Theodore "Ted” Ku-DiPietro (born January 28, 2002) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

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

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

Early life

Ku-DiPietro was born on January 28, 2002, in

Oakton, Virginia Oakton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 36,732 at the 2020 census. Located in Northern Virginia, its center is west of Washington, D.C. Geography Oakton is located in central Fa ...

. He attended

Oakton High School Oakton High School is a public high school in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in proximity to Vienna, Virginia, in the United States. It is part of Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia. As of the 2023-24 school year, it h ...

Vienna, Virginia Vienna () is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Vienna has a population of 16,473. Significantly more people live in ZIP codes with the Vienna postal addresses (22180, 22181, ...

, where he was a standout soccer player. In 2018, as a sophomore, he was named first-team all-state. Ku-DiPietro is of

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

descent through his mother, and

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

descent through his father. "DiPietro" is the last name of his adoptive

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

grandfather.

Club career

Loudoun United

Ku-DiPietro played his first professional game with

Loudoun United FC Loudoun United FC is an American professional soccer team based in Leesburg, Virginia. The team was founded in 2018 as the reserve team of D.C. United and made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. After ownership changes, it ceased being ...

, on June 28, 2019, in a 2–1 win over

Atlanta United 2 Atlanta United 2 are the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. The team plays in MLS Next Pro, the official reserve league of MLS. The team was established on November 14, 2017 and began their first professional seaso ...

. Ku-DiPietro scored his first-ever professional goal in his first season with Loudoun United FC, on September 25, 2019, in the 68th minute of the team's 4–1 win over the

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, ...

. Ku-DiPietro also received his first-ever red card in the same match. Ku-DiPietro signed his first professional contract with Loudoun on January 7, 2020.

D.C. United

After appearing three seasons with Loudoun, Ku-DiPietro became the 17th homegrown player to sign for

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

. In the opening match of the 2023 season, he scored his first goal for the club – the game-winning goal in a 3–2 comeback victory over

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. After coming on as a second-half substitute, Ku-DiPietro assisted on

Christian Benteke Christian Benteke Liolo (born 3 December 1990) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club D.C. United. Benteke began his career at Standard Liège, playing a part in their 2008–09 Belgian Firs ...

's game-tying goal in the 90th minute before scoring himself. As a result, he was named to

's Team of the Matchday for week one.

International career

He was called up to the United States U-23 team for the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games (), officially the XIX Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santiago 2023, were an international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, held in Santiago, Chile from 20 October to 5 Novem ...

in Chile, and scored his first international goal as the United States came from behind to beat

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

2–1.

Career statistics

Club

Personal life

Ku-DiPietro was born into a family of nine children, and six (including himself) have played soccer at least at the youth level. His older brother, Michael, played for the

Marymount Saints Marymount University is a private Catholic university with its main campus in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. It was founded as Marymount College in 1950. Marymount offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. It has approxima ...

men's soccer team before graduating with a Business Administration degree. His younger sister, Hope, signed a letter of intent to play with the

George Washington Colonials The George Washington Revolutionaries are the athletic teams of George Washington University of Washington, D.C. The Revolutionaries compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Atlantic 10 Conf ...

women's soccer team in the Fall 2023 season.https://twitter.com/GFRsoccer/status/1596996859066978304

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ku-DiPietro, Theodore 2002 births Living people American men's soccer players American people of German descent American people of Polish descent American sportspeople of Chinese descent D.C. United players Colorado Rapids players Footballers at the 2023 Pan American Games Homegrown Players (MLS) Loudoun United FC players Major League Soccer players Men's association football midfielders Oakton High School alumni Pan American Games footballers for the United States People from Oakton, Virginia Soccer players from Fairfax County, Virginia United States men's under-23 international soccer players USL Championship players 21st-century American sportsmen