Landon Donovan

Personal information
Full name	Landon Timothy Donovan
Date of birth	March 4, 1982 (1982-03-04) (age 27)
Place of birth	Ontario, California, United States
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Forward, Winger, Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Los Angeles Galaxy
Number	10
Youth career
1998–1999	IMG Soccer Academy
1999–2001	Bayer Leverkusen
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2005	Bayer Leverkusen	7	(0)
2001–2004	→ San Jose Earthquakes (loan)	87	(32)
2005–	Los Angeles Galaxy	121	(64)
2009	→ Bayern Munich (loan)	6	(0)
National team‡
1998–1999	United States U-17	41	(35)
2000	United States U-23	15	(9)
2000–	United States	120	(42)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 October, 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 10 October, 2009

Landon Donovan (born March 4, 1982, in Ontario, California) is an American soccer player who currently plays for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. He plays usually as a withdrawn forward, and can also be used as an attacking midfielder on either wing.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 national U-17 team that finished fourth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, before signing for Bayer Leverkusen. After six years with the club, including a loan spell at San Jose Earthquakes, Donovan moved to Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005, though he returned to the Bundesliga for a six-month spell at the start of 2009 on loan to Bayern Munich.

For the United States national team, Donovan currently is the all-time leader in scoring and assists, and has the most caps of all active players.¹² He is the only six-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award.³

Early life and career

The son of Timothy Donovan (a former semi-pro ice hockey player) and Donna Kenney-Cash, Donovan grew up in Redlands, California. Encouraged by his older brother, Donovan was five years old when he started playing soccer. He attended Redlands East Valley High School, where he was a standout gymnast and soccer player.

Donovan was a member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Soccer residency program in Bradenton, Florida with many international teammates including Oguchi Onyewu, DaMarcus Beasley, and Bobby Convey. The U-17 team that was formed from that class competed at the 1999 U-17 World Championship, finishing in fourth-place with Donovan receiving the Golden Ball as the tournament's outstanding player. Shortly after the tournament, Donovan signed a professional contract with German club Bayer Leverkusen, becoming the youngest American to sign with a foreign club.

Club career

San Jose Earthquakes

Unhappy with his situation in Germany, he was loaned to the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer for the 2001 season. In MLS, Donovan had immediate success, leading the Earthquakes to MLS Cup championships in 2001 and 2003 and becoming one of the most recognizable faces of soccer in America.⁴ In four years in the league, he scored 32 goals and 29 assists in league play, and 10 goals and six assists in the playoffs. Donovan was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2003.⁵

Bayer Leverkusen

On June 3, 2004, Bayer Leverkusen announced that Donovan would return to the club in 2005, and Landon followed suit, announcing his return to Germany on November 23, 2004. He then became the first man to be named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year two years in a row,⁵ taking the award for that year. After playing seven games with Bayer Leverkusen, only two of which were starts, Landon stated his intentions to return to MLS. Despite a late offer from English club Portsmouth, Bayer Leverkusen officials respected his wishes. However, because San Jose GM Alexi Lalas had traded away Donovan's rights, the Los Angeles Galaxy, his hometown team, were able to trade leading scorer Carlos Ruiz to FC Dallas to get on top of the MLS allocation order one week before the season started.⁶

Los Angeles Galaxy

In his first season with the Galaxy, Donovan scored twelve league goals and ten assists and added four goals and an assist in the playoffs as the Galaxy won the MLS Cup (his third MLS championship to date). He was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI after the season.⁷ In his second season with the Galaxy, Donovan scored twelve league goals and eight assists. Donovan also scored three goals in the Open Cup. Despite this, Donovan and the Galaxy failed to make the playoffs and lost in the Open Cup to Chicago Fire. Donovan's playoff goals make him MLS' second all-time leading scorer in the playoffs with fourteen, behind Carlos Ruiz with fifteen.⁸ In the 2007 Superliga tournament, Donovan was the top scorer. Donovan scored a goal in every game except for the Final, where he missed the game winning penalty kick. Donovan now has eighty-four all-time regular season goals putting him in seventh place on the league's all time scoring list. Although the 2008 season was a disappointment for the Galaxy, it was a banner year for Donovan as he scored twenty goals and nine assists in twenty-five games, forming a strong offensive partnership with David Beckham and Edson Buddle.⁸

Bayern Munich

Since the summer of 2008, Donovan had been linked with a move back to Europe during the January 2009 transfer window. Landon himself mentioned German side Bayern Munich (then managed by California resident and former Galaxy consultant Jurgen Klinsmann) as a potential destination.⁹ Concerning a possible move to Europe he said, "If the Galaxy is OK with me going, if the league is willing to accept an offer, if an offer comes. In my situation, I can't be super picky but if it's the right offer and makes sense with the right team ... there's a lot of ifs. But from my standpoint, I'm ready to take that step and I want to."¹⁰ From November 11-21, 2008 he trained with Bayern Munich,¹¹ and at the end of his training period, Bayern Munich entered into negotiations to acquire him on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, allowing Donovan to play for the German club until the start of the next MLS season in mid-March.¹² Donovan made his friendly debut on January 10 against Al-Jazira Club, playing the full ninety minutes and assisting on a goal by Bastian Schweinsteiger,¹³ and scored his first goal for the club in his second game, in a friendly against Al-Wehda.¹⁴

Donovan made his competitive debut for Bayern in their 5-1 win over Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal on January 27, 2009, coming on as a 66th minute substitute for Luca Toni,¹⁵ and made his Bundesliga debut on January 30, 2009, against Hamburg, as a seventy-seventh minute substitute for Bastian Schweinsteiger.¹⁶ He ended up with a total of four goals scored in five friendly matches for Bayern, but did not score any in league play.¹⁷ The team declined to extend his loan, with Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stating that with strikers such as Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni already available, additional forwards should be young "with perspective".¹⁸

International career

Donovan (left) playing against Jamaica's Fabian Dawkins during an international game in 2006

Donovan was a member of the inaugural class at U.S. Soccer's full-time residency program at the IMG Soccer Academy, in Bradenton, Florida. He won the Golden Ball at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship as the tournament's best player. In his two years playing for the U-17 team, he scored thirty-five goals in forty-one games.¹⁹ In 2000, he moved up to both the United States U-23 men's national soccer team as well as the senior team.

After starring for the U.S. team that nearly won a medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics, he earned his first cap for the United States senior team on October 25, 2000, against Mexico, and scored in his debut. Donovan had a breakout tournament, scoring two goals during the United States' run to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, and was named Best Young Player for the tournament. He had a rare four-goal game against Cuba in 2003. On April 11, 2006, Landon became the United States' all-time assist leader with twenty-three when he set up Ben Olsen; the previous all-time assist leader was Cobi Jones.²⁰

Donovan was a member of the U.S. squad at the 2006 World Cup, in which the Americans were eliminated in the group stage. He led the U.S. to the 2007 Gold Cup title with 4 goals, including a crucial penalty in the 2-1 victory over Mexico in the final. On January 11, 2008, Donovan scored his 35th international goal, a penalty against Sweden, and passed Eric Wynalda as the United States' all-time leading goal scorer. Donovan reached 100 caps at the age of twenty-six on June 8, 2008, in a friendly against Argentina that ended in a 0–0 draw, and was the fourth-youngest person to do so.

Donovan captained the U.S. in the group stage of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup due to Carlos Bocanegra's injury absence. Donovan scored on a penalty kick against Italy, shortly after his team had been reduced to 10 men, and scored for the United States in a 3-2 defeat to Brazil in the final. On October 10, 2009, Donovan scored on a free kick, giving the U.S. a 3–2 victory over Honduras in San Pedro Sula, clinching a berth in the 2010 World Cup.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
01.	October 25, 2000	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, USA	Mexico	1 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
02.	January 19, 2002	Rose Bowl, Pasadena, USA	Korea	1 – 0	2 – 1	2002 Gold Cup
03.	March 2, 2002	Safeco Field, Seattle, USA	Honduras	2 – 0	4 – 0	Friendly
04.	March 2, 2002	Safeco Field, Seattle, USA	Honduras	4 – 0	4 – 0	Friendly
05.	May 16, 2002	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, USA	Jamaica	4 – 0	5 – 0	Friendly
06.	June 14, 2002	Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon, South Korea	Poland	1 – 3	1 – 3	2002 World Cup
07.	June 17, 2002	Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju, South Korea	Mexico	2 – 0	2 – 0	2002 World Cup
08.	March 29, 2003	Qwest Field, Seattle, USA	Venezuela	2 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
09.	May 26, 2003	Spartan Stadium, San Jose, USA	Wales	1 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
10.	July 6, 2003	Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, USA	Paraguay	1 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
11.	July 13, 2003	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA	Cuba	1 – 0	5 – 0	2003 Gold Cup
12.	July 13, 2003	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA	Cuba	2 – 0	5 – 0	2003 Gold Cup
13.	July 13, 2003	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA	Cuba	4 – 0	5 – 0	2003 Gold Cup
14.	July 13, 2003	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA	Cuba	5 – 0	5 – 0	2003 Gold Cup
15.	January 18, 2004	Home Depot Center, Carson, USA	Denmark	1 – 1	1 – 1	Friendly
16.	June 20, 2004	Grenada National Stadium, St. George's, Grenada	Grenada	1 – 0	3 – 2	Q 2006 World Cup
17.	September 4, 2004	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA	El Salvador	2 – 0	2 – 0	Q 2006 World Cup
18.	October 13, 2004	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA	Panama	1 – 0	6 – 0	Q 2006 World Cup
19.	October 13, 2004	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA	Panama	2 – 0	6 – 0	Q 2006 World Cup
20.	June 4, 2005	Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, USA	Costa Rica	1 – 0	3 – 0	Q 2006 World Cup
21.	June 4, 2005	Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, USA	Costa Rica	2 – 0	3 – 0	Q 2006 World Cup
22.	June 8, 2005	Estadio Rommel Fernandez, Panama City, Panama	Panama	2 – 0	3 – 0	Q 2006 World Cup
23.	July 7, 2005	Qwest Field, Seattle, USA	Cuba	2 – 1	4 – 1	2005 Gold Cup
24.	July 7, 2005	Qwest Field, Seattle, USA	Cuba	4 – 1	4 – 1	2005 Gold Cup
25.	July 9, 2005	Qwest Field, Seattle, USA	Canada	2 – 0	2 – 0	2005 Gold Cup
26.	January 20, 2007	Home Depot Center, Carson, USA	Denmark	1 – 1	3 – 1	Friendly
27.	February 7, 2007	University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, USA	Mexico	2 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
28.	March 25, 2007	Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, USA	Ecuador	1 – 0	3 – 1	Friendly
29.	March 25, 2007	Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, USA	Ecuador	2 – 1	3 – 1	Friendly
30.	March 25, 2007	Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, USA	Ecuador	3 – 1	3 – 1	Friendly
31.	June 12, 2007	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA	El Salvador	2 – 0	4 – 0	2007 Gold Cup
32.	June 16, 2007	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA	Panama	1 – 0	2 – 1	2007 Gold Cup
33.	June 21, 2007	Soldier Field, Chicago, USA	Canada	2 – 0	2 – 1	2007 Gold Cup
34.	June 24, 2007	Soldier Field, Chicago, USA	Mexico	1 – 1	2 – 1	2007 Gold Cup
35.	January 19, 2008	Home Depot Center, Carson, USA	Sweden	2 – 0	2 – 0	Friendly
36.	June 15, 2008	Home Depot Center, Carson, USA	Barbados	4 – 0	8 – 0	Q 2010 World Cup
37.	October 11, 2008	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA	Cuba	3 – 1	6 – 1	Q 2010 World Cup
38.	June 3, 2009	Estadio Saprissa, San José, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1 – 3	1 – 3	Q 2010 World Cup
39.	June 6, 2009	Soldier Field, Chicago, USA	Honduras	1 – 1	2 – 1	Q 2010 World Cup
40.	June 15, 2009	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa	Italy	1 – 0	1 – 3	2009 Confederations Cup
41.	June 28, 2009	Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg, South Africa	Brazil	2 – 0	2 – 3	2009 Confederations Cup
42.	October 10, 2009	Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras	Honduras	3 – 1	3 – 2	Q 2010 World Cup

Personal life

Donovan is married to, but currently separated from²¹, actress Bianca Kajlich, whom he wed on December 31, 2006.

In July 2009, Donovan came under fire regarding his critical comments about teammate David Beckham in Grant Wahl's book The Beckham Experiment, calling Beckham a poor captain and teammate. He later apologized to Beckham for discussing his concerns to a reporter rather than to him directly.²²

Honors

United States

• CONCACAF Gold Cup (3): 2002, 2005, 2007

Los Angeles Galaxy

• MLS Cup (1): 2005
• Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (1): 2005
• Major League Soccer Western Conference Champions (1): 2009

San Jose Earthquakes

• MLS Cup (2): 2001, 2003

Individual

• FIFA U-17 World Championship Golden Ball: 1999
• CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 2002, 2003, 2005
• United States All-time Goalscorer
• United States All time Assists Leader
• U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 2003, 2004
• Honda Player of the Year: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009
• Major League Soccer MVP: 2009
• MLS Cup MVP: 2003
• MLS All-Star MVP: 2001
• MLS Golden Boot: 2008
• MLS Goal of the Year: 2009
• MLS All-Time Best XI
• MLS Best XI: 2003, 2008, 2009
• Los Angeles Galaxy Golden Boot: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Major League Soccer

• Career regular seasons goals list: 6th place
• Career playoff goals list: 1st place
• Career playoff assists list: 7th place

See also

• List of current MLS players

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Landon Donovan

• Official website
• MLS player profile
• Landon Donovan's U.S. Olympic Team profile
• Leverkusen Who's who
• Landon Donovan on Yanks Abroad
• RSSSF Archive
• Football Database Profile and Statistics for Landon Donovan

Landon Donovan - Navigation boxes and awards v • d • e United States squad – 2000 Summer Olympics 1 Friedel • 2 Dunseth • 3 McCarty • 4 Agoos • 5 O'Brien • 6 Hejduk • 7 DiGiamarino • 8 Califf • 9 Olsen • 10 Vagenas • 11 Albright • 12 Corrales • 13 Donovan • 14 Victorine • 15 Whitfield • 16 Wolff • 17 Casey • 18 Howard • Coach: Charles v • d • e United States squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Friedel • 2 Hejduk • 3 Berhalter • 4 Mastroeni • 5 O'Brien • 6 Regis • 7 Lewis • 8 Stewart • 9 Moore • 10 Reyna • 11 Mathis • 12 Agoos • 13 Jones • 14 Cherundolo • 15 Wolff • 16 Llamosa • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Meola • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 22 Sanneh • 23 Pope • Coach: Arena v • d • e United States squad – 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Cannon • 2 Hejduk • 3 Berhalter • 4 Mastroeni • 5 Vanney • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Lewis • 8 Stewart • 9 Kirovski • 10 Donovan • 11 Mathis • 12 Bocanegra • 13 Martino • 14 Armas • 15 Convey • 16 Califf • 17 Beasley • 18 Howard • 19 Hahnemann • 20 Twellman • 21 Cunningham • 22 Klein • 23 Gibbs • Coach: Arena v • d • e United States squad – 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup Third Place 2 Hejduk • 3 Vanney • 4 Bocanegra • 6 Gibbs • 7 Lewis • 8 Stewart • 10 Reyna • 11 Mathis • 12 Califf • 13 Mulrooney • 15 Convey • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Ralston • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 24 Brown • 25 Mastroeni • Coach: Arena v • d • e United States squad – 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions (3rd title) 1 Hahnemann · 2 Hejduk · 3 Vanney · 4 Onyewu · 5 O'Brien · 6 Cherundolo · 7 Beasley · 8 Dempsey · 9 Quaranta · 10 Donovan · 11 Casey · 12 Conrad · 13 Noonan · 14 Armas · 15 Olsen · 16 Wolff · 18 Keller · 19 Ralston · 21 Davis · 22 Sanneh · 23 Pope · 24 Reis · 25 Mastroeni · Coach: Arena v • d • e United States squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Howard • 2 Albright • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 O'Brien • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Lewis • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Reyna • 11 Ching • 12 Berhalter • 13 Conrad • 14 Olsen • 15 Convey • 16 Wolff • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Hahnemann • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 22 Onyewu • 23 Pope • Coach: Arena v • d • e United States squad – 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions (4th Title) 1 Howard • 2 Hejduk • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 Feilhaber • 6 M. Bradley • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Donovan • 11 Ching • 12 DeMerit • 13 Bornstein • 14 Ralston • 15 Simek • 16 Parkhurst • 17 Spector • 18 Keller • 19 Clark • 20 Twellman • 21 Mapp • 22 Onyewu • 23 Guzan • Coach: B. Bradley v • d • e United States squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-Up 1 Howard • 2 Bornstein • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Casey • 5 Onyewu • 6 Pearce • 7 Beasley • 8 Dempsey • 9 Davies • 10 Donovan • 11 Wynne • 12 M. Bradley • 13 Clark • 14 Califf • 15 DeMerit • 16 Kljestan • 17 Altidore • 18 Guzan • 19 Adu • 20 Torres • 21 Spector • 22 Feilhaber • 23 Robles • Coach: B. Bradley v • d • e MLS top scorers 1996: Lassiter | 1997: Moreno | 1998: John | 1999: Kreis | 2000: Diallo | 2001: Pineda Chacón | 2002: Ruiz | 2003: Ruiz | 2004: Ching | 2005: Twellman | 2006: Cunningham | 2007: Emilio | 2008: Donovan | 2009: Cunningham v • d • e MLS All-Star Game MVP 1996: Valderrama | 1997: Valderrama | 1998: McBride | 1999: Preki | 2000: Diallo | 2001: Donovan | 2002: Etcheverry | 2003: Ruiz | 2004: Guevara | 2005: Twellman | 2006: De Rosario | 2007: Ángel | 2008: Blanco | 2009: Howard v • d • e MLS Cup MVP 1996: Etcheverry | 1997: Moreno | 1998: Nowak | 1999: Olsen | 2000: Meola | 2001: De Rosario | 2002: Ruiz | 2003: Donovan | 2004: Eskandarian | 2005: Ramírez | 2006: Ching | 2007: De Rosario | 2008: Barros Schelotto Awards and achievements Preceded by Brad Friedel U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year 2003, 2004 Succeeded by Kasey Keller Sporting positions Preceded by Cobi Jones Los Angeles Galaxy captain 2007 Succeeded by David Beckham Preceded by David Beckham Los Angeles Galaxy captain 2009 – Succeeded by Incumbent v • d • e Major League Soccer · MLS All-Time Best XI Goalkeeper Tony Meola Defenders Jeff Agoos · Marcelo Balboa · Eddie Pope Midfielders Landon Donovan · Marco Etcheverry · Piotr Nowak · Preki · Carlos Valderrama Forwards Brian McBride · Jaime Moreno v • d • e Honda Player of the Year 1991: Hugo Perez · 1992: Eric Wynalda · 1993: Thomas Dooley · 1994: Marcelo Balboa · 1995: Alexi Lalas · 1996: Eric Wynalda · 1997: Eddie Pope · 1998: Cobi Jones · 1999: Kasey Keller · 2000: Claudio Reyna · 2001: Earnie Stewart · 2002: Landon Donovan · 2003: Landon Donovan · 2004: Landon Donovan · 2005: Kasey Keller · 2006: Clint Dempsey · 2007: Landon Donovan · 2008: Landon Donovan · 2009: Landon Donovan