Christian Pulisic is an American (henceforth called football) professional soccer player. He plays for Borussia Dortmund, a German football team. This is highly unusual. While it’s not uncommon for European football teams to have players from all over the world, it is uncommon for an American football player to be among them. When it comes to men’s football, America has a pretty bad track history. This is to say nothing of the levels of excellence that the women’s soccer team has delivered again and again. But our male players often can’t compete with the likes of European and South American clubs.
Christian Pulisic is changing this. At the age of 17, he became the youngest foreigner to score a goal in the German football league Bundesliga (in which Borussia Dortmund contends). He also holds the record for the youngest player in the modern era of football to score a goal for the United States and for the Youngest American player to score a goal in World Cup Qualifying History.
If I had to make a simple analogy: Christian Pulisic is the Michael Phelps of football. But Christian Pulisic is also much more than just the Michael Phelps of football.
Vice News recently published a fascinating documentary on Pulisic, his rise to fame, and where he plans to be in the future. I highly recommend giving it a look:
There you have it. The Michael Phelps of football. Of course, I can’t overlook how Christian Pulisic is just one international player in a sport that thrives off of diverse, international teams.
In fact, one of my favorite aspects about European football is the sheer diversity of it. Take for example Chelsea FC, the team sports players from England, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Netherlands, Jamaica, Russia, Romania, Italy, Nigeria, Spain, Cameroon, France, Portugal, Czech Republic, Germany, Ivory Coast, Serbia, Brazil, and Belgium. That’s a lot of countries! When you look at America’s big four sports (Football, Basketball, Soccer, and Hockey), the vast majority of players are from the US. Across the whole NBA we might get that type of diversity, but not on one team!