Maximilian Michael Arfsten (born April 19, 2001) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a wing-back for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

and the United States national team.

Early years

Youth

Arfsten attended San Joaquin Memorial High School. In 2016, he posted 21 goals, 11 assists and earned all-league first team honors. He ended his junior season with All-CMAC first team recognition and league MVP honors by posting 20 goals and 21 assists. He helped the team win the league and Central Section championships that year, also earning all-league first team honors for the third straight season, and captured league MVP accolades for the second year in a row after ending his final season with 50 goals and 20 assists. Arfsten also played club soccer with local side California Odyssey for nine years, where he was the leading National Premier Leagues goal scorer.

College

In 2019, Arfsten attended the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

to play college soccer. Between 2019 and 2021, he made 39 appearances for the Aggies, scoring nine goals and tallying eight assists. He earned

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

All-Freshman Team honors in 2019 and was named Big West Offensive Player of the Year and All-Big West First Team in 2021.

Club career

San Jose Earthquakes II

In 2022, Arfsten opted to leave college early and play professionally. He signed his first contract with

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

side San Jose Earthquakes II ahead of their inaugural season. In his lone season with the Quakes reserve team, Arfsten scored nine goals in 24 appearances.

Columbus Crew

In December 2022, Arfsten was announced as eligible for selection in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft. He was selected 14th overall by

on December 21, 2022. He signed a two-year deal with the

side on February 21, 2023. Arfsten made his debut and scored his first goal for Columbus on March 25, 2023, in a 6–1 victory over

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won o ...

after coming on as a late substitute.

Career statistics

International

Honors

Columbus Crew *

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Leagues Cup The Leagues Cup is an annual soccer competition between clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS), the main soccer league in the United States, and Liga MX, the main soccer league in Mexico. It is hosted in Canada and the United States. It began in ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

runner-up:

References

External links

*
Maximilian Arfsten
at UC Davis Aggies {{DEFAULTSORT:Arfsten, Maximilian 2001 births Living people American men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Columbus Crew draft picks Columbus Crew players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players The Town FC players Soccer players from Fresno, California UC Davis Aggies men's soccer players 21st-century American sportsmen United States men's international soccer players 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup players