William Cole Campbell (born February 20, 2006) 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 winger for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

Early life

Campbell was born in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

to American-born

Iceland international The Iceland International in badminton is an international open held in Iceland since 1986. The tournament belongs to the European Badminton Circuit. In 2008, the event had to be cancelled due to the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis The I ...

and

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

soccer player

Rakel Karvelsson Rakel Bjork Campbell (née Karvelsson; Icelandic name: Rakel Björk Ögmundsdóttir; born 4 January 1977) is a former Icelandic-American professional soccer player. Born and raised in the United States, she represented Iceland internationally. I ...

and pharmaceutical executive Lance Campbell, himself a soccer player at

Texas Lutheran University Texas Lutheran University (TLU) is a private Evangelical Lutheran university in Seguin, Texas. History The university traces its roots back to 1891 with the foundation of an academy, named Evangelical Lutheran College, by the first German Eva ...

. In 2015, his family moved to

Peachtree City, Georgia Peachtree City is the largest city in Fayette County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 38,244. Peachtree City is located in southern Metro Atlanta. Golf carts are widely used in the city. Over 10,000 hous ...

, where his father drove more than an hour each way so he could train with

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won one MLS Cup, one U.S. Open Cup, and one Eastern ...

's youth academy. Campbell regularly visited Iceland during the summers and trained with the professional side

Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (), commonly referred to as FH, is an Icelandic multi-sports club based in Hafnarfjörður. The club competes in football, handball, athletics, and fencing. It was founded in 1929 as a gymnastics club but soon start ...

(FH) starting at age 8.

Club career

In January 2020, Campbell moved to Iceland, joining the Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar youth team. He made his first-team debut in 2021, coming on as a substitute for Jónatan Ingi Jónsson in a 5–0 win over

Leiknir Reykjavík Íþróttafélagið Leiknir (, ), commonly known as Leiknir Reykjavík (), is an Icelandic multi-sport club. It is best known for its men's football section, but also fields departments in Badminton, Basketball, Volleyball and Karate. The club ...

, becoming the second youngest player in FH history after Logi Hrafn Róbertsson. On May 16, 2022, following another appearance for FH, it was announced that Campbell would join the German side

that summer. The following day, he joined Breiðablik on a short-term deal, effective until his move to Dortmund in July. He left Iceland in June 2022, following one appearance with Breiðablik. In January 2024, Campbell was one of several Dortmund youth players who joined the senior team's winter training camp before the second half of the 2023–24 season in

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...

, south Spain. At the camp however, the club disciplined Campbell and Paris Brunner for leaving the team hotel after their midnight curfew. On October 26, 2024, Campbell made his professional debut for Borussia Dortmund, coming on as a substitute for

Donyell Malen Donyell Malen (born 19 January 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa and the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Malen s ...

in a 2–1 loss to

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

International career

Eligible at birth to represent both

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

approved Campbell's one-time switch of nationalities to play for the United States after previously playing for Iceland's under-17 team. In March 2024, Campbell accepted a call up to the United States under-19 team, for which he debuted on March 24 against England under-19s, marking his debut with a match-winning brace in a 3–2 win for the United States.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Cole 2006 births Living people Icelandic people of American descent Icelandic men's footballers Iceland men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Úrvalsdeild karla (football) players Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar players Breiðablik men's football players Borussia Dortmund players Icelandic expatriate men's footballers Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany American people of Icelandic descent Soccer players from Houston Soccer players from Georgia (U.S. state) Men's association football players with dual nationality Sportspeople from Peachtree City, Georgia 21st-century Icelandic sportsmen