Christian Pulisic
Christian Mate Pulisic is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for club AC Milan and the United States national team. Regarded as one of the best North American players of all time, he is nicknamed "Captain America" and known for his dribbling, directness, and playmaking.
Born and raised in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Pulisic began his professional career at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where he progressed quickly through the team's youth academy, featuring in only 15 youth games. He was then promoted to the senior team in January 2016, at age 17. He featured sparingly in his first season at the club, but his involvement began increasing dramatically in the following season, where he was a mainstay in the Dortmund team that won the 2016–17 DFB-Pokal. His performances made him runner-up of the 2018 Kopa Trophy; presented to the world's best player under the age of 21.
In January 2019, Pulisic moved to Premier League club Chelsea in a transfer worth $73 million, making him the most expensive North American player of all time, and began playing for the club in the 2019–20 season. During the following season, he won the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, and became the first American to play in a Champions League final. In the 2021–22 season, he won the 2021 UEFA Super Cup and 2021 FIFA Club World Cup. Pulisic moved to Serie A club AC Milan in June 2023, beginning in the 2023–24 season and won the 2024–25 Supercoppa Italiana.
Pulisic played for the United States at under-15 and under-17 levels, before making his senior national team debut in March 2016 at age 17. He became the youngest player ever to captain the United States national team at age 20. At the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Pulisic was named the best young player of the 2019 tournament. He won the CONCACAF Nations League in 2021, 2023 and 2024, winning the best player award of the 2023 tournament. Individually, he is tied with Landon Donovan for the record of four U.S. Player of the Year awards and is his country's fifth-highest all-time leading goalscorer. He has been widely viewed as the "face" of American soccer.
Early life
Pulisic was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he spent the majority of his childhood. His parents, Kelley and Mark Pulisic, both played collegiate soccer at George Mason University and his father also played professional indoor soccer for the Harrisburg Heat in the 1990s and later became a coach at the youth, collegiate, and professional levels. Growing up, his soccer idol was Luís Figo.While his mother was on a teacher exchange in England through the Fulbright Program, Pulisic lived for a year in Tackley, Oxfordshire. At age seven, he began playing for the youth team of Brackley Town. When his father was general manager of indoor club Detroit Ignition in the mid-2000s, Pulisic lived in Michigan and played for Michigan Rush. While in Michigan, he attended Workman Elementary School.
Club career
After the family returned to the Hershey area, Pulisic grew up playing for local U.S. Soccer Development Academy club PA Classics and occasionally training with local professional club Harrisburg City Islanders, now known as Penn FC, during his teen years. In the summer of 2010, he went on a five-day trial at Chelsea's Cobham base.Borussia Dortmund
Pulisic moved to Germany before his 16th birthday. He became eligible because, as his grandfather was Croatian, he could get a European passport and play starting at age 16 rather than 18. He initially had issues getting the passport, but it eventually panned out.In February 2015, Borussia Dortmund signed 17-year-old Pulisic and assigned him first to their U17 squad, winning the Under 17 Bundesliga in 2014–15. He was immediately promoted in summer 2015 to the U19 squad and won the Under 19 Bundesliga for the 2015–16 season. After scoring 10 goals and assisting 8 in just 15 games with the Dortmund youth teams, Pulisic was called to join the first team over winter break.
2015–16: Breakthrough season
In January 2016, while with the first team in the winter break, Pulisic played the second half of two friendly matches, scoring one goal and assisting another. On January 24, a day after making his debut on the first team bench, Pulisic played 90 minutes in a friendly against Union Berlin, scoring a goal and assisting another. He made his Bundesliga debut in a 2–0 win against Ingolstadt on January 30, 2016, coming on as a second-half substitute for Adrián Ramos. On February 18, Pulisic made his UEFA Europa League debut as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 victory against Porto.Pulisic made his first Bundesliga start on February 21, against Bayer Leverkusen, before eventually being substituted for Marco Reus. He made his second Bundesliga start on April 10, against Schalke 04 in the Revierderby, playing 73 minutes before being replaced by İlkay Gündoğan. In response to Pulisic's performance against Schalke, team manager Thomas Tuchel said, "He's a teenager in his first year of professional football. His first two games in the starting eleven were in Leverkusen and here today in Schalke – not the easiest of tasks. It shows our huge appreciation that we see him as a full time player on our team. He was a valuable substitute against Werder Bremen and Liverpool. He has looked really good recently which has been proved today. It is completely normal that he could not have played with this pace and this intensity for over 90 minutes."
Pulisic scored his first Bundesliga goal for Borussia Dortmund on April 17, opening the scoring in a 3–0 home win against Hamburg. It made him the youngest non-German and fourth-youngest player to score a goal in the Bundesliga, at 17 years and 212 days old. With his goal against VfB Stuttgart on April 23, Pulisic broke another Bundesliga scoring record by becoming the youngest player to score two goals in the top-flight league. The game also marked his first yellow card in the Bundesliga, as a result of a challenge on Emiliano Insúa.
2016–19: DFB-Pokal win and departure
In the 2016 International Champions Cup friendly pre-season tournament, Pulisic scored in stoppage time against Manchester City to send the clubs into penalties. During his first competitive appearance in his second year with the club, Pulisic became Dortmund's youngest player ever to play in the UEFA Champions League. The following weekend he scored his first goal of the season and provided two assists in a 6–0 victory against Darmstadt 98, one day before his 18th birthday.In a September Champions League group stage game against Real Madrid, with Dortmund trailing 2–1, Pulisic came on as a second-half substitute and helped set up André Schürrle's late goal, allowing Dortmund to earn a 2–2 draw. In a substitute appearance on October 22, Pulisic assisted one goal and scored the equalizer against Ingolstadt 04, who were last place at the beginning of the day, to salvage a draw, coming back from 3–1 down.
On January 23, 2017, Pulisic signed a new deal with Dortmund which would keep him at the club until 2020. On March 8, 2017, Pulisic scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 4–0 victory over Benfica in the round of 16, making him Dortmund's youngest ever scorer in the competition at the age of 18 years, 5 months, and 18 days. He was a victim of the Borussia Dortmund team bus bombing in April 2017, and was among his teammates who testified in 2019.
Pulisic assisted one of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's goals in the win, advancing Dortmund to the quarter-finals. On August 5, 2017, Pulisic scored the first goal in the DFL-Supercup against Bayern Munich.
Pulisic was on the final shortlist of the 2017 Golden Boy award, finishing 6th. In the following year, he was nominated final shortlist of the inaugural Kopa Trophy, finishing runner-up to Kylian Mbappé during the 2018 ceremony.
Chelsea
On January 2, 2019, Pulisic signed with Premier League club Chelsea for an estimated £58 million transfer fee. The deal also saw him stay at Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. This transfer made Pulisic the most expensive American player and Borussia Dortmund's second most expensive sale of all time, behind Ousmane Dembélé. Upon his arrival in the summer, he spoke of his desire to replicate the form shown by Eden Hazard and described the forward as a soccer idol.2019–20: Debut season and Premier League breakthrough
On August 11, 2019, Pulisic made his Premier League debut for Chelsea in a 4–0 defeat to Manchester United. Pulisic scored his first goals for Chelsea on October 26, 2019, completing a "perfect" hat-trick in a 4–2 away win against Burnley. The hat-trick was the first of his career, and he became the second American to achieve the feat in the Premier League after Clint Dempsey for Fulham in 2012, as well as the youngest hat-trick scorer in Chelsea's history at the age of 21 years and 38 days. He also became the first Chelsea player to score a perfect hat trick since Didier Drogba in 2010. Pulisic scored in his next two league outings, a 2–1 away victory against Watford and a 2–0 home win over Crystal Palace.On October 23, 2019, during a Champions League match against Ajax, Pulisic played as a substitute and assisted Michy Batshuayi's late goal 1–0 win. The Belgium striker thumped home fellow substitute Pulisic's low cross with just four minutes remaining at Johan Cruyff Arena to earn the Blues back to back away wins in the competition. He scored his first Champions League goal for Chelsea in a 2–2 draw away to Valencia on November 27.
When the Premier League fixtures resumed after the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pulisic had recovered from injury and came off the bench to score the equalizer in Chelsea's 2–1 win against Aston Villa on June 21, 2020. In the following match, Pulisic scored the first goal in Chelsea's 2–1 victory over Manchester City, a result that eliminated the second-placed City from title contention and confirmed Liverpool as Premier League champions. On July 22, Pulisic scored a goal in a 3–5 defeat to Liverpool.
On August 1, he scored the opening goal in the 2020 FA Cup Final against Arsenal after five minutes, becoming the first American player to score in the final of the competition, but was substituted early in the second half after sustaining a hamstring injury. Arsenal eventually came from behind to win the match 2–1.
In August 2020, Pulisic was named to the eight-player shortlist for the inaugural Premier League Young Player of the Season award, which was eventually awarded to Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Pulisic ended the season with 11 goals and 10 assists in all competitions.