Christian Pulisic

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 both youth 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.

Christian Mate Pulisic (Pulišić, ; born September 18, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for club AC Milan and captains the United States national team.

Nicknamed "Captain America", he is known for his dribbling abilities, explosive speed, and finishing.

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.

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.

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.

In February 2015, Borussia Dortmund signed 16-year-old Pulisic and assigned him first to their U17 squad and in summer 2015 to the U19.

After scoring 10 goals and assisting eight in just 15 games with the Dortmund youth teams, Pulisic was called to join the first team over winter break.

He was then promoted to the senior team in 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.

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 is the youngest player ever to captain the United States national team in the modern era.

Pulisic moved to Germany before his 16th birthday.

He became eligible on the premise that his grandfather was Croatian, therefore 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 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.

His performances made him a finalist for the 2017 Golden Boy award and runner-up of the 2018 Kopa Trophy.

In January 2019, Pulisic moved to Premier League club Chelsea in a transfer worth $73 million (£57.6 million), making him the most expensive North American player of all time, and began playing for the club in the 2019–20 season.

In 2021, he was an integral part of the team that won the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, and became the first American to play in a Champions League final.

With Chelsea he also won the 2021 UEFA Super Cup and 2021 FIFA Club World Cup, before moving to Serie A club AC Milan in June 2023.

He reached the final of the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where he was named best young player of the tournament.

He won the CONCACAF Nations League in 2021 and 2023, winning the best player award of the latter.

Individually, he has won a U.S. Soccer Young Player of the Year award and is tied with Landon Donovan for the record of four U.S. Soccer Player of the Year awards.

He has been called the "face" of American soccer.

Pulisic was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he spent the majority of his childhood.