Benny Feilhaber

Benny Feilhaber

Personal information
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Centre/attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	AGF
Number	17
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 9 July 2009

Benny Feilhaber

Medal record
Representing United States
Football
Maccabiah Games
	2005 Maccabiah	Football

Benny Feilhaber (born January 19, 1985, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is an American soccer midfielder, who plays for AGF in the Danish Superliga and the United States national team.

Club career

Early career

Feilhaber, of Austrian Jewish descent, was six years old when his family moved from Brazil to settle in the United States. Benny spent approximately eight years in the New York City suburb of Scarsdale where he played for the local soccer team, the Scarsdale Lightning. In 1996, he led the team and won the New York State Cup for the U-12 division. He attended Northwood High School in Irvine, California where he was a standout midfielder on the school’s soccer team. After graduating in 2003 he played college soccer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he became a mainstay in the Bruins' midfield. Feilhaber made the team as a walk-on, rather than being recruited with a scholarship offer. After his second year at UCLA Feilhaber was called up by the U.S. U-20 national soccer team to play in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands.

Hamburger SV

His performances in the tournament caught the attention of scouts from several European teams and, after representing the U.S. in the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel, Feilhaber signed for Hamburg in July 2005. In the 2005-06 season Feilhaber played with the Hamburg reserve team in the third division, or Regionalliga.

On October 12, 2006, Feilhaber made his Bundesliga debut, coming on as a second half substitute in a 2–1 home loss to Schalke 04. His first start came on October 22, 2006, when he played ninety minutes in a 2–1 win against Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg's first win of the season. During the summer of 2007, Feilhaber was linked with a transfer move away from Hamburg with RC Strasbourg, Heerenveen, Celtic, FC Basel, and especially Derby County expressing interest.

Derby County

On August 9, 2007, Feilhaber obtained a work permit to play for newly promoted Premier League side Derby County. His signing was completed on August 10, 2007, and Feilhaber made his debut for the club on September 17, 2007, coming on as an eightieth minute substitute in a 1–0 win over Newcastle United.

After the sacking of Billy Davies and the appointment of Paul Jewell, Feilhaber saw little playing time at Pride Park. During the 2007-08 winter transfer window Feilhaber was linked with Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and American club New England Revolution but neither deal was completed. Derby released Feilhaber on a free transfer after being relegated from the Premier League after only one season.

AGF Aarhus

On August 15, 2008, Feilhaber signed with Danish Superliga team Aarhus Gymnastikforening, commonly known as AGF. He made his debut for the club on September 1, 2008, coming on as a fifty-ninth minute substitute in a 0–3 loss to FC Nordsjælland.

International career

Feilhaber was called up twice to the U.S. squad for friendlies against Scotland on November 12, 2005, and Germany on March 22, 2006, but did not play in either game.

On November 30, 2006, he turned down an offer by Andreas Herzog to play for Austria and said that he would instead focus on earning a place on the U.S. national team.

On March 15, 2007, Feilhaber was again placed on the 24-man roster by coach Bob Bradley for friendly matches against Ecuador and Guatemala, on March 25 and March 28, 2007, respectively. Feilhaber made his first career start for the U.S. team in the March 25, 2007, game against Ecuador, and scored his first international goal against China on June 2, 2007. He scored the game winning goal on a volley in the 2007 Gold Cup final on June 24, 2007, against Mexico.

After being demoted to the reserves at Derby and picking up a series of injuries, Feilhaber saw less time with the senior national team. However, Feilhaber was named to the U.S. Under-23 squad that competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He appeared as a substitute in all three games for the U.S.

After more than a year since his last action with the senior team, Feilhaber was named to the U.S. roster for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. Along with fellow Bruin teammates Carlos Bocanegra and Jonathan Bornstein, Feilhaber helped United States defeat top-ranked Spain in a semi-final game on June 24, 2009. He then appeared in the final, in which the U.S. fell to Brazil 3–2.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	June 2, 2007	Spartan Stadium, California, United States	China	2-1	4-1	Friendly match
2.	June 24, 2007	Soldier Field, Illinois, United States	Mexico	2-1	2-1	CONCACAF Gold Cup Final

External links

• AGF profile
• official Danish Superliga stats
• Benny Feilhaber at Soccerbase
• Feilhaber interview on Yanks Abroad
• Feilhaber interview on UCLA.com

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