Landon Donovan

Landon Donovan

Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American soccer player, currently playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He usually plays as a withdrawn forward, and can also be used as an attacking midfielder on either wing.

A member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Soccer residency program in Bradenton, Florida, Donovan was declared player of the tournament for his role in the United States U17 that finished fourth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, Donovan later signed with the German side Bayer Leverkusen. After six years with the club, the majority of which was spent on loan at the San Jose Earthquakes, Donovan moved to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005, though he returned to the Bundesliga for a three-month spell at the start of 2009 on loan to Bayern Munich. He went on loan again from January to March 2010 with English Premier League side Everton, where he scored twice in ten appearances.

For the United States national team, Donovan is the all-time leader in scoring and assists, and has the most caps of all active players. He is a four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award (the only male to do so and the only male to win in consecutive years), as well as the only three-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award, having won it seven times. His goals in the 2010 World Cup made Donovan the highest scoring American player in World Cup history and the third American player to score in more than one World Cup (after Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey).