Chris Odoi-Atsem (born May 28, 1995) is an American

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 currently plays for

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

club Alexandria Reds.

Early life

Chris Odoi-Atsem was born and raised in

Mitchellville, Maryland Mitchellville is a majority African-American unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 11,136. History Mitchellville was named for John Mit ...

and attended Holy Trinity Episcopal Day School and

DeMatha Catholic High School DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washin ...

. where he played youth soccer for AC Bethesda in the National Capital Soccer League and eventually in the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league featured youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

league. Odi-Atsem was a regular on the team from 2008 until 2013. Odoi-Atsem also played high school soccer for

, where he helped them win a state championship in 2011.

College soccer

During the

2013 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2013 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 55th season of NCAA championship men's College soccer in the United States, college soccer. There were 203 teams in men's Division I competition. The defending champions were the Indiana Hoosier ...

, Odoi-Atsem made his

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

debut, coming on as a sub in 3–3 draw against

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

on August 30, 2013. On September 8, 2013, Odoi-Atsem scored his first collegiate goal in a 2–3 loss to VCU. He finished his freshman season making 25 appearances, and starting in 20 matches. Odoi-Atsem earned his first conference honors during his sophomore year at Maryland. Following the end of the regular season, Odoi-Atsem earned First Team All-Big Ten Conference honors. Odoi-Atsem played in and started in all 21 games the Terrapins played during the 2014

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. During his junior year, Odoi-Atsem achieved Second Team All-Big Ten Conference honors and made 20 appearances for the Terrapins. As a senior, Odoi-Atsem was part of a Maryland squad that spent most of the

2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 58th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 26 and continued into the first weekend of November 2016. The season culminated with the 2016 NCAA Di ...

ranked first in the country. Odoi-Atsem earned First Team All-Big Ten honors, as well as NSCAA First Team All-Midwest Region.

Professional career

Odoi-Atsem was considered one of the top prospects in the

2017 MLS SuperDraft The 2017 MLS SuperDraft was the eighteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The first two rounds of the 2017 ...

and was selected with the 12th overall pick by

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

. On April 30, 2017, Odoi-Atsem made his professional and MLS debut in a 3–1 away win at

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 ...

. Odoi-Atsem came on in the 90th minute for Lloyd Sam and played the final five minutes of stoppage time. On November 28, 2017, his contract option with United was declined. D.C. United re-signed Odoi-Atsem on February 16, 2018. He returned to the field after his battle with cancer on 29 May 2019, playing 67 minutes in a game against Chicago Fire. Odoi-Astem played with D.C. United's

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

affiliate, Loudoun United in 2019. Odoi-Atsem scored his first goal for D.C. United on October 18, 2020, in a 2–1 win over

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

. On January 27, 2021, D.C. United re-signed Odoi-Atsem to a two-year contract with a 2023 option. Following the 2022 season, his contract option was declined by D.C. United. In July 2023, Odoi-Atsem made an appearance for

side Alexandria Reds. He came on as a 59th-minute substitute and scored the game-winning goal in a 2–1 win away to Annapolis Blues.

Personal life

Odoi-Atsem is of Ghanaian descent through his parents. In October 2018, Odoi-Atsem was diagnosed with Stage 2

Hodgkin's Lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

, effectively ending his 2018 season with D.C. United as he began a chemotherapy regimen at

MedStar Georgetown University Hospital MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...

. He completed his cancer treatment in January 2019.

References

External links

Maryland bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odoi-Atsem, Chris 1995 births Living people American sportspeople of Ghanaian descent American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders D.C. United draft picks D.C. United players DeMatha Catholic High School alumni Loudoun United FC players Major League Soccer players Maryland Terrapins men's soccer players National Premier Soccer League players People from Mitchellville, Maryland Soccer players from Prince George's County, Maryland Richmond Kickers players USL Championship players 21st-century American sportsmen