Alejandro Bedoya (born April 29, 1987) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

Early life

Bedoya, of Colombian descent, was born in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

and raised in

Weston, Florida Weston is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, just west of Fort Lauderdale. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which is anchored by Miami. The population was 68,107 at the 2020 census. Weston is 30 miles northwest of Miami ...

, where he played youth soccer for local clubs; the

AYSO The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) is one of the two main national organizations in youth soccer in the United States for children aged 4 through 19. AYSO was established as a non-profit soccer organization in Torrance (a suburb of Lo ...

club: Weston Fury, and FUTSOC USA ENIGMA Elite. In high school he won a state championship while playing for St. Thomas Aquinas High School in 2005. His father, Adriano, played professional soccer in Colombia with Millonarios, and his grandfather, Fabio, played for

Deportes Quindío Deportes Quindío is a professional Colombian football club based in Armenia that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded on 8 January 1951, and its best achievement was winning the 1956 league tournament. They play ...

Club career

Örebro SK

Although college seniors often enter the

MLS SuperDraft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada. It takes place in January and is used by teams to select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the le ...

, Bedoya explored options abroad. In late 2008, he signed a contract with Swedish club

Örebro SK Örebro Sportklubb, more commonly known as Örebro SK, Örebro or (especially locally) ÖSK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Örebro. The club are affiliated to Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Behrn ...

and joined the club on January 7, 2009. On April 6, he made his debut for Örebro SK coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute. He scored his first goal for Örebro SK when he gave the team a 1–0 lead against

Assyriska FF Assyriska Fotbollsföreningen, also known simply as Assyriska FF, is a Swedish football club based in Södertälje, Stockholm County. The club, formed in 1974 by Assyrian immigrants, has advanced through the league system and is currently playi ...

in the

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams co ...

. Over the course of the season, Bedoya worked his way into the starting line-up and became a mainstay at central midfield in Örebro SK 4–3–3 formation. In February 2011, Bedoya was given a trial at English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, but was not signed.

Rangers

On July 21, 2011, it was announced that Bedoya had agreed to personal terms with Scottish club Rangers, pending the approval of a work permit, with a view to joining in January 2012, once the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

season was finished. However, Örebro SK and Rangers agreed an undisclosed fee on August 17, 2011, allowing him to join Rangers immediately. Bedoya made his debut as a second-half substitute in a

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

match against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

on August 28, 2011. He scored his first Rangers goal in a 5–0 victory over

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in ...

on May 2, 2012, to help secure second place for the Glasgow club.

Helsingborgs IF

When Rangers entered administration, Bedoya signed a short-term contract with

champions

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs IF (full name Helsingborgs Idrottsförening), commonly referred to as HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, following promotion in the 2021 Superett ...

on August 10, 2012. On August 18, 2012, in his debut with the club, Bedoya scored an overhead kick goal in his team's 2–1 loss to

Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

. He started both games for Helsingborg in the home-and-away series against Celtic in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

; the Swedish champions were eliminated on a 4–0 aggregate. Helsingborg were sent into the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League group stage featured 48 teams: the 7 automatic qualifiers, the 31 winners of the play-off round, and the 10 losing teams from the Champions League play-off round. The teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, a ...

where they finished in third place and Bedoya scored two goals against

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betw ...

and

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedes ...

. Bedoya received a number of offers after his contract expired with Helsingborg but decided to stay for at least another six months.

Nantes

On August 7, 2013, Bedoya joined newly promoted Ligue 1 side

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

. He went on to make his first

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

appearance for Nantes against reigning champions PSG on August 25, 2013. Bedoya's first goal for the club came in Nantes' 1–0 victory over

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccio ( co, Athletic Club Aiacciu), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ''ACA'' or simply Ajaccio, is a French association football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and ...

on October 19, 2013, when he scored the only goal three minutes from time to extend the club's winning run to four games in a row. Following the match, his manager, Michel Der Zakarian, praised Bedoya for his intelligent play and technical excellence. Bedoya scored his second goal for the club, and first at Nantes' home ground the Stade de la Beaujoire, on December 3, 2013, notching Nantes' equalizing goal in an eventual 2–1 victory over struggling

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

. Bedoya continued his scoring run on December 6, 2013, netting the game's only goal in Nantes' defeat of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

, a result which lifted Nantes into fourth place and caused the sacking of Marseille manager Élie Baup. On February 10, 2016, Bedoya scored the winning goal with a header in the 118th minute for

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as ...

in a

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professio ...

match against

FC Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The ...

Philadelphia Union

On August 3, 2016, Bedoya joined

from

for a reported $1 million transfer fee as a

designated player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

. He started all ten appearances for the Union during the remainder of the 2016 and scored two goals, including the lone playoff goal against

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

. For the 2017 season, Bedoya became the Union's captain, taking over for Brian Carroll. Becoming a mainstay of the Union's midfield, Bedoya was early on deployed as a center attacking "number 10" as the team continued to search of a dedicated player for that position. Bedoya would settle into a more familiar role on the right wing and as a midfield shuttler as the Union's tactics transitioned through the next few seasons. On August 4, 2019, Bedoya scored in the third minute of a 5–1 victory for the Union over D.C. United at

Audi Field Audi Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Buzzard Point in Washington, D.C. It is the home stadium for both of Washington, DC’s professional soccer teams, D.C. United in Major League Soccer and Washington Spirit in the National Women� ...

and celebrated by taking an on-field

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and pub ...

to say "Congress, do something now. End gun violence," in response to recent mass shootings in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

and

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

. His statement, which was aired live on

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

, resulted in national attention but no punishment or fine from the league. Bedoya also won the MLS Player of the Week for his performance during the match. Bedoya signed a contract extension with the Union ahead of the 2020 season through 2021, with a club option for 2022, however he would no longer be a designated player. The 2020 season proved to be the most successful to date. Despite the disruptions of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Bedoya captained the Union through to the semi-finals of the

MLS is Back The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League Soccer teams, 24 participated in the tourna ...

tournament and finished with the best league record of the season earning the team's first trophy, the 2020 Supporters' Shield. In September 2022 the Union announced they had signed Bedoya to a new one-year deal through the 2023 MLS season.

International career

Bedoya was part of the United States U-23 national team preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympics; however, he was not selected for the squad that traveled to China. On December 22, 2009, Bedoya received his first call up to train with the senior United States national team. Training in

Carson, California Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, ...

began for Bedoya and the other players called up on January 4, 2010, leading up to a friendly match in Carson against the Honduras national team on January 23. In the 61st minute of this match, when the U.S. was down 3–0 and was playing with ten men, Bedoya earned his first senior cap. Bedoya was named to the preliminary 30-man roster for the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and played against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

in a tune-up friendly, but was cut from the final 23-man roster. He earned his first international start in a friendly against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in August 2010. He was added to the 23-man roster for the

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the 21st CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's 50 years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition started on June ...

when

Benny Feilhaber Benny Feilhaber (; born January 19, 1985) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is currently head coach of MLS Next Pro side Sporting Kansas City II, an affiliate of Sporting Kansas City. A midfielder, Feilhaber played f ...

was unable to play due to an injury sustained while playing for his club team, the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

. On July 5, 2013, Bedoya scored his first international goal in a friendly match against Guatemala at

Qualcomm Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadiu ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. He was included in the United States roster for the

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 22nd CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's fifty years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition began on 7 July 2013 at the ...

, helping the national side to its first Gold Cup championship in six years. He was part of the United States squad at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rig ...

and played in all four of the U.S. games.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bedoya goal.''

Honors

Philadelphia Union * Supporters Shield:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

United States *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Amer ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual * NCAA First-Team All-American: 2007 * Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Offensive Player of the Year: 2007 * MLS Humanitarian of the Year:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

References

External links

* * *
Alejandro Bedoya
at Örebro SK *
archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedoya, Alejandro 1987 births Living people Allsvenskan players Scottish Premier League players Ligue 1 players Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players American soccer players American expatriate soccer players American sportspeople of Colombian descent Association football midfielders Boston College Eagles men's soccer players Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in France Fairleigh Dickinson Knights men's soccer players Örebro SK players Rangers F.C. players Helsingborgs IF players FC Nantes players Philadelphia Union players People from Englewood, New Jersey Soccer players from Florida Soccer players from New Jersey Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey United States men's international soccer players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa América Centenario players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players American expatriate sportspeople in France American expatriate sportspeople in Scotland American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden All-American men's college soccer players Fairleigh Dickinson University alumni St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Florida) alumni