Meghan Klingenberg facts for kids
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Klingenberg with the United States women's national soccer team in 2016
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
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| Full name | Meghan Elizabeth Klingenberg | |||||||||
| Date of birth | August 2, 1988 | |||||||||
| Place of birth | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States | |||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | |||||||||
| Playing position | Left back | |||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||
| Current club | Portland Thorns | |||||||||
| Number | 25 | |||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||
| 2011 | magicJack | 2 | (0) | |||||||
| 2011 | Boston Breakers | 10 | (0) | |||||||
| 2012 | Western New York Flash | 3 | (2) | |||||||
| 2012–2014 | Tyresö FF | 32 | (2) | |||||||
| 2014–2015 | Houston Dash | 19 | (0) | |||||||
| 2016– | Portland Thorns | 124 | (0) | |||||||
| National team‡ | ||||||||||
| 2004 | United States U-16 | |||||||||
| 2005 | United States U-17 | |||||||||
| 2008 | United States U-19 | |||||||||
| 2009–2010 | United States U-23 | |||||||||
| 2011–2017 | United States | 74 | (3) | |||||||
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Honours
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† Appearances (Goals). |
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Meghan Elizabeth Klingenberg (born August 2, 1988) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Portland Thorns in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A former member of the United States women's national soccer team, she is a one-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. She has also played for three teams in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, for Tyresö FF in Sweden's Damallsvenskan and for the Houston Dash in the NWSL.
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Early life
Klingenberg was born in Pittsburgh and raised in the suburban north hills of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. She has a younger brother named Drew who played college soccer at Penn State. She attended Pine-Richland High School from 2003 to 2007 and was the captain of the girls soccer team. In 2005, she helped lead Pine-Richland to the Pennsylvania state high school championship and was an NSCAA All-America selection. She was also named a Parade All-American.
Klingenberg claims she enhanced her soccer skills by practicing Taekwondo, and that the martial art made her a more aggressive player. She is now a black belt.
University of North Carolina
Klingenberg attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a four-year starter for the Tar Heels. She scored 18 career goals with 24 assists. Klingenberg was a highly flexible player, playing on all three lines for UNC.
As a freshman in 2007, she played in 24 games, starting 10, and earned Freshman All-ACC honors. She scored five goals with three assists and was a Soccer America First-Team All-Freshman selection. Klingenberg led UNC freshmen in all offensive categories and was an All-ACC Academic Team selection.
As a sophomore in 2008, she played in 20 games, starting eight, and missed the last six games of the season playing for the US at the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile. She tied for second on the team with nine assists and two goals. Klingenberg was named to the ACC All-Academic women's soccer team and the ACC Honor Roll.
As a junior in 2009, she played in 26 games and played 1,668 minutes while scoring five goals with one assist. Klingenberg scored the game-winning goal in a 5–2 triumph over Wake Forest in the NCAA quarterfinals.
As a senior in 2010, she was an NSCAA All-American while playing in all 24 games for the Tar Heels and was fourth on the team with 23 points. She had 11 assists (second on the team), scored six goals, and was named First-Team All-ACC.
Klingenberg studied business with a concentration in entrepreneurship while at UNC Chapel Hill.
Club career
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WPS, 2011
In 2011, Klingenberg was selected by the Washington Freedom in the first round of the WPS draft. After the team was moved to Florida and renamed magicJack, she was traded in early June to the Boston Breakers. Klingenberg played 10 matches for Boston, starting them all and totaling 961 minutes for the season. She ended the season with one goal and two assists. She also spent time at Western New York Flash where she won the 2012 Women's Premier Soccer League Elite.
Tyresö FF, 2012–13
In 2012, Klingenberg signed with Swedish club, Tyresö. During her time with Tyresö she won the 2012 Damallsvenskan.
NWSL, 2013
After the WPS folded, the National Women's Soccer League was created with support from the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Houston Dash, 2014–2015
On January 10, 2014, it was announced that the Houston Dash had selected Klingenberg with the sixth pick in the 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft. She finished UEFA Women's Champions League with Tyresӧ FF, before joining the Dash mid-season. She left in October 2015 after making nineteen appearances for the club.
Portland Thorns, 2016–
In October 2015, Klingenberg was part of a pingpong trade that had her join the Seattle Reign as she was traded by Houston Dash for Amber Brooks and a conditional selection in the 2017 NWSL College Draft, then traded to the NWSL 2016 expansion team Orlando, who then traded her to the Portland Thorns FC for Alex Morgan and other considerations.
International career
Klingenberg has played for the United States women's national soccer team at the U-16, U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels. She received her first call-up to the senior squad for the 2011 Four Nations Tournament and earned her first two caps during the event. She was named an alternate for the 2012 Summer Olympics. In March 2013, she was named to the senior team roster by US WNT coach, Tom Sermanni for upcoming exhibition matches against Germany and the Netherlands. Klingenberg made her debut for senior team on January 23, 2011, at the Four Nations Tournament against Canada, coming in as a substitute at seventy-eighth minute. She also played in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The United States women's national soccer team won the tournament on July 5, 2015. Klingenberg started in every match of the tournament for the team. Despite seeing extensive playing time during the 2016 Summer Olympics, Klingenberg would receive sparse minutes throughout 2017 and has not been called up since January 2018.
International goals
| Key (expand for notes on “international goals” and sorting) | |
|---|---|
| Location | Geographic location of the venue where the competition occurred Sorted by country name first, then by city name |
| Lineup | Start – played entire match on minute (off player) – substituted on at the minute indicated, and player was substituted off at the same time off minute (on player) – substituted off at the minute indicated, and player was substituted on at the same time |
| Min | The minute in the match the goal was scored. For list that include caps, blank indicates played in the match but did not score a goal. |
| Assist/pass | The ball was passed by the player, which assisted in scoring the goal. This column depends on the availability and source of this information. |
| penalty or pk | Goal scored on penalty-kick which was awarded due to foul by opponent. (Goals scored in penalty-shoot-out, at the end of a tied match after extra-time, are not included.) |
| Score | The match score after the goal was scored. Sorted by goal difference, then by goal scored by the player's team |
| Result | The final score. Sorted by goal difference in the match, then by goal difference in penalty-shoot-out if it is taken, followed by goal scored by the player's team in the match, then by goal scored in the penalty-shoot-out. For matches with identical final scores, match ending in extra-time without penalty-shoot-out is a tougher match, therefore precede matches that ended in regulation |
| aet | The score at the end of extra-time; the match was tied at the end of 90' regulation |
| pso | Penalty-shoot-out score shown in parenthesis; the match was tied at the end of extra-time |
| Light-blue background color – FIFA women's world cup qualification match | |
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NOTE: some keys may not apply for a particular football player |
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| Goal | Date | Location | Opponent | Lineup | Min | Assist/pass | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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2014-10-20 | Washington |  Haiti |
Start | 57 | unassisted |
3–0 |
6–0 |
World Cup qualifier:Group A |
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2015-04-04 | St. Louis |  New Zealand |
15 | unassisted |
1–0 |
4–0 |
Friendly | |
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2015-08-16 | Pittsburgh |  Costa Rica |
Start | 56 | Tobin Heath |
7–0 |
8–0 |
Friendly |
Career statistics
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| magicJack | 2011 | WPS | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Boston Breakers | 2011 | WPS | 11 | 1 | — | — | 11 | 1 | ||
| Total | 11 | 1 | — | — | 11 | 1 | ||||
| Western New York Flash | 2012 | WPSL | 3 | 2 | — | — | 3 | 2 | ||
| Total | 3 | 2 | — | — | 3 | 2 | ||||
| Tyresö | 2012 | Damallsvenskan | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 10 | 1 | |
| 2013 | Damallsvenskan | 20 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 1 | |
| 2014 | Damallsvenskan | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | ||
| Total | 32 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 2 | ||
| Houston Dash | 2014 | NWSL | 7 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 0 | ||
| 2015 | NWSL | 12 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | |||
| Total | 19 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | ||||
| Portland Thorns | 2016 | NWSL | 14 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2017 | NWSL | 23 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 0 | |||
| 2018 | NWSL | 20 | 0 | — | — | 20 | 0 | |||
| 2019 | NWSL | 23 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 0 | |||
| 2020 | NWSL | — | — | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |||
| 2021 | NWSL | 22 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 27 | 0 | ||
| 2022 | NWSL | 15 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Total | 117 | 0 | — | 19 | 0 | 136 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 184 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 194 | 5 | ||
Honors
Western New York Flash
- Women's Premier Soccer League Elite: 2012
Tyresö
- Damallsvenskan: 2012
Portland Thorns FC
- NWSL Shield: 2016, 2021
- NWSL Championship: 2017, 2022
- NWSL Community Shield: 2020
- NWSL Challenge Cup: 2021
- International Champions Cup: 2021
United States
- CONCACAF Women's Championship: 2014
- Algarve Cup: 2015
- FIFA Women's World Cup: 2015
- CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 2016
- SheBelieves Cup: 2016
Individual
- NWSL Second XI: 2017
- FIFPro: FIFA FIFPro World XI 2015
Off-field
While with the Houston Dash, Klingenberg and teammate Morgan Brian lived with the family of former Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy during the NWSL season, as part of the Dash's host family program.
In 2018, Klingenberg participated in negotiating image and likeness rights for the United States women's national team for the U.S. Women's National Team Players Association.
In 2019, Klingenberg, along with United States teammates Tobin Heath, Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe started Re-inc, a gender-neutral lifestyle brand.
See also
In Spanish: Meghan Klingenberg para niños
