Gabriel Pawel "Gaga" Slonina (; born May 15, 2004) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club Chelsea and the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. In 2023, Slonina was the only goalkeeper included on ''Goal'''s NXGN list of the 50 best young players.

Club career

Chicago Fire

Born in

Addison, Illinois Addison is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 35,702 at the 2020 Census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. History The village was incorporated in 1884, at which time it had a population of 400. T ...

, Slonina joined the youth academy of

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 ...

club Chicago Fire in 2013. On March 8, 2019, Slonina signed a professional homegrown player contract with the club. At the age of 14, Slonina became the second youngest signing in Major League Soccer history and the youngest signing ever for the Chicago Fire. On August 4, 2021, Slonina made his professional debut for the Chicago Fire against

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 ...

, becoming the youngest starting goalkeeper in league history at 17 years, 81 days. Slonina made four saves for the Fire as the match ended in a 0–0 draw which made him the youngest goalkeeper to record a clean sheet in Major League Soccer history.

Chelsea

On August 2, 2022, Slonina signed for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Chelsea for a transfer fee of $10 million, potentially rising to $11 million with add-ons. However, as part of the transfer, he remained with the Chicago Fire on loan to complete the remainder of the MLS season, before joining Chelsea on January 1, 2023. Slonina made his debut in a Chelsea shirt for the under-21 team in a

Professional Development League The Professional Development League is a system of Football in England, English youth association football, football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Th ...

match versus Wolverhampton Wanderers Development Squad on January 13, 2023.

Loan to Eupen

On August 10, 2023, Slonina agreed to join Belgian side

K.A.S. Eupen K.A.S. Eupen (short for Königliche Allgemeine Sportvereinigung Eupen, English: ''Royal General Sports Association Eupen'', simply referred to as Eupen) is a Belgian professional association football club located in Eupen, Liège (province), Prov ...

on a season-long loan. On October 28, Slonina recorded his first clean sheet for Eupen in a 2–0 win over

Sporting Charleroi Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League. Their curr ...

. Slonina was Eupen's main goalkeeper for the season, which ended in relegation.

Loan to Barnsley

On August 9, 2024, Slonina joined League One club

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

on a season-long loan deal. However, the loan was terminated on January 1, 2025, due to injury.

International career

Born in the United States, he is of Polish descent and was eligible to represent the United States or Poland internationally. Slonina has represented the United States at the under-15, under-16, under-17, and under-20 levels. Slonina was called into camp for the United States senior team in December 2021 but did not feature in a match. On January 21, 2022, Slonina was called into a World Cup Qualifying camp with the United States senior team but again did not feature in a match. On May 17, he was called up to the Polish senior team by coach

Czesław Michniewicz Czesław Michniewicz (; born 12 February 1970) is a Polish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed Botola Pro side AS FAR. He managed the Poland national team in 2022. Managerial career Early years In Septemb ...

for their upcoming Nations League fixtures against Wales, Belgium and the Netherlands. Three days later, Slonina rejected the call-up and declared his wish to represent United States on international level. On January 25, 2023, Slonina became the youngest-ever goalkeeper to play for the United States senior team, making several saves in a 2–1 loss to Serbia. Slonina was the starting goalkeeper for 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 ...

at the

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth Association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since i ...

and posted four consecutive clean sheets as the Americans advanced to the quarterfinals. The only two goals Slonina allowed in the tournament, including one deflected past him by a teammate, came in a 2–0 quarterfinal loss to eventual champions Uruguay.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

Chelsea *

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

United States *

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League (, ) is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament takes pla ...

: 2023–24

References

External links

Gabriel Slonina
at

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

* * * *
Gabriel Slonina
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

(archived
alternate link
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slonina, Gabriel 2004 births Living people American men's soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers Chicago Fire FC players Chelsea F.C. players K.A.S. Eupen players Barnsley F.C. players Major League Soccer players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players Soccer players from DuPage County, Illinois People from Addison, Illinois American people of Polish descent Homegrown Players (MLS) United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium United States men's international soccer players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for the United States 21st-century American sportsmen