Sofiane Djeffal (born 19 April 1999) is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

club

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games at ...

Career

Youth

Born in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, Djeffal spent 11 years within local

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, a ...

's youth academy, where he won a league title at the U17 level.

Oregon State Beavers

Ahead of the

2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 60th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 24, 2018 and continued into the first weekend of November 2018. The season culminated with the four-tea ...

, Djeffal signed a

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

to play

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

for the

Oregon State Beavers men's soccer The Oregon State Beavers men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of Oregon State University and competes in the Pac-12 Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The team was founded in 1988 and has competed in ...

program. During his freshman year, Djeffal was an immediate starter in the squad, starting and playing in all 20 matches during his freshman season. During the freshman campaign, he had five goals and seven assists. At the end of his freshman season, he received numerous

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and national accolades, including being named the Pac-12 Men's Soccer Freshman of the Year, being named to the All-Pac-12 First Team (best XI), and to the ''TopDrawer Soccer'' best XI. He remained a full-time starter in his sophomore season, starting and playing in all 16 matches his sophomore year, having three goals and six assists. During his junior year, he started 10 of the 11 matches, contributing to 6 goals and two assists. He was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team both his sophomore and junior season. During his senior year at Oregon State, Djeffal started in all 19 matches, contributing to six goals and six assists. Upon conclusion of the

2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 63rd season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. After the 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 season partially returned to normal. H ...

, Djeffal was named the

Pac-12 Conference Men's Soccer Player of the Year The Pac-12 Conference Men's Soccer Player of the Year is an annual award given to the top performing player in the Pac-12 Conference. In 2014, the Pac-12 Conference introduced a new award solely for defensive players. Key Winners Player of t ...

and an semifinalist for the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

, an annual award for the best college soccer player in the United States. While at college, Djeffal appeared for

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

side

Portland Timbers U23s Capital FC is an American soccer team based in Salem, Oregon, United States. Although founded in 2008 as part of the development system for the Portland Timbers USSF D2 organization, beginning in 2011 they were part of the development system ...

during their 2019 season, making two appearances.

D.C. United

On 11 January 2022, Djeffal was drafted in the second round with the 36th overall pick for

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...

in the

2022 MLS SuperDraft The 2022 MLS SuperDraft was the 23rd edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held every January prior to the start of the MLS season and has been conducted via conference calls since 2020. Previously, the Su ...

. After impressing in preseason training, he signed a contract with United on 25 February 2022. On 26 February 2022, Djeffal made his professional debut for United, coming on in the final 26 minutes in a 3–0 win over

Charlotte FC Charlotte FC is an American professional soccer club based in Charlotte. The team competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The team is owned by David Tepper, who was awarded the expansion franchise ...

. Following the 2022 season, his contract option was declined by D.C. United.

Austin FC

On 17 November 2022, Djeffal was selected by

Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q2 ...

with the first pick in the

MLS Re-Entry Draft The MLS Re-Entry Draft is an annual event in which Major League Soccer teams select players who are out of contract or have had their options declined by their current teams. Although the single-entity league does not have true free agency, the re ...

Stage 1. He made his debut for the club on March 25th, 2023, coming on as a substitution in the second half against the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

. On 21 May 2023, Djeffal made his first start for Austin, replacing Jhojan Valencia in central midfield. On November 17, 2023, Austin FC announced they would not exercise the 2024 option for Djeffal.

Personal life

Djeffal was born in the nordthwest of France and is of Algerian descent.

Career statistics

Club

Honors

Individual *

: 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Djeffal, Sofaine 1999 births Living people Footballers from Nantes French men's footballers French sportspeople of Algerian descent All-American college men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Austin FC players D.C. United draft picks D.C. United players Orange County SC players Oregon State Beavers men's soccer players Capital FC players USL Championship players USL League Two players French expatriate men's footballers Major League Soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States French expatriate sportspeople in the United States