Andy Ariel Najar Rodríguez ( ; ; born 16 March 1993) is a Honduran professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

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club

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

and the Honduras national team.

Early life

Najar moved with his family from Honduras to the United States at the age of thirteen, settling in the

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

metropolitan area. Najar attended Thomas A. Edison High School in

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and joined D.C. United's youth academy in 2008. During his time with the academy program, Najar received numerous awards and honours for his outstanding play at right back, being named to the USSF Development Academy Starting XI in 2009. He was also the leading scorer of the 2009 US Developmental Academy Finals in Los Angeles.

Club career

D.C. United

Najar signed a professional

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S ...

contract with D.C. United on 22 March 2010. Once part of MLS, the league and his team became responsible for his education. He became the second player to graduate directly from United's Academy to the first team, following goalkeeper

Bill Hamid Abdul Bilal "Bill" Hamid ( ; born November 25, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for USL Championship club Miami FC. Born in Annandale, Virginia, Hamid was the first D.C. United Academy player to sign fo ...

, who signed in September 2009. Andy-najar

Najar made his professional debut on 27 March 2010, in DC's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown K ...

. He scored his first professional goal on 28 April 2010 in a

US Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

game against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

. His impressive performance throughout the 2010 season earned him the

MLS Rookie of the Year The MLS Young Player of the Year Award (known as the Rookie of the Year Award from 1996 to 2019) is an annual award given to the top player in Major League Soccer under the age of 22. The award was initially awarded to a rookie, or a player who ...

, ahead of

Tim Ream Timothy Michael Ream (born October 5, 1987) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center-back for Major League Soccer club Charlotte FC and captains the United States national team. Youth and college soccer Born in St. Lo ...

and Danny Mwanga. Najar was considered by pundits such as

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's Paul Gardner to be one of D.C. United's top players at the age of 17. He received interest from European clubs, according to his agent, and was expected to move there later in his career, possibly at the end of the 2010 season. However, it was announced in December 2010 that Najar had signed a multi-year contract with D.C. United. Najar was the only player from the D.C. United's Academy to be called up for the 2012 Olympics.

Anderlecht

On 7 January 2013, Najar moved to

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

champions

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on a one-month loan. On 30 January 2013, Anderlecht finalised the full transfer of Najar. The reported transfer fee was $3 million. He made his debut against Cercle Brugge on 2 August 2013 as a substitute in the 79th minute. On 22 October 2014, Najar opened the scoring for Anderlecht in the second half of their Champions League match against

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but two late goals for the English side resulted in a 2−1 defeat for the Belgian champions. After a summer 2019 injury, Najar did not play for Anderlecht for more than a year.

Los Angeles FC

In February 2020, Najar trained with LAFC during their preseason. On 17 June 2020, Najar returned to

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 ...

, signing with

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

, who earlier in the year had traded $350,000 in General Allocation Money to

in exchange for the first selection spot in the league's Allocation Ranking. Following the 2020 season, LAFC declined their contract option on Najar.

Return to D.C. United

After being released by LAFC, Najar returned to former club D.C. United for a six-week trial period. The Black-and-Red signed him to a one-year deal with an option for two more years. On 17 April 2021, Najar came on in the 88th minute in the 2–1 win over

New York City FC New York City Football Club (often referred to as NYCFC) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern C ...

. Najar scored his first MLS goal since his return on 8 August in a 2–1 win over

CF Montréal Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

. The club exercised Najar’s options thus keeping him at the club for 2 more years. He was instrumental in then head coach Hernan Losada and Wayne Rooney’s defenses, sometimes playing as a right wingback and sometimes as a center back alongside Fred Brilliant, Steve Birnbaum, Hines-Ike and Donovan Pines. His dribbling skills and positive carries often opened up scoring opportunities for United. Many fans were accepting of the decision to release him due to injuries and the want of a rebuild, but he will always be remembered as a legend for the black and red at both RFK and Buzzard Point.

Olimpia

In January 2024, Najar joined Liga Nacional de Honduras club Olimpia on a one-year deal.

Nashville SC

On 16 January 2025, Najar returned to

, joining

on a one-year deal.

International career

On 6 April 2011, Najar formally announced that he would play for the Honduras national team, choosing his birth nation over the United States, from which he had yet to receive citizenship. He made his first appearance for Honduras on 3 September 2011 against Colombia, entering in the 67th minute. Najar was called up to the Honduras U23 national team in the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. On 21 July 2013, Najar scored his first international goal for Honduras in the knockout stages of 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 July 7, 2013, at the ...

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in a 1–0 victory that advanced Honduras to the semi-finals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Najar goal.''

Honours

Anderlecht *

: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* RSC Anderlecht Player of the Season: 2015–16, 2016–17

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Najar, Andy 1993 births Living people People from Choluteca Department Honduran men's footballers 21st-century Honduran sportsmen Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Honduras men's international footballers D.C. United players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Los Angeles FC players C.D. Olimpia players Nashville SC players Major League Soccer players Belgian Pro League players Olympic footballers for Honduras Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Thomas A. Edison High School (Fairfax County, Virginia) alumni Homegrown Players (MLS) Honduran people of Salvadoran descent Sportspeople of Salvadoran descent Honduran expatriate men's footballers Honduran expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium