48 Facts About Freddy Adu

Fredua Koranteng "Freddy" Adu was born on June 2,1989 and is an American former professional soccer player who played as an attacking midfielder.

From before the time of his signing with DC United at the age of 14, Adu was spoken of as "the next Pele".

Freddy Adu made his full international debut for the United States national team at the age of 16 in 2006.

Freddy Adu went on to earn 17 caps for his country, and was a part of the US squads at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as at the CONCACAF Gold Cups in 2009 and 2011.

Freddy Adu represented the United States Olympic team at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Freddy Adu was born and raised in the port city of Tema, Ghana, where he played soccer against men three times his age.

In 1997, when he was eight, his mother, Emelia Freddy Adu, won a green card through the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery, and his family moved to Rockville, Maryland, in the United States, where he attended Sequoyah Elementary School.

Freddy Adu attended The Heights School, a private school in Potomac, Maryland, for several years.

At the age of 14, Freddy Adu became the youngest American ever to sign a major league professional contract in any team sport when he was chosen by DC United as the number one overall pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft.

Freddy Adu played in three of four playoff games for DC United, assisting one goal during that time.

Freddy Adu was criticized from a number of different angles in his first season as a professional.

Some commentators suggested that Freddy Adu was too young to be playing professionally and that he needed more time to develop mentally and physically among players his own age.

Freddy Adu was selected to the MLS All-Star team twice, once as a commissioner's choice and once as the coach's.

Freddy Adu was selected for the Best XI of the 2006 MLS semifinals by Soccer America magazine.

Freddy Adu was captain of the U-20 United States men's national team in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where he made an impressive showing.

On July 28,2007, Freddy Adu opted out of playing for Real in their regular-season match, and later that day, boarded a plane to Portugal to negotiate with Benfica.

In July 2008, Freddy Adu joined Monegasque club AS Monaco on a season-long loan, with an option to join the Ligue 1 club permanently at the end of the deal, an option that was eventually declined by Monaco.

Freddy Adu was injured just before half time, and was substituted.

Freddy Adu signed a 12-month loan deal with Greek side Aris in January 2010, joining fellow United States international Eddie Johnson.

On February 1,2011, Freddy Adu moved to Turkish Second Division side Caykur Rizespor on what was his fourth loan deal away from Benfica.

Freddy Adu debuted for Philadelphia Union on August 13 in a match against FC Dallas and scored his first goal for the club on September 7,2011, against New England Revolution.

Freddy Adu was released by the club on November 7,2013.

In July 2014, Freddy Adu joined Dutch club AZ Alkmaar on trial, but he did not convince the club to offer him a contract.

Freddy Adu made his debut for Jagodina on September 24,2014, coming on as a second-half substitute in a Serbian Cup match against FK BSK Borca.

Freddy Adu was released by Jagodina, who opted not to renew his six-month contract, on December 21,2014.

Freddy Adu played some games for KuPS' reserve team SC Kufu in the Finnish third division.

Freddy Adu made 13 appearances for the club before being released after the 2016 NASL season.

Freddy Adu then went on trial with newly promoted Polish Ekstraklasa side Sandecja Nowy Sacz in August 2017.

Freddy Adu joined the expansion Las Vegas Lights FC on a trial basis prior to the 2018 season.

Freddy Adu was not selected for either of the team's first two preseason matches.

Freddy Adu made 14 appearances for the Lights and scored one goal for the club during the 2018 campaign.

On October 14,2020, after a two-year hiatus during which Freddy Adu worked as a youth football coach in Maryland, it was announced that Freddy Adu had joined Osterlen FF, recently promoted to the third tier of Swedish football.

On February 16,2021, after only a month in Sweden, it was announced that Freddy Adu's contract had been terminated by the Osterlen FF administration after the club deemed Freddy Adu not being physically or mentally fit enough to be competitive in Ettan.

Freddy Adu argued that internal conflict within the club was the reason for his exit.

Freddy Adu has had defects all along and I do not see that he has the mental strength required to recover.

Freddy Adu played for the United States in five international youth tournaments: the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland, the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates, the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands, the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, and the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Freddy Adu captained the United States under-20 men's national team in January 2007 as it qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada.

Freddy Adu helped lead the under-23 men's national team in its campaign to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Freddy Adu scored four goals in total in the three games in which he played, leading all players in scoring, and was selected to the tournament Best XI.

Freddy Adu was named to the 18-man squad that represented the United States in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Freddy Adu played in the first two games of group play against Japan and Netherlands.

Freddy Adu assisted on a Sacha Kljestan goal in the Netherlands match, but he, as well as teammate Michael Bradley, was then suspended for the final game of group play against Nigeria after each player earned his second yellow card of group play late in the Netherlands match.

Freddy Adu was recruited early in his career by the Ghana national team.

Freddy Adu was called into the United States national team's training camp by coach Bruce Arena in January 2006 for a friendly match against Canada.

Freddy Adu made his first start for the senior international team in a friendly against South Africa on November 17,2007.

Freddy Adu played in both legs of the 2nd round qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup against Barbados on June 8 and 22,2008, starting in the latter.

Freddy Adu scored his first international goal as a member of the full United States national squad from a free kick in a November 19,2008, World Cup qualifier against Guatemala.

Freddy Adu started the following game, the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup final vs Mexico.