How Acquired: Signed by the Galaxy on March 31, 2005.
The all-time leading goal scorer for the LA Galaxy, MLS and the U.S. National Team, Donovan is arguably American soccer’s greatest player ever. Donovan has made three World Cup appearances for the U.S. National Team and won three of his five MLS Cup titles with the Galaxy. A versatile attacker who can play as a forward and in midfield, Donovan has been one of the LA Galaxy’s main offensive weapons since joining the club during the 2005 season.
MLS Highlights
2013: Donovan earned his 13th consecutive MLS All-Star selection as he ended the 2013 campaign with 10 goals and seven assists. Donovan missed the preseason after taking a break from the game of soccer before returning on March 28. He scored his first goal after his brief period away from the game just three matches after returning when he scored against Sporting Kansas City (4/20). He was a leader for the United States as they won the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup as he was awarded the Golden Ball for the tournament’s MVP and a share of the Golden Boot with five goals and seven assists for the Americans. After returning from international duty, Donovan was a major part of LA’s run to the postseason as he scored seven goals and three assists in the club’s final 12 matches of the regular season as LA extended their postseason appearance streak to five seasons. He pulled on level with MLS journeyman Jeff Cunningham for the MLS all-time regular season goal scoring record against Chivas USA (10/6) with three goals in the Galaxy’s 5-0 victory. The record tying-goal came in the second half of the rout as he was able to chip Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy from beyond 20 yards to pull even with Cunningham.
2012: Donovan won his fifth MLS Cup title and his third with the Galaxy while finishing the regular season with nine goals and 14 assists as he earned his 12th consecutive MLS All-Star selection. Donovan began the year on loan to English Premier League club Everton where he made seven appearances before returning to the Galaxy during the preseason. Donovan finished the year with two multi-goal games as he tallied in LA’s road win over Real Salt Lake (6/20) and home victory over Chivas USA (7/21) as he helped carry the Galaxy to the playoffs despite a slow start to the season. He notched four assists in LA’s 4-0 win over Chivas USA (8/12). He added a single goal in LA’s CONCACAF Champions League campaign by scoring late in LA’s 2-2 quarterfinal first leg draw with Toronto FC. Donovan scored twice during the LA Galaxy’s run to the 2012 MLS Cup including the championship-winning goal in the 65th minute of LA’s 3-1 win over the Houston Dynamo. The goal gave Donovan a total of 22 postseason goals which is a league record.
2011: Won his fourth MLS Cup title and second with the Galaxy while repeating as Supporters’ Shield winners. Once again voted the club’s MVP, Donovan finished the season with 12 goals and three assists in the regular season despite missing 11 games because of injury and international duty. An All-Star for the 11th straight season and a member of the MLS Best XI, Donovan scored in five straight games from 4/23-5/25, tallying seven goals in that time. He finished the season with three multi-goal games, tallying twice in the home wins over Portland (4/23) and Sporting Kansas City (5/14) as well as road victory over Vancouver on 7/30, with LA winning all three of those games and Donovan factoring in eight of the 11 goals that the Galaxy scored in those matches. Donovan played the 250th game of his MLS career on 8/20 vs. San Jose and then scored the 115th regular season goal of his MLS career on 9/9, moving him into third place in MLS history. He added a goal in the CONCACAF Champions League, scoring in the second half of the 2-0 home win over Motagua. He had three goals and an assist in the postseason, scoring in each of LA’s final three playoff games, including MLS Cup , when he scored the championship-winning goal in the 72nd minute of the Galaxy’s 1-0 win over Houston. That goal was the 20th of his postseason career, making him the first player in league history to tally 20 goals in the playoffs. 2010: Set a new career-high with 16 assists while captaining the Galaxy to the Supporters’ Shield for the first time in his career. Donovan also tallied seven goals on the season, good for the second most on the team, snapping his run of winning the club’s Golden Boot award every year that he played for the Galaxy. His first goal vs. Chicago on 8/1 was the 100th goal of his MLS career, making him the sixth player in league history to score 100 regular season goals in his career. He added a second goal from the penalty spot in that game and then had two more goals late in a 2- 1 win vs. D.C. United after scoring just three times in the first four months of the year. His second goal against D.C. United on 9/18 was the 71st regular season goal of his Galaxy career, moving him past Cobi Jones to become the club’s all-time leading goal scorer. During the early part of the season, Donovan played a major role in helping Edson Buddle become one of the league’s most dangerous goalscorers, tallying five of his nine assists in the first nine games of the year on Buddle tallies. Donovan did not miss a beat after returning from the World Cup at the start of July, immediately pairing with Buddle for LA’s opening goal vs. Seattle on 7/4. In LA’s game at Seattle two months earlier on 5/8, Donovan set a new career-high with three assists while also scoring his first goal of the year. He went on to score in three consecutive MLS games from 7/18 until 8/1, culminating with his multi-goal game vs. Chicago, his first since the 2009 Galaxy season opener. LA was 11-2-2 when Donovan tallied either a goal or an assist in a game, resulting in 35 of their league-best 59 points. An MLS All-Star for the 10th consecutive season, Donovan was also named to the MLS Best XI for the third straight season. 2009: Was named the Volkswagen MLS MVP for the first time in his career as he scored a team-best 12 goals and added six assists. LA was 6-0-5 in games that Donovan scored as he helped lead the Galaxy to MLS Cup for the first time since 2005. Donovan tallied his only multi-goal game of the year in the season opener on 3/22 vs. D.C. United, scoring twice in the final 10 minutes to earn a 2-2 draw and had his only multi-assist game of the season two weeks later in a 3-2 loss vs. Colorado on 4/4. He either scored or assisted each of the Galaxy’s first eight goals of the season and had six goals and four assists in 11 games before departing for the FIFA Confederations Cup. He missed five games while in South Africa before returning in early July. Shortly after his return, Donovan scored in three consecutive goals, tallying a goal and an assist on 7/16 at New York, a goal at Kansas City on 7/25 and at New England on 8/8. That goal was later voted the MLS Goal of the Week and Goal of the Year. During that streak, he tallied an assist in the 2-2 draw with AC Milan and was one of three players to play the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 loss to Barcelona. He later added goals in wins at Chicago (8/19), vs. Chicago (10/1) and vs. San Jose (10/24). In addition to his MLS MVP award, Donovan was also named the Galaxy’s MVP and to the MLS Best XI for the second straight year. In the postseason, Donovan tied for the MLS lead with three goals in four games. One of three Galaxy players to play every minute of all four postseason games, he scored in both legs of the Western Conference Semifinal Series against Chivas USA and then added the game-clinching penalty in the Western Conference Championship against Houston. He recorded his first assist of the MLS Cup Playoffs in MLS Cup, setting up Mike Magee’s first half goal. However, he missed his penalty attempt in the game’s deciding shootout. 2008: Won the Budweiser Golden Boot award with an MLS-best 20 goals while adding nine assists. He was named to the MLS All-Star Team for the eighth time in his MLS career and was a finalist for the Volkswagen MLS MVP award and was chosen as the Galaxy’s MVP and Humanitarian of the Year. Donovan was named the April Player of the Month after scoring eight goals in four games in the month and won two of his league-best four Player of the Week awards in that month. He recorded the first two hat tricks of his Galaxy career on 4/26 vs. Chivas USA and 9/20 vs. D.C. United and added four other multi-goal games for a league-best six. Donovan tallied his only multi-assist game on 5/18, setting up two goals in the 5-1 win at FC Dallas. He also had a shot deflected into the goal for an own goal in that game. The Galaxy were 4-2-6 when he scored a goal and 2-1-3 when he scored more than one goal. 2007: Led the Galaxy with eight goals and 13 assists on the season, meaning that he was involved in more than half of the club’s goals on the year. The 13 assists set a then career-high for Donovan and were the second most in MLS. He was also the leading scorer at SuperLiga, tallying four goals in five games as LA reached the tournament Final. The Galaxy’s U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year, Donovan recorded his lone multi-goal game in the 2-0 win over Chicago on July 4. Both of those goals came from the penalty spot where Donovan was 5-for-6 on the year. Donovan’s 13th assist of the year gave him 60 for his career, making him one of eight players in league history to have both 60 goals and 60 assists. He was named to the MLS All-Star Team for the seventh straight year. 2006: Was named team MVP after tallying 12 goals and eight assists in 24 games. He missed eight games in the middle of the year while with the U.S. National Team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany but played all but one minute of his team’s final 17 contests. Was named to the MLS All-Star Team for the sixth straight season. 2005: Returned to Major League Soccer after a stint in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen. Had one of the best seasons of his career in his first campaign with the Galaxy, collecting 12 goals and 10 assists in 22 regular season games. He continued his torrid pace with four goals in four postseason games, including both of the club’s tallies in a 2-0 win at Colorado that gave LA the Western Conference Championship. 2004: Led the Earthquakes in assists with 10 and added six goals to lead San Jose to the postseason for the fourth consecutive season. 2003: Named to the Radio Shack MLS Best XI and was the Earthquakes’ Most Valuable Player after completing a stellar season in which he set a career-high with 12 goals and added six assists. He was twice crowned MLS Player of the Month (April and September) and scored his first career hat trick on 9/20 at KC. Was dominant again in the postseason, scoring four goals in four games, including two in a 4-2 win over Chicago in the MLS Cup where he became the first player ever to score more than one goal in the MLS Cup and was named MLS Cup MVP. 2002: Scored seven goals and registered three assists in 20 games with the Earthquakes. Missed two months of the season while with the U.S. National Team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan/Korea but still finished second on the team in goals and was named as an MLS All-Star. 2001: Proved to be one of the brightest stars in MLS in his rookie season. Led the club with 10 assists, a figure that remained a career-high until 2007, and added seven goals. Named MVP of MLS All-Star game after record-breaking four-goal performance. Established himself as a big game player, scoring five goals in six playoff matches, including one in the MLS Cup Final as the Earthquakes won their first-ever MLS Cup.
Career Highlights
2012: Returned to Everton for a two month loan, joining the club at the start of January and staying through late February. During his second spell at Goodison Park, Donovan helped his club record wins over Manchester City and Chelsea, tallying an assist in each of those games. He finished his time in England, having played in nine games, tallying six assists and helping Everton move into the top half of the Premier League table. Everton also advanced to the FA Cup Quarterfinals during Donovan’s loan, winning three times in the competition with Donovan playing in wins over Tamworth and Fulham, tallying three assists in those contests. 2010: Spend 10 weeks during the offseason on loan with Everton of the English Premier League, appearing in 13 games in all com- petitions for the club. He made his debut on 1/8/10 in a 2-2 draw at Arsenal, setting up Everton’s opening goal. He scored his first goal for the club in the 2-0 win vs. Sunderland on 1/27 and then added his second in his final game at Goodison Park on 3/7 as Everton defeated Hull City 5-1. In addition to playing in the Premier League, Donovan saw action in the FA Cup as well as the Europa League. 2008-09: Spent the offseason on loan at Bayern Munich. He scored four goals in five friendlies before making his competitive debut for the club in the DFB Cup when he came on as a second half substitute in a 5-1 win over Stuttgart on 1/27. He made his Bundesliga debut for the club on 1/30 in a 1-0 loss at Hamburg. 2004-05: After the 2004 MLS season, Donovan returned to Germany to re-join Bayer Leverkusen of the German Bundesliga. He appeared in seven games in three months with Leverkusen before signing with the Galaxy in March 2005. 1999-2001: Signed a contact with Bayer Leverkusen in 1999 at the age of 17 after impressing with the U.S. Under-17 National Team. He played primarily with the Leverkusen reserves before joining the San Jose Earthquakes on loan in March 2001.
National Team
Donovan is the all-time leader in goals and assists with the U.S. National Team, scoring 46 goals and adding 47 assists in his 138 games with the Red, White and Blue. A seven-time Honda Player of the Year and four-time U.S. Soccer Male Athlete of the Year, Donovan won both awards in for the second straight year in 2010. One of the breakout stars at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Donovan scored three times in the four games that the U.S. played in. His goal early in the second half against Slovenia on 6/18/10 helped spur his team onto a 2-2 draw in Johannesburg. Five days later, with the U.S. facing elimination, Donovan scored one of the most famous goals in the history of American soccer, slotting home a rebound late in second half stoppage time to give his team a 1- 0 win and the top seed in Group C. In the Round of 16, Donovan’s second half penalty kick helped the U.S. tie the score at 1-1, only for them to fall 2-1 to Ghana in extra time. He was on the field for all 390 minutes of the tournament; taking his total of World Cup games played to 12, which is a U.S. record, as are his five career World Cup goals. One year earlier in South Africa, at the Confederations Cup, he scored twice and added an assist, scoring against Italy and then again in the Final against Brazil, while also setting up Michael Bradley’s goal in the 3-0 win vs. Egypt, as the U.S. reach the Final for the first time. He registered either a goal or an assist in eight of the 10 games that the U.S. played in the final round of World Cup Qualifying ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. His 10 assists in 2009 set a new National Team record, while his second half goal at Honduras on 10/10/09 was the game-winning goal as the U.S. qualified for the World Cup. He scored the 35th goal of his National Team career in the 2-0 win over Sweden at The Home Depot Center on 1/19/08 to become the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. Donovan had his best season for his country in 2007 when he set a National Team record for points in a year by tallying 22 points on nine goals, including a hat trick against Ecuador in March, and four assists in 12 games. A fixture in the starting XI under Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, Donovan appeared in and started every game during both the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, scoring in the 2-0 Quarterfinal win over Mexico in 2002. He made his National Team debut on 10/2500, coming on as a second half substitute and scoring in a 2-0 win over Mexico. Donovan also represented the U.S. at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, scoring one goal to help lead the U.S. to a fourth place finish. Donovan also helped the U.S. to a fourth place finish in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship in New Zealand. He claimed the Golden Ball as the tournament’s most valuable player after scoring three goals in six games. Made his first-ever appearance for the U.S. at any level on 2/13/98 when he scored in a 2-1 loss to Mexico with the U-17’s.
