 Reyna with theNew York Red Bulls in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1973-07-20)July 20, 1973 (age 52) | ||
| Place of birth | Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1988–1991 | St. Benedict's Gray Bees | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1991–1993 | Virginia Cavaliers | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1994–1999 | Bayer 04 Leverkusen | 26 | (0) |
| 1997–1999 | →VfL Wolfsburg (loan) | 48 | (6) |
| 1999–2001 | Rangers | 64 | (10) |
| 2001–2003 | Sunderland | 28 | (3) |
| 2003–2007 | Manchester City | 87 | (4) |
| 2007–2008 | New York Red Bulls | 29 | (0) |
| Total | 282 | (23) | |
| International career | |||
| 1994–2006 | United States | 112 | (8) |
Medal record | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Claudio Alejandro Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is an American former professionalsoccer player and former executive. He most recently served as sporting director ofAustin FC.
A formermidfielder, he spent most of his professional career inEurope, playing in theBundesliga forBayer 04 Leverkusen andVfL Wolfsburg, thePremier League forSunderland andManchester City, and in theScottish Premier League forRangers. He finished his career in 2008 forNew York Red Bulls ofMajor League Soccer, where he was teamcaptain.[2]
Reyna earned 112caps for theUnited States men's national team from 1994 to 2006, being selected for fourFIFA World Cups and retiring from the team after the2006 edition. He was also chosen for twoOlympic tournaments, fourCONCACAF Gold Cups and the1995 Copa América. He was named in the Team of the Tournament for the2002 FIFA World Cup, and elected to theNational Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012.
Following retirement, Reyna continued his association with theCity Football Group and became technical director ofNew York City FC in 2013, a position he held until 2019 before joiningAustin FC in a similar position, where he remained until 2023.
Reyna's father Miguel moved to theUnited States in 1968 from Argentina, where he had gone through the youth system ofIndependiente and played professionally withLos Andes.[3] He settled inSpringfield Township, New Jersey in the 1970s.[4] Reyna was born inLivingston, New Jersey, where he learned the game from his father.[5]
InNew Jersey, Reyna became a youth player atJonathan Dayton High School[6] and then transferred toSaint Benedict's Preparatory School, where he was a teammate ofGregg Berhalter andRobert Ducey, before he graduated from St. Benedict's in 1991. During Reyna's three years with the team, St Benedict's went undefeated (65–0) while Reyna was named as the only two-timeParade Magazine's national high school Player of the Year and theGatorade National Player of the Year. In 1999, he was named byThe Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1990s.[7]
Highly recruited out of high school, Reyna elected to attend theUniversity of Virginia from 1991 to 1993 on a fullscholarship. While at Virginia, he spent three seasons on the men's soccer team, coached by future U.S. national team coachBruce Arena. The Cavaliers won theNCAA Championship each of his three seasons. On an individual level, Reyna won theHermann Trophy in 1993[8] and theMAC Award in 1992 and 1993;[9] and was named the 1992 and 1993Soccer America Player of the Year.[10] In 2000, the magazine placed him on itsTeam of the Century and named him theMale Player of the Century.[11]
On August 8, 1994, Reyna signed with GermanBundesliga clubBayer 04 Leverkusen after playing in the1994 FIFA World Cup. He had difficulty finding playing time with the Leverkusen first team, making only five appearances. Leverkusen loaned Reyna to fellow Bundesliga sideVfL Wolfsburg in July 1997. He quickly established himself in Wolfsburg's first team where he became the first American to captain a European club.[12]
He was halfway through his second year with Wolfsburg whenScottish Premier League clubRangers expressed an interest in Reyna.
On April 1, 1999, Rangers paid $826,400 to Wolfsburg and $2.76 million to Leverkusen for Reyna. Reyna would remain with Rangers until December 2001. Despite building his reputation inGermany and on the national team as a creative midfielder, he spent most of his years at Rangers playing right midfield. He scored thirteen goals for the Ibrox club in all competitions, one of the most notable was a strike that proved decisive over Italian club Parma for qualification for the1999–2000 UEFA Champions League. He played for Rangers during theSeptember 11 attacks; a Celtic fan at an Old Firm match in October 2001 was caught on camera making aeroplane gestures, for which the fan was much criticised, later apologising.[13]
On December 7, 2001, Reyna signed a five-year contract at Sunderland in England'sPremier League, for a fee of £4 million. He completed the deal minutes before the midday deadline, having played for Rangers in theUEFA Cup atParis Saint-Germain the night before.[14]
Reyna made his debut on December 15, starting in a 2–0 loss at Southampton in place of the injuredJulio Arca, and had a 20-yard first-half shot saved byPaul Jones.[15] A week later, he scored the only goal of the game against Everton, in his first game at theStadium of Light.[16] On April 1, 2002, he scored twice in a 2–1 home win overLeicester City in which all goals were scored in the first 18 minutes;[17] twelve days later he was sent off at the end of a loss to visitorsLiverpool for a foul on goalscorerMichael Owen.[18]
In October 2002, Reyna injured theanterior cruciate ligament in his knee againstBolton Wanderers, ruling him out for six months and ending his season.[19]
Reyna joinedManchester City on August 29, 2003, for £2.5 million after a move on the same fee toFulham collapsed.[20]
Reyna's time at City was frequently punctuated by injury, restricting him to thirty appearances in his first season with the club, and causing him to miss six months of the2004–05 season. In three and a half seasons at theCity of Manchester Stadium, Reyna made 87 appearances, scoring four goals.[21]
On January 11, 2007, Manchester City managerStuart Pearce announced that the club had agreed to terminate Reyna's contract with a view to a move toMajor League Soccer for family reasons. This was finalized on January 23, 2007.[22][23]
On January 24, 2007, Reyna signed withNew York Red Bulls, where he rejoined his former University of Virginia and U.S. national team head coachBruce Arena.[2] However, much like his years in Britain, Reyna was almost constantly bothered by injuries. He only played in twenty-seven games during two years with New York and only six games in 2008 as he rehabilitated aherniated disc. Reyna announced his professional retirement on July 16, 2008.[24]
As a U.S. national player, Reyna got his first cap againstNorway on January 15, 1994. He was a member of the team at the1994 FIFA World Cup on home turf, but did not play due to ahamstring injury.[25] Reyna did play in the1998,2002 and2006 FIFA World Cups.
In 2002, despite sitting out the opening 3–2 upset win overPortugal due to injury, he was a key contributor in the next three U.S. games — a tie againstSouth Korea, a loss toPoland, and a win overCONCACAFrivalMexico. In thequarterfinals, the U.S. lost to eventual runner-upGermany. He was named to the World Cup all-tournament team, the first American to do so.[26]
In 2006, Reyna again captained the U.S. at the World Cup in Germany. Trailing 1–0 in the opener against theCzech Republic, Reyna fired a 30-yard shot that bounced off the post, the best American chance in the game. In the final group game againstGhana, Reyna suffered a sprainedmedial collateral ligament when he lost the ball toHaminu Draman[27] who then dribbled in alone and scored Ghana's first goal.
On June 23, 2006, the day after the U.S. was eliminated from the World Cup, Reyna announced his retirement from the national team. He ended his international career with 111 caps and eight goals.[28]
Reyna also represented the U.S. at the1992 Summer Olympics inBarcelona and at the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta, Georgia.
In Great Britain, he was occasionally referred to asCaptain America because of his status as captain of the U.S. national team.[29]
On May 22, 2013, Reyna was appointed Sporting Director ofMLS expansion teamNew York City FC.[30] New York City FC made the conference semifinals four of the five years that Reyna was theSporting Director. Between 2016 and 2019, New York City FC accumulated 231 points, the most of any team in the league during that time. Reyna left the club in November 2019.[31]
On November 21, 2019, Reyna was named Sporting Director of another MLS expansion team,Austin FC. Reyna led the club in its 2021 inaugural season with his former US national team teammate, Austin FC head coachJosh Wolff.[32] He guided the club through their first two seasons of existence, including an MLS Western Conference Finals appearance in2022.
On January 26, 2023, Reyna resigned from his role as sporting director amid a personal scandal, remaining as a technical advisor for the club.[33] He had left the club entirely by April 17, 2023.[34]
Reyna marriedDanielle Egan, then a member of theUnited States women's national soccer team, in July 1997, one week after attending the FIFA All-Star Game inHong Kong and two weeks after the U.S. team'sWorld Cup qualifier atEl Salvador. They had four children: Jack (1999–2012),Giovanni (born 2002), Joah-Mikel, and Carolina. Jack died of brain cancer in 2012.[35][36] Giovanni, named after formerRangers teammateGiovanni van Bronckhorst,[37] transferred from theNew York City FC development academy toBorussia Dortmund'sacademy in November 2018.[38] The family resided for a time inBedford,New York.[39][40]
In February 2012, Reyna and fellow New Jersey nativeTony Meola were elected to theNational Soccer Hall of Fame, with Reyna named on 96% of the ballots.[41]
Reyna speaks fluent English and Spanish and is conversational in German.[42]
During and after the2022 World Cup, Claudio and Danielle Reyna were reported to have intervened with theUnited States Soccer Federation, making "veiled threats" in an attempt to get Giovanni additional playing time and better treatment with theUnited States national team, and even attempting toblackmail then-coach Gregg Berhalter.[43] One US Soccer staffer characterized Reyna's interactions as "inappropriate," "bullying" and "mean-spirited." A report by the USSF found that facts gathered during the investigation "might raise a question about whether Mr Reyna's communications with US Soccer officials are violative of theFIFA Code of Ethics and its rule against abuse of position".[44] As a result of thescandal, Reyna stepped down from his position at Austin FC, and the USSF re-wrote its guidelines to limit parent/coach interactions.[45] The couple's actions have been criticized as a case of American soccerelitism.[46][47][48][49]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 20, 1994 | Davidson, North Carolina, United States |  Moldova | 3–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | May 7, 1994 | Fullerton, California, United States |  Estonia | 2–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
| 3 | June 18, 1995 | Washington, D.C., United States |  Mexico | 4–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
| 4 | June 9, 1996 | Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States |  Ireland | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 5 | November 9, 1997 | Vancouver, Canada |  Canada | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying |
| 6 | April 22, 1998 | Vienna, Austria |  Austria | 3–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 7 | February 6, 1999 | Jacksonville, Florida, United States |  Germany | 3–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 8 | June 3, 2000 | Washington, D.C., United States |  South Africa | 3–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
Rangers
Individual
Chasing down a long throw from former Blau-Weiss Gottschee star Dario Brose, [Claudio Reyna], the 1993 College Player of the Year from the University of Virginia and Livingston, N.J., slammed a hard shot at Norway goalkeeper Frode Grodas to create a game-winning rebound chance for Cobi Jones as the United States defeated Norway, 2–1, in Sun Devil Stadium yesterday to begin its 1994 World Cup preparation with an upset triumph.
Book
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | United States captain 1998–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | New York Red Bulls captain 2007–2008 | Succeeded by |
United States squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Awards | |
|---|---|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
