Benny Feilhaber

Infobox Football biography
playername = Benny Feilhaber


fullname = Benny Feilhaber
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1985|1|19
cityofbirth = Rio de Janeiro
countryofbirth = Brazil
height = height|m=1.75
position = Midfielder
currentclub = Aarhus Gymnastikforening
clubnumber = 17
youthyears = 2003–2005
2005–2006
youthclubs = UCLA Bruins
Hamburger SV
years = 2005–2007
2007–2008
2008–
clubs = Hamburger SV
Derby County AGF
caps(goals) = 09 0(0)
10 0(0) 01 0(0)
nationalyears = 2007–
nationalteam = United States
nationalcaps(goals) = 016 0(2)
pcupdate = 15:17, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 16:49, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

Benny Feilhaber (born January 19, 1985 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays for Aarhus Gymnastikforening in Denmark. He normally plays as a center midfielder.

Club career

Early career

Feilhaber, of Austrian Jewish descent,cite news | title=Feilhaber going with the flow |last=Powers | first=John | work=Boston Globe | date=2007-06-15 | url=http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2007/06/15/feilhaber_going_with_the_flow/ | accessdate=2007-06-25] was six years old when his family moved from Brazil to settle in the United States.cite news | url=http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/archives/id/33443/ | title=Midfielder signs to German squad | last=Parikh | first=Sagar | work=Daily Bruin |date=2005-07-25] 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 enrolled at UCLA where he became a mainstay in the Bruins’ midfield. Surprisingly, 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 90 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. [cite news | url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2007-08-09-3279345843_x.htm | title=U.S. midfielder Benny Feilhaber gets work permit to play for Derby County | work=USA Today | publisher=Associated Press | date=2007-08-09 | accessdate=2007-08-09] His signing was completed on August 10 2007, [cite news | last=Cornforth | first=Amanda | url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12875_2652885,00.html | title=Feilhaber completes Rams move | work=Sky Sports | date=2007-08-10] and Feilhaber made his debut for the club on September 17, 2007, coming on as an 80th 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 2008-09 winter transfer window Feilhaber was linked with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Major League Soccer, but neither deal was completed. Derby released Feilhaber on a free transfer because they needed to shed his contract 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. [cite news | url=http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=819511 | title=Feilhaber In Denmark To Sign Deal | work=Goal.com | date=2008-08-15 | accessdate=2008-08-29] He made his debut for the club on September 1, 2008, coming on as a 59th 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 approach by coach Andreas Herzog to play for Austria and said that he would instead focus on earning a place on the U.S. 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 in the 2007 Gold Cup final on June 24 2007.

After being demoted to the reserves at Derby and picking up a series of injuries, Feilhaber has seen 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.

International goals

Notes

External links

*soccerbase|42833
* [http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=bestxi&id=001100 Feilhaber interview on Yanks Abroad]
* [http://uclabruins.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/082505aaa.html Feilhaber interview on UCLA.com]
* [http://www.agffodbold.dk Aarhus Gymnastikforening official website]