career

O'Neill is eligible to represent both the United States and the Republic of Ireland. On October 9, 2012, O'Neill was called up by the United States U20 national team for the 2012 Marbella Cup in Spain. A day later, O'Neill made his debut for the U20s in a 2–1 loss to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, however he suffered an eye injury that ruled him out for the rest of the tournament. He later played for the U.S. at the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

. He has yet to debut for the U.S. senior team and has indicated a willingness to accept a call for his native

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He participated in a U.S. camp in January 2014, although he was dropped prior to a friendly against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. He was called up to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

senior squad for a friendly against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

in February 2015.

Personal life

O'Neill is the son of former All-Ireland winning Cork

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

er, Colm O'Neill, and is a nephew of former Kerry Gaelic footballer, Maurice Fitzgerald. O'Neill is the younger brother of Darragh O'Neill, a former punter for Colorado Buffaloes football team. O'Neill's family immigrated to the United States from Ireland when he was a toddler after his father won a green card through the

Diversity Immigrant Visa The Diversity Immigrant Visa program, also known as the green card lottery, is a United States government lottery program for receiving an immigrant visa followed by a permanent resident card. The Immigration Act of 1990 established the curre ...

lottery program. O'Neill grew up in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

and attended Fairview High School. In his senior year of high school, O'Neill was named the Colorado's player of the year by

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

and selected to the All-Colorado boys soccer team. O'Neill played basketball in high school and was named to the second-team all-5A team for his performances during his senior year. Although he committed to the

, O'Neill ultimately signed with his hometown team the

at the age of 18.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Shane 1993 births Living people American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Irish emigrants to the United States Colorado Rapids players Apollon Limassol FC players Royal Excel Mouscron players Cambridge United F.C. players NAC Breda players Excelsior Rotterdam players Orlando City SC players Seattle Sounders FC players Toronto FC players Men's association football defenders Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Association footballers from County Cork Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Major League Soccer players Eerste Divisie players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Eredivisie players People from Midleton Soccer players from Colorado Homegrown Players (MLS) Sportspeople from Boulder, Colorado English Football League players 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Irish sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England