Jonathan Lee Klinsmann (born April 8, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Italian Serie B club Cesena.[3] He is the son of German former player Jürgen Klinsmann. He holds both German and American citizenship.[4]

Jonathan Klinsmann
Klinsmann with Hertha BSC in 2017
Personal information
Full name Jonathan Lee Klinsmann[1]
Date of birth (1997-04-08) April 8, 1997 (age 27)[1]
Place of birth Munich, Germany
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) [2]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
Cesena
Number 33
Youth career
2005–2007 FC Blades 96
2008 Irvine Lasers
2008–2009 Bayern Munich
2010–2011 Pateadores FC Irvine
2012–2014 Strikers FC
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 California Golden Bears 22 (0)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2019 Hertha BSC II 24 (0)
2017–2019 Hertha BSC 0 (0)
2019–2020 St. Gallen 0 (0)
2020–2023 LA Galaxy 17 (0)
2021–2023 LA Galaxy II 3 (0)
2024– Cesena 1 (0)
International career
2014–2015 United States U18 9 (0)
2015–2017 United States U20 21 (0)
2019 United States U23 2 (0)
Medal record
Representing  United States
First place CONCACAF Under-20 Championship 2017
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of May 4, 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 4, 2017

Early life

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Jonathan Klinsmann was born in Munich, Germany, on April 8, 1997. His father is former German player and manager Jürgen Klinsmann, and his mother is former American model Debbie Chin, born in San Jose, California to Chinese immigrants.[5][failed verification] From 1998 to 2008, Jonathan lived with his parents in Newport Beach, California. He then moved back to Munich in 2008 until the end of 2009, while his father was manager of Bayern Munich. Klinsmann graduated in 2015 from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, and from 2015 to 2017 attended the University of California, Berkeley. He has both American and German citizenship. In addition to soccer, Klinsmann also played basketball in his time at the Mater Dei High School.

Youth soccer

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Klinsmann spent most of his youth playing as a striker at FC Blades 96 and the Irvine Lasers. He transitioned to goalkeeper only with his move to the Bayern Munich youth academy. Upon his return to California, he became part of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, and henceforth played for Pateadores FC and then at Irvine Strikers FC. In parallel, he played from 2011 to 2014 for his high school team MDHS Varsity Soccer. In the 2014 season, he completed 33 games for the Strikers in the Development Academy and reached the finals of the National Championship. From 2015 to 2017, Klinsmann played for the California Golden Bears, where he made 22 appearances.[3]

Club career

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Hertha BSC

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After having spent most of his school holidays between 2014 and 2017 with the youth teams of his father's home club VfB Stuttgart, Klinsmann completed part of his preparation for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup at VfB Stuttgart II, West Ham United, and Everton. After initial interest from Eintracht Braunschweig, Klinsmann completed a ten-day trial from July 3, 2017, with Hertha BSC.[4] Even before the ten-day trial was over, Klinsmann signed professionally on July 11, with the contract lasting until June 30, 2019.[6]

Klinsmann made his professional debut for Hertha BSC in the UEFA Europa League on December 7, 2017, in which he saved a penalty in a 1–1 home draw against Östersunds FK.[7]

Los Angeles Galaxy

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On August 20, 2020, Klinsmann signed a three-year contract with LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer (MLS).[8]

Cesena

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On February 1, 2024, Klinsmann signed a 2.5-year contract with Cesena in the Italian third-tier Serie C.[9]

International career

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Jonathan Klinsmann is available to represent Germany from his father's line, the United States, Hong Kong and China from his mother's line.[10]

Klinsmann has been active for the youth teams of the United States since 2014. From 2014 to 2015, he was a member of the under-18 team. In 2017, Klinsmann was included in the squad for the under-20 national team at the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.[11] He played in all but one of the six tournament matches.[12] The United States were crowned under-20 champions of CONCACAF following a 5–3 win on penalties in the final against Honduras.[13] Klinsmann was awarded the golden glove as the best goalkeeper of the tournament,[14] and included in the team of the tournament. In addition, the United States qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea,[14] where Klinsmann started in all five matches.[12] The United States were eliminated from the tournament following a 1–2 defeat after extra time in the quarter-finals against eventual losing finalists Venezuela.

On November 12, 2018, Klinsmann was called up for the first time to the United States men's national soccer team for friendlies against England and Italy as an injury replacement for Zack Steffen.[15]

Career statistics

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As of July 10, 2023[16]
Club Season League National cup[a] Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Hertha BSC II 2017–18 Regionalliga Nordost 10 0 10 0
2018–19 Regionalliga Nordost 14 0 14 0
Total 24 0 24 0
Hertha BSC 2017–18 Bundesliga 0 0 1[b] 0 1 0
FC St. Gallen 2019–20 Swiss Super League 0 0 2 0 2 0
LA Galaxy 2020 MLS 4 0 4 0
2021 MLS 3 0 3 0
2022 MLS 0 0 4 0 4 0
2023 MLS 10 0 2 0 12 0
Total 17 0 6 0 0 0 23 0
LA Galaxy II 2021 USL 3 0 3 0
Career total 44 0 8 0 1 0 53 0
  1. ^ Includes Swiss Cup and U.S. Open Cup
  2. ^ Appearance in UEFA Europa League

Honors

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United States U20

Individual

References

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  1. ^ a b "FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 – List of Players: USA" (PDF). FIFA. June 11, 2017. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 25, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  2. ^ "Jonathan Klinsmann". LA Galaxy. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Jonathan Klinsmann at WorldFootball.net
  4. ^ a b "Jonathan Klinsmann, son of Jürgen, to train with Hertha Berlin". bundesliga.com. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  5. ^ "Klinsmann joined Hertha to embrace roots". ESPN.com. March 6, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  6. ^ "Klinsmann-Sohn wird Hertha-Keeper".[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "UEFA Europa League - Hertha-Östersund". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. December 7, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  8. ^ "LA Galaxy sign goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann". LA Galaxy. August 20, 2020.
  9. ^ "JONATHAN KLINSMANN È UN NUOVO GIOCATORE DEL CESENA" [JONATHAN KLINSMANN IS A NEW PLAYER FOR CESENA] (in Italian). Cesena. February 1, 2024. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  10. ^ "Jonathan Klinsmann Family: Wife, Children, Parents, Siblings".
  11. ^ "Jonathan Klinsmann, son of fired coach, on under-20 roster". USA Today. Associated Press. February 9, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  12. ^ a b Uersfeld, Stephan (July 11, 2017). "U.S. U20 keeper Jonathan Klinsmann signs contract at Hertha Berlin". ESPN. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  13. ^ "U.S. U20s beat Honduras on penalties to win first CONCACAF Championship". ESPN. Associated Press. March 5, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  14. ^ a b "U.S.'s Jonathan Klinsmann named top keeper at CONCACAF under-20s". ESPN. March 6, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  15. ^ Uersfeld, Stephan (November 12, 2018). "Jonathan Klinsmann called up for United States friendlies vs. England, Italy". ESPN. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  16. ^ "Jonathan Klinsmann » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  17. ^ a b "Five Things to Know About U-20 'Keeper Jonathan Klinsmann". www.ussoccer.com. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  18. ^ "TSG announces CU20 Best XI, Awards". CONCACAF.com. March 8, 2017. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
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