Christian Eissele (born June 23, 1992) is an American former 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 played as a striker. He is currently head coach at Lake Mary High School in Florida.

Early life

Eissele was born in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. His father, Bill, works as a high school drama teacher and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach. His mother, Susan, plays the piano for a local church. Eissele also has a sister who works as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

who is stationed in

Valdosta, Georgia Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes County in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area, Valdosta metropolitan statistical area, ...

. At a young age, Eissele had a keen interest in

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

however football was, with the help of his tennis coach Steve, his chosen sport.
ChristianEissele.com. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015. He left the United States to go to Europe in order of finding a professional contract. He first travelled to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England to join the Richmond University International Academic & Soccer Academy.
Richmond University. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015. Despite developing at the academy, Eissele's hopes of playing professionally were stopped due to the American not being eligible for a Work permit (United Kingdom), work permit. In March 2012, he landed a trial at Finnish club

PS Kemi The Palloseura Kemi Kings is a Finnish football team based in the town of Kemi, that competes in the Kolmonen. The club have spent three seasons in the top flight in their history. History The club was established on October 21, 1999. Kemi Kin ...

and subsequently received a professional contract which he signed at the age of 19.

Career

PS Kemi

Eissele made his

debut on April 29, 2012, in a 0–2 home defeat to

KPV The KPV heavy machine gun (, an initialism for ) is a Soviet designed 14.5×114mm-caliber heavy machine gun, which first entered service as an infantry weapon in 1949. In the 1960s, the infantry version was taken out of production because it was ...

. He scored his first professional goal against YPA on 12 May, scoring a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

to draw the match level at 1–1 and PS Kemi went on to win 3–1. After scoring goals in matches against

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

and, again, YPA, Eissele scored his first career

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 5–0 home victory against HauPa, with all three goals coming within 16 minutes.
Soccerway. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015. Eissele wasn't done there though, as little over three weeks later he scored five goals in one match against Warkauden Jalkapalloklubi, Warkaus. The match ended 8–0 in Kemi's favour. Warkaus' results from that season were cancelled in August 2012 due to Warkaus not turning up to a Kakkonen fixture against TP-47 and therefore were kicked out of the league, but the

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland (, SPL; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football and futsal in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the Finland national football team, men's and Finland women's ...

decided that statistics from all matches involving Warkaus would still stand.
Football Association of Finland. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2015. In the club's final Kakkonen fixture, Eissele scored another hat-trick in a 3–1 win versus AC Kajaani, Kajaani. The following season, 2013, went just as good for Eissele with the forward scoring seven goals between April and May. However, June was Eissele's standout month as he scored ten goals in five matches, including two hat-tricks and two braces. The hat-tricks came against ORPa and Tervarit while the braces were scored against KPV, the team he played on his professional debut, and

GBK Kokkola Gamlakarleby Bollklubb is a Finland, Finnish Association football, football club from Kokkola (''Gamlakarleby'' in Swedish). It currently plays in the Finnish Second Division (''Kakkonen''), which is the third-highest level in Finnish football. ...

. Eissele scored seven more goals, including another hat-trick (versus KPV), in the remainder of 2013. At the start of 2014, Eissele had trials at two

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

clubs. In February, he spent time with

RoPS Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

and featured in a

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup (in Finnish: ''Liigacup''), is a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The competition is notably the only football competition in Europe which is most ...

tie against Honka in which he played 62 minutes without scoring.
Soccerway. 8 February 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2015. Around two months later, in March, Eissele had a trial at Kuopion Palloseura, KuPS and again played as a trialist in a League Cup tie. He participated in the full match versus SJK but didn't score.
Soccerway. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2015. He left Kemi on March 29, 2014.

IK Brage

On 29 March 2014, Eissele moved to Sweden to join

IK Brage Idrottsklubben Brage, also known as IK Brage or simply Brage, is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Borlänge. The club is affiliated with Dalarnas Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Domnarvsvallen. The club colou ...

, signing a three-year contract.
IK Brage. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2015. He made his first appearance for Brage on 21 April 2014 in a 2–1 win versus AFC United, he played 90 minutes before being substituted for Viktor Ekervik-Eriksson. It took Eissele eight matches to score his first goal for the club when he scored a 54th-minute equaliser against

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

. Around a month later Eissele scored two goals in a 1–3 win away to Valsta Syrianska, but again didn't score for another month. However, he then scored in five consecutive matches in August and September which included a hat-trick in the final of those five matches against

Huddinge Huddinge Municipality () is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Stockholm County, east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Huddinge (), which is a part of Stockholm urban area. The municipality is, with its approximately 110,000 inhabit ...

. He scored once more in the 2014 season when he scored an equaliser against Valsta Syrianska to earn a draw for Brage on 19 October. 2015 was less successful for Eissele at Brage as he scored just four goals in thirteen matches, but did get two of those goals in his penultimate appearance for the club on 28 June versus

Nyköping Nyköping () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden, with 32,759 inhabitants as of 2017. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County. Including Arnö, the locality on the ...

. His last match for Brage was against Carlstad United 5 July. He left the club on 28 July.
IK Brage. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

Return to PS Kemi

After his release from Brage, Eissele returned to Finland to sign for former club

. He made his second debut for Kemi against Vasa IFK, VIFK, he scored two goals to complete a comeback win for the club. He then scored in the following fixture versus

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

which ended 0–4. He scored three future goals in August and September to continue his fine return to Kemi. In total in 2015, Eissele scored seven goals in eleven appearances which helped Kemi win the

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until ...

and gain promotion to the

for 2016.
Football Association of Finland. 17 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015. He made his Veikkausliiga debut on April 9, 2016, in a 3–0 home win against reigning champions SJK.
Soccerway. 9 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016. He scored his first Veikkausliiga goal on August 13 versus FC Inter Turku, Inter Turku.
Soccerway. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.

FF Jaro

On February 14, 2017, Eissele joined

side

FF Jaro Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (''Jakobstads Rostfria''), commonly known simply as Jaro, is a Finnish professional football club based in the bilingual town of Jakobstad. The club currently plays in Veikkausliiga, the top tier in Finland. History Ja ...

.
FF Jaro. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017. He made his debut on February 17 in a

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

tie against Kerho 07 and scored four goals in a 1–8 away win.
Soccerway. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.

Sacramento Republic

On January 17, 2018, Eissele signed with USL Championship, United Soccer League side Sacramento Republic. Five goals, notably two against

Seattle Sounders FC 2 The Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the Puget Sound region in Tukwila, Washington, United States. The team competes in MLS Next Pro, a league in the third ...

on 8 September, in twenty-seven matches followed as Sacramento reached the post-season

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

; where they lost to

Swope Park Rangers Sporting Kansas City II is a MLS Next Pro club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. For the 2022 season they will play their home games at Kansas Jayhawks, Rock Chalk Park at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, ...

. He was released by the club on 30 November.
Sacramento Republic. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018. Subsequently, in December, Eissele rejoined former club FF Jaro on trial.
FF Jaro. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.

Oklahoma City Energy

Eissele returned to the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

on January 16, 2019, signing with

Oklahoma City Energy Oklahoma City Energy Football Club, or simply Energy FC, is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system. Although ...

. He was released in December, having scored seven goals in thirty-two matches across all competitions.

Retirement

Eissele announced his retirement on April 6, 2020, subsequently taking over from his father as Lake Mary High School's girls soccer head coach in August.
Orlando Sentinel. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020. He also set-up a training business for local footballers in the

area.

Career statistics

Honors

;PS Kemi *

: 2015 Ykkönen, 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eissele, Christian 1992 births Living people American men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in England American expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate sportspeople in Finland American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American expatriate men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Kakkonen players Ettan Fotboll players Ykkönen players Veikkausliiga players USL Championship players RIASA players FF Jaro players IK Brage players Kemi City F.C. players Sacramento Republic FC players Soccer players from Orlando, Florida OKC Energy FC players 21st-century American sportsmen