Gale Agbossoumonde

Gale Agbossoumonde (born November 17, 1991) is a retired American professional soccer player.

Gale Agbossoumonde
Personal information
Full name Gale Agbossoumonde[1]
Date of birth (1991-11-17) November 17, 1991
Place of birth Lomé, Togo
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
2007 IMG Soccer Academy
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2012 Miami FC 6 (0)
2010 → Braga (loan) 0 (0)
2011 → Djurgårdens IF (loan) 8 (0)
2011–2012 → Eintracht Frankfurt II (loan) 1 (0)
2012 → Carolina RailHawks (loan) 18 (1)
2013–2014 Toronto FC 13 (0)
2014 Colorado Rapids 0 (0)
2015 Tampa Bay Rowdies 11 (0)
2016 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 29 (1)
2017 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 11 (0)
National team‡
2008–2011 United States U20 30 (2)
2010 United States 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 14, 2017
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of November 17, 2010

Early life

Agbossoumonde was born in Togo, but his family fled to Benin when Gale was an infant. At the age of eight, his family moved to Syracuse, New York with the help of a church charity. Gale attended Christian Brothers Academy until the 9th grade, leading them to a NYS Soccer Championship runner-up finish that year.

Career

Club

After a semester with the U17 National Team, Agbossoumonde was invited to join U.S. Soccer Development Academy club IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He emerged as a force at centerback, earning high praise for his soccer IQ and his ability to effectively use his already large frame.

Agbossoumonde signed a three and a half year contract with Traffic Sports Marketing and Miami FC on August 6, 2009.[2] His professional debut shortly followed and he made six appearances during the 2009 USL season. On January 7, 2010, he moved to Sporting Braga of the Portuguese Liga on a six-month loan that included an option to buy.[3] Braga declined the purchase option when the loan spell ended.

Agbossoumonde was sent on loan to Allsvenskan team Djurgårdens IF in 2011. On April 15 he started his first match and went the full 90 minutes for Djurgårdens IF, against Malmö FF, having won "Man of the Match" honors.[4] Agbossoumonde played eight games for Djurgårdens IF during spring 2011, but Djurgården decided not to use their option to buy him out of his contract, and Agbossoumonde left the club at the end of July 2011.[5]

In August 2011, Agbossoumonde was loaned to 2. Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt.[6] Gale received official clearance to play for Eintracht in the beginning of October 2011, and made his debut for the Eintracht reserve squad in a match on October 8 against SGS Großaspach.[7] However, the loan to the German side proved short, too.

In February 2012, Traffic Sports announced that Agbossoumonde was going on loan to Carolina RailHawks of the North American Soccer League.[8]

In December 2012, Agbossoumonde joined Toronto FC, after he was entered into a weighted lottery to allocate him to a team in Major League Soccer.[9] Agbossoumonde made his debut for Toronto on April 6 due to an injury to starter Danny Califf, the game ended in a 2-2 home draw to FC Dallas.[10]

On May 8, 2014, Agbossoumonde was involved in a three-team trade when the Colorado Rapids traded Marvin Chávez to Chivas USA for Luke Moore, who was immediately traded by Colorado to Toronto FC for Agbossoumonde.[11] At the conclusion of the 2014 season, Colorado declined Agbossoumonde's contract option for 2015.[12]

Agbossoumonde signed with Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League in December 2014.[13] He was released in October 2015.[14]

In December 2015, Agbossoumonde signed with Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL.[15] In 2017 he signed for Pittsburgh Riverhounds. His contract was not renewed following the 2017 USL season, and has since not played professionally.

International

He has been an active member of the United States U-20 team and participated in the 2009 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Trinidad & Tobago, helping the US to qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt. In the tournament in Egypt, although only 17 at the time, he started all games for the US.

Agbossoumonde received his first senior national team cap on his birthday, November 17, 2010, against South Africa in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup.[16]

Honors

United States

Individual

Career statistics
As of October 31, 2014
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
United States League US Open Cup USL Playoffs North America Total
Miami FC 2009 USL-1 6000——60
2010 D2 Pro League 0000——00
Portugal League Taça de Portugal Taça da Liga Europe Total
Braga (loan) 2010–11 Primeira Liga 0000——00
Estoril Praia 2011–12 Primeira Liga 0000——00
Sweden League Svenska Cupen Supercupen Europe Total
Djurgården (loan) 2011 Allsvenskan 8000——80
Germany League DFB-Pokal Hesse Cup Europe Total
Eintracht Frankfurt II (loan) 2011–12 Regionalliga Süd 1000——10
United States League US Open Cup NASL Playoffs North America Total
Carolina RailHawks (loan) 2012 NASL 1710030—201
Canada League Canadian Championship MLS Cup North America Total
Toronto FC2013MLS130100000140
United States League US Open Cup MLS Cup North America Total
Colorado Rapids 2014 MLS 0000000000
Tampa Bay Rowdies 2015 NASL 000000—01
Total United States 231003000261
Portugal 0000000000
Sweden 8000000080
Germany 1000000010
Canada 130100000140
Career statistics451103000491

References
  1. "FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009 – List of Players" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). p. 22. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  2. "Traffic Sports strengthens U.S. player development initiative by signing Gale Agbossoumonde". oursportscentral.com. August 6, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  3. Sciaretta, Brian (January 7, 2010). "Agbossoumonde Off To Portuguese Leaders". Yanks-Abroad.com. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  4. "Under-20 prospects making a splash; more Americans Abroad". CNN. April 19, 2011.
  5. "Ingen fortsättning för Gale Agbossoumonde". dif.se (in Swedish). Djurgårdens IF Fotboll. July 17, 2011. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  6. "Stats, scores and schedules". The Washington Post. August 31, 2011.
  7. http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=blog&entry=224
  8. "News". Carolina RailHawks. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  9. "Agbossoumonde signs with MLS, to be placed in lottery". Soccerbyives.net. December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  10. "MLS: Toronto FC rallies to tie FC Dallas | The Star". thestar.com. April 6, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  11. Daniel BonifaceThe Denver Post (October 27, 2012). "Rapids trade Marvin Chávez, acquire Gale Agbossoumonde from Toronto in three-team deal". The Denver Post. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  12. "Out with the old? Colorado declines options on Buddle, Wynne, LaBrocca, but won't rule out returns". November 25, 2014.
  13. "Rowdies Add Defender Gale Agbossoumonde and Tampa Bay Native Darnell King to Roster". OurSports Central. December 22, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 11, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Bradley Names 18-Man Roster to Face South Africa on Nov. 17 in Cape Town". U.S. Soccer. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
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