US footballers have slowly but surely broken down barriers in Europe – gaining places in top leagues, becoming fan favorites, even winning the Champions League. Here are 10 of the best
In the early 1990s, two phenomena coincided. US soccer players, having emerged from 40 years in the World Cup wilderness, started to find steady work in Europe. There was also this new-fangled thing called the World Wide Web, which allowed the scattered pockets of soccer supporters in the US to find each other and share information about the exploits of the latest American soccer saviors lurking somewhere in the Luxembourg fifth division or perhaps in Germany’s Oberliga.
Since then, US soccer players have slowly but surely broken down barriers in Europe — gaining places in top leagues, becoming supporters’ favorites, and even winning the Champions League. From Fulham to … well, mostly Fulham, but also Borussia Dortmund, Everton, Tottenham, Rangers, Hannover and Chelsea … it’s where a handful of players have made indelible impressions.
