Daniel Francisco Barrera (born January 8, 1990) is a professional soccer player who currently plays as a midfielder. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Barrera moved to the United States at the age of eight, growing up in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

. He developed his skills both in the United States Soccer residency program and at the high school level with Westlake High School, where he was named a Parade magazine All-American and regarded as one of the top recruits coming out of high school. He was the #1 recruit in his class according to RiseMag.com. Barrera attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, where he played college soccer with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team from 2008 to 2010. He left UCSB after his junior year to pursue a professional career and has since played for various clubs, including Ventura County Fusion, FK Spartak Subotica, Atlanta Silverbacks, San Antonio Scorpions, Carolina RailHawks, Sacramento Republic FC, Fresno FC, and Hartford Athletic. Notably, Barrera was named to the USL All-League Team in 2016 and was included in the USL Championship's All-Time Hispanic Team in 2021. Internationally, he represented the United States at the U17 and U18 levels and was part of the USA team at the 2007 Pan-American Games.

Early life and education

Born in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, Barrera moved to the United States at the age of eight, growing up in

. He trained with Sheffield United F.C. as a teen. He developed his game in the United States both with the US Soccer residency program and at the high school level with Westlake High School, where he skipped his senior year of high school. He was named as a ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

'' magazine All-American and regarded as one of the top recruits coming out of high school. RiseMag.com listed Barrera as the #1 recruit in his class. He attended the

where he was a student-athlete and played

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 ...

with the

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team is an NCAA Division I college soccer team composed of student-athletes attending the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Gauchos play their home matches at Harder Stadium. Like most of th ...

team from 2008 to 2010. He would appear for the team in 66 games, scoring 10 goals and adding 22 assists. He left UCSB after his junior year to pursue a professional career.

Club career

While still attending college, Barrera played with the newly formed PDL team

Ventura County Fusion Ventura County Fusion is an American soccer team based in Ventura, California, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team plays its home games in the stadium on th ...

in the summers, alongside his brother Diego Barrera. For the 2009 PDL season, Barrera and

beat Chicago Fire Premier for the league championship. Over 4 seasons, he appeared in 39 games for Ventura County, scoring 13 goals and 15 assists. After being named to the

2011 PDL season The 2011 USL Premier Development League season was the 17th season of the PDL. The regular season began on April 29, 2011, when the Los Angeles Blues 23 played Fresno Fuego, and ended on July 24. The league consisted of 64 teams across nine div ...

All-League Team, Barrera signed with

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

side

FK Spartak Subotica Fudbalski klub Spartak Ždrepčeva Krv () is a professional football club from Subotica, Serbia, that plays in the Serbian SuperLiga. The club was founded in 1945 and was named after Jovan Mikić Spartak, the leader of the Partisans in Subotic ...

(for sponsorship reasons the name was Spartak Zlatibor Voda that season) in August 2011 after a successful trial. He made his debut for Spartak against

FK Borac Čačak Fudbalski klub Borac 1926 (), commonly known as Borac Čačak, is a professional football club based in Čačak, Serbia. The home ground is Čačak Stadium, which has seating capacity of 8,000. As of 2024–25 season, the club competes in secon ...

on December 10, 2011.

Ventura County Fusion

Barrera returned to the United States in 2012 and re-joined

and appeared in 6 games, but played for

Cal FC Cal Football Club (Cal FC) is an American soccer club based in Thousand Oaks, California. The club was founded in 2006 and competes in the UPSL Premier Division, a fifth-tier United States Adult Soccer Association and Cal South affiliated league ...

in their historic 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup run coached by

Eric Wynalda Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and former player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...

Atlanta Silverbacks

In July, Barrera signed with

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...

. He was the first signing of new Silverbacks head coach Eric Wynalda, who had just been appointed some days earlier. Wynalda, who coached Barrera at Cal FC, had previously stated that he's wanted Barrera playing for his team since 2010 when he first saw Barrera playing in Santa Barbara.

Trial at Derby County

In August 2012, Barrera joined English

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

side Derby County F.C. on trial, where he featured in preseason friendlies against Belper Town F.C.,

Chesterfield F.C. Chesterfield Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system, after winning the 2023 ...

, and

Matlock Town F.C. Matlock Town Football Club is a football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was established in 1878 as Matlock Football Club.< ...

He would return to Atlanta after the trial proved unsuccessful.

San Antonio Scorpions

Barrera joined

San Antonio Scorpions The San Antonio Scorpions were an American professional soccer team based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 2010, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2012. The Scorpions played at Toyota Field, a soccer specific stadi ...

ahead of the

2014 North American Soccer League season The 2014 North American Soccer League season was the 47th season of Division II soccer in the United States and the fourth season of the revived North American Soccer League. It was contested by ten teams including two from Canada. Joining the NA ...

. He was traded later that season to

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Carolina Railhawks. On December 6, 2016, the RailH ...

for César Elizondo. At the conclusion of the season, Barrera re-joined Cal FC for their

2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 102nd edition of the U.S. Open Cup, oldest ongoing competition in American soccer. The tournament had teams from all three tiers of men's professional soccer, plus teams from the top amateur leagues in t ...

run.

Sacramento Republic

Barrera joined

Sacramento Republic FC Sacramento Republic FC is an American professional soccer team based in Sacramento, California, that competes in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second level in US soccer. Co-founded by Warren Smith and Joe Wagoner in 2012, t ...

in June 2015. He was re-signed by Sacramento for the

2016 USL season The 2016 USL season was the sixth season of the United Soccer League and the twenty-second season of USSF sanctioned Division III play organized by the United Soccer Leagues. On August 6, 2015, the league announced that the season would cons ...

. Head coach

Paul Buckle Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager and former player. He has previously been the interim head coach of San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the manager of Torquay United, Bristol ...

moved Barrera to a more central position in the midfield and made him the team's captain.

Fresno FC

Barrera transferred to

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 ...

side

Fresno FC Fresno Football Club was an American professional soccer team based in Fresno, California. Founded in 2017, the team was a member of the USL Championship, a second-tier league in the American Soccer Pyramid. Their first game took place on March ...

for the 2018 season on January 23, 2018.

Hartford Athletic

Barrera signed with

Hartford Athletic Hartford Athletic is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The club was founded in 2018 and started play in the USL Championship in 2019. It is the only pro soccer team in Connecticut (thoug ...

on June 13, 2019. He led the team in assists despite just 17 games played for the 2019 season with four. He was re-signed for the 2020 season and named team captain. During the 2020 season Barrera led the team in assists for the second year in a row and was named team MVP. Barrera re signed with Hartford for the 2021 season on November 30, 2020. In October 2021, Barrera was named 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 ...

's All-Time Hispanic Team. Barrera recorded 12 assists during the 2021 season, the most of any player in the USL Championship. Barrera re-signed with Hartford ahead of the 2022 season. He left the club at the end of the 2024 season.

International career

When he was 17 he was a member of the USA team at the

2007 Pan-American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games () and commonly known as Rio 2007, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athl ...

being the youngest player on the roster. He also represented the United States at U17 and U18 levels.

Personal life

Danny's older brother, Diego Barrera, is also a professional soccer player. Barrera enjoys being able to experience other cultures through his soccer experiences and plans to be a coach after he retires. Barrera has a brief appearance and line in the

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. Ferrell received various accolades, including ...

movie Kicking and Screaming as his coach Dan Metcalfe was also the movies soccer choreographer and used several of his youth players in the movie. Barrera and his partner Vanessa have four children.

Awards and honors

Individual * USL All-League Team:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Hartford Athletic Team MVP

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* USL Championship's All-Time Hispanic Team

References

External links

Sacramento Republic FC player profile

Carolina Railhawks player profile
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrera, Danny 1990 births Living people Footballers from Bogotá Colombian emigrants to the United States American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Colombian men's footballers Colombian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer) UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer players Ventura County Fusion players FK Spartak Subotica players Cal FC players Atlanta Silverbacks FC players San Antonio Scorpions players North Carolina FC players Sacramento Republic FC players Fresno FC players Hartford Athletic players Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia American expatriate sportspeople in Serbia USL League Two players Serbian SuperLiga players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players USL Championship players United States men's youth international soccer players American sportspeople of Colombian descent Soccer players from Ventura County, California United Premier Soccer League players Pan American Games footballers for the United States Westlake High School (California) alumni 21st-century American sportsmen