Pulisic, Christian

Pulisic was born in Hershey , PA . His father, Mark Pulisic, was a professional showball player and played for Harrisburg Heath in the 1990s and later became a coach. Parents from early childhood encouraged his passion for football . When, due to his mother’s work, they had to move to the English city ​​of Brackley for a year, Christian was involved in the structure of the local Brackley Town football club ^[6] . After returning home, Pulisic began to play for the PJ Classics youth club, and also in his teens he sometimes trained with the local Harrisburg City Islanders professional club.

Poulisic’s paternal grandfather was a Croat ^[7] , so after moving to Germany Christian applied for Croatian citizenship in order to avoid the need for a German work visa.

Pulisic has a cousin, Will Pulisic , who is also a footballer and acts as a goalkeeper . He, like Christian, played for the U.S. U-17 team at the World Junior Championships in Chile . In March 2016, it was announced that his cousin would also move to the Borussia Academy ^[8] .

Borussia Dortmund

On January 4, 2015, Dortmund Borussia signed the 16-year-old Pulisic at that time and sent him to his youth team until the age of 17, and in the summer of 2015 transferred to the team until the age of 19. After Christian scored 5 goals and made 5 assists in 11 games for the youth Borussia, during the winter break he was involved in the main team ^[9] .

In preparation for the second half of that season, Pulisic played the second half in two friendlies, in which he scored one goal ^[10] . On January 24, 2016, the day after he first got into the application for the match ^[11] , Pulisic played 90 minutes in a friendly match against Union from Berlin . In that match, Christian scored one goal, while Borussia won 3-1 ^[12] . His debut for the first Borussia team in the Bundesliga took place on January 30, 2016 in a match against Ingolstadt , at the 68th minute of the match he replaced Adrian Ramos , Borussia won 2-0 ^[13] .

On February 18, he made his debut in the Europa League , replacing in the second half of the winning match with Porto ^[14] . On February 21, 2016, in a match against Bayer Leverkusen, Christian Pulisic first appeared on the field in the starting lineup of Borussia, played a half-time, and was replaced by Marco Royce during the break. On April 17, in the 30th round of the Bundesliga 2015/16, in the match against Hamburg , Christian scored his debut goal for the main team of Borussia and became the youngest foreigner to hit the gate in the Bundesliga. A week later, on April 23, in the match against Stuttgart , he scored his second goal and became the youngest player to score 2 goals in the Bundesliga. ^[15]

In the 2016/17 season, Pulisic was the youngest player in the Dortmund Borussia ever to enter the UEFA Champions League match ^[16] . The day before his birthday, September 17, Pulisic scored his first goal of the season and gave two assists in a match against Darmstadt , in which Borussia won with a score of 6: 0 ^[17] . In the September match of the Champions League group stage against Real Madrid, Pulisic replaced in the second half and gave an assist in Andre Schurrle , allowing Dortmund to equalize ^[18] .

On January 23, 2017, Pulisic extended his contract with Borussia until 2020 ^{[19] [20]} .

On March 8, in the Champions League 1/8 final match against Benfica , Pulisic scored his first goal in this tournament and became his youngest player to have scored a goal in the bumblebees in the Champions League, at that time he was 18 , 5 months and 18 days ^[21] . On August 5, 2017, Pulisic scored the first goal in his team in the German Super Cup match against Bayern Munich , however, in the main and extra time of the match, the winner was not revealed, and the Dortmund club lost by the end of the penalty shootout ^[22] .

Chelsea

On January 2, 2019, Chelsea announced the signing of Christian Pulisic for 64 million euros. Under the terms of the agreement between the clubs, the winger will spend the remainder of the 2018/19 season on loan at Borussia Dortmund, and upon completion he will complete his transition to the Blue camp ^{[23] [24] [25] [26]} . Pulisic became the most expensive American football player in history, took second place in the list of the most expensive sales of Dortmund Borussia, losing only to the French winger Usman Dembele , for whom 105 million euros were paid in the summer of 2017 and became the third in the list of the most expensive transfers of Chelsea ”, A large sum was paid only for the goalkeeper of Athletic Bilbao , Cep Arrisabalagu and striker of Real Madrid , Alvaro Moratu ^{[27] [28]} . On May 21, 2019, Chelsea formally introduced Pulisic ^[29] . On August 11, in a match against Manchester United , Christian made his debut in the English Premier League .

Christian Pulisic played for the U.S. youth teams under 15 and under 17. In 2015, Christian was the captain of the U-17 team at the World Youth Championships in Chile , where he scored one goal and made one assist in three games ^[30] . In total, for two years spent in the youth team under 17 years old, Pulisic scored 20 goals in 34 matches.

On March 22, 2016, Pulisic was first called to the U.S. national team to participate in the qualifying matches of the 2018 World Cup against Guatemala , but due to his illness he had to miss the first match. On March 29, 2016, in a return match with Guatemala, Pulisic made his debut for the US national team, in that match he replaced Graham Zusi in 81 minutes and became the youngest player in the history of the national team to take part in qualifying matches for the World Cup. On May 28, 2016, in a friendly match against the Bolivian national team, Pulisic replaced 63 minutes later and after 5 minutes scored a goal, which made him the youngest goal author in the history of the US national team.

Pulisic was included in the US national team for the America's Cup 2016 ^[31] .

On September 2, 2016, in the qualifying match for the 2018 World Cup in Russia against the team of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Pulisic scored two goals, which made him the youngest American who scored a goal in the selection for the World Cup ^[32] . On June 8, 2017, Pulisic scored both goals of his team in a match against the national team of Trinidad and Tobago ^[33] . According to the results of qualification, Pulisic became the top scorer of his team, having five goals in his asset, but the US team still did not get into the tournament.

Pulisic was included in the US national team for the CONCACAF 2019 Gold Cup ^{[34] [35] [36]} . In the second match against the national team of Trinidad and Tobago scored a goal, and the United States won with a score of 6: 0. In the semifinal match against the national team of Jamaica, he scored two goals, and the team defeated the opponent with a score of 3: 1. He was recognized as the best young player of the tournament.

Club statistics

As of August 20, 2019 ^{[37] [38]}

Team stats

As of June 10, 2019 ^[39]

Goals for the national team

Records

• The youngest player in the history of the US team, who participated in the selection for the World Cup (17 years 197 days) ^[7]
• The youngest foreigner to score a goal in the Bundesliga (17 years 212 days) ^[40]
• The youngest player to score 2 goals in the Bundesliga (17 years, 218 days) ^[41]
• The youngest goal writer in US team history (17 years 253 days) ^[42]
• The youngest American to score a goal in the selection for the World Cup (17 years and 349 days) ^[32]
• The youngest player recognized as a footballer of the year in the USA (19 years old) ^[43]

Club

  "Borussia Dortmund"

• German Cup Winner: 2016/17

Personal

• Young Soccer Player of the Year in the USA : 2016 ^[44]
• US Footballer of the Year : 2017 ^[43]