Steve Cherundolo facts for kids
Cherundolo with VfB Stuttgart in 2018
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | February 19, 1979 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Rockford, Illinois, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Right-back | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current club | Los Angeles FC (head coach) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2014 | Hannover 96 | 370 | (7) | |||||||||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997 | United States U18 | 4 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | United States U20 | 25 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | United States U23 | 1 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2012 | United States | 87 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Hannover 96 (U15) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Hannover 96 (U17) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Las Vegas Lights | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022– | Los Angeles FC | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Steven Emil Cherundolo (born February 19, 1979) is an American soccer coach and a former player. He is currently the head coach for Major League Soccer team Los Angeles FC. As a player, he was a right-back and spent his entire club career with Hannover 96 in Germany. He was even the team's captain! Steve also played for the United States in the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups.
Contents
Early Life and College Soccer
Steve Cherundolo was born in Rockford, Illinois. He grew up in San Diego, California, and went to Mt. Carmel High School. When he was younger, he played for a club team called La Jolla Nomads. His team won the California state championship six times!
Before playing professionally, Cherundolo went to the University of Portland. He played for their soccer team from 1997 to 1998. In his first year, he was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year.
Playing Club Career
Cherundolo joined Hannover 96, a German soccer team, at the end of the 1998–1999 season. At that time, the team was in the 2. Bundesliga, which is the second-highest league in Germany. He quickly started playing for the first team.
He became a regular player at the right-back position in the 1999–2000 season. However, a knee injury kept him out for a while. In the 2001–02 season, he helped Hannover 96 get promoted to the Bundesliga, which is Germany's top soccer league. He played in 30 out of 34 games that season.
Cherundolo continued to play consistently in the Bundesliga. In 2005, a team from England, Bolton Wanderers, wanted to sign him. But he decided to stay with Hannover 96. He signed a new contract with the club in 2007.
He became a very important player and was named team captain before the 2010–11 season. He set a team record for the most appearances in the Bundesliga for Hannover 96. By 2013, he was the longest-serving player in the entire Bundesliga! On March 19, 2014, Cherundolo announced he was retiring from playing soccer. This was because he couldn't fully recover from a long-term knee injury.
International Career
Cherundolo's great play in Germany helped him earn a spot on the United States national team. He played his first game for the U.S. against Jamaica on September 8, 1999.
He was chosen for the 2002 FIFA World Cup team, but he got injured during practice and couldn't play. In the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, another knee injury stopped him from finishing the tournament. On March 22, 2006, he scored his first goal for the national team in a friendly match against Germany.
On May 2, 2006, Cherundolo was picked for the U.S. team going to the FIFA World Cup in Germany. He played his first World Cup match on June 12, 2006, against the Czech Republic. Five days later, he played the full game against Italy, helping the U.S. get a 1–1 tie. The U.S. team was eliminated from the tournament after the group stage.
Cherundolo missed the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup due to injuries. However, he returned to be the captain for the U.S. team during the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
He was also part of the U.S. squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He played every minute of every game for the U.S. in that tournament. In the second match against Slovenia, he even helped set up a goal for Landon Donovan. The U.S. won their group and made it to the Round of 16, where they lost to Ghana.
Coaching Career
After he stopped playing, Cherundolo stayed with Hannover 96. He became an assistant coach for their amateur team. In April 2015, he was promoted to assistant coach for Hannover 96's main team. After the 2014–15 season, he became the head coach of Hannover's U–17 youth team.
In January 2018, Cherundolo moved to VfB Stuttgart to be an assistant coach. In November 2018, he joined the coaching staff for the United States national team.
In 2020, Cherundolo said he would love to coach the U.S. national team or a team in Major League Soccer. On March 12, 2021, he became the head coach of USL Championship team Las Vegas Lights.
On January 3, 2022, Cherundolo was announced as the head coach of Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer. On October 2, 2022, he set a new record for the most wins by a first-year head coach in MLS history, with 21 wins! His team, LAFC, also won the Supporters' Shield that year, which is given to the team with the best regular season record. Cherundolo was only the third coach to win the Shield in his first MLS season. LAFC then went on to win their first ever MLS Cup title in MLS Cup 2022.
Personal Life
Steve Cherundolo can speak both English and German very well. This is because he spent his whole professional playing career in Germany. Hannover fans really liked him and called him "Dolo" or even the "Mayor of Hannover."
He married Mandy Rosier on New Year's Eve in 2009. After he retired from soccer, he and his family lived near Hanover, Germany. In 2021, Steve Cherundolo was chosen to be a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame for his achievements as a player.
Career Statistics
Club
Here's a look at Steve Cherundolo's playing statistics for his club career:
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Hannover 96 | 1998–99 | 2. Bundesliga | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 0 | ||
| 1999–2000 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 13 | 0 | ||||
| 2000–01 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 19 | 0 | ||||
| 2001–02 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 32 | 1 | ||||
| 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 34 | 0 | |||
| 2003–04 | 29 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 0 | ||||
| 2004–05 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 35 | 3 | ||||
| 2005–06 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 23 | 1 | ||||
| 2006–07 | 33 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 36 | 2 | ||||
| 2007–08 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 35 | 0 | ||||
| 2008–09 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 18 | 0 | ||||
| 2009–10 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 27 | 1 | ||||
| 2010–11 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 34 | 0 | ||||
| 2011–12 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 11 | 0 | 35 | 0 | |||
| 2012–13 | 20 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 10 | 0 | 33 | 0 | |||
| 2013–14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 370 | 7 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 423 | 8 | ||
International
Here are Steve Cherundolo's statistics for the United States national team:
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1999 | 1 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 7 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 87 | 2 | |
- Scores and results list the United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cherundolo goal
Here are the goals Steve Cherundolo scored for the United States:
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 22, 2006 | Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany |  Germany |
1–4 | 1–4 | Friendly |
| 2 | November 17, 2007 | Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg, South Africa |  South Africa |
1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
Coaching Statistics
Here's a summary of Steve Cherundolo's coaching record:
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Las Vegas Lights |  |
January 19, 2021 | January 3, 2022 | 32 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 41 | 77 | −36 | 18.75 | |
| Los Angeles FC | January 3, 2022 | present | 142 | 80 | 25 | 37 | 276 | 162 | +114 | 56.34 | ||
| Total | 174 | 86 | 28 | 60 | 317 | 239 | +78 | 49.43 | ||||
Honors and Awards
Steve Cherundolo has won several awards and championships as both a player and a coach:
Player
Hannover 96
- 2. Bundesliga: 2001–02 (This means his team won the second-highest German league)
United States
- CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2005 (A major soccer tournament for North and Central American teams)
Coach
Los Angeles FC
- MLS Cup: 2022 (The championship trophy for Major League Soccer)
- Supporters' Shield: 2022 (Award for the best team in the MLS regular season)
- U.S. Open Cup: 2024 (A knockout cup competition in U.S. soccer)
See also
In Spanish: Steve Cherundolo para niños
- List of one-club men in association football
