| Zach Pfeffer | |
| Fullname: | Zachary Pfeffer |
| Birth Date: | 6 January 1995 |
| Birth Place: | Dresher, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Position: | Midfielder |
| Youthyears1: | 2005–2008 |
| Youthclubs1: | Montgomery United |
| Youthyears2: | 2008–2009 |
| Youthclubs2: | YMS Celtic |
| Youthyears3: | 2009–2010 |
| Youthclubs3: | FC DELCO |
| Youthyears4: | 2010 |
| Youthclubs4: | IMG Soccer Academy |
| Years1: | 2011–2015 |
| Clubs1: | Philadelphia Union |
| Caps1: | 30 |
| Goals1: | 3 |
| Years2: | 2013 |
| Clubs2: | → 1899 Hoffenheim (loan) |
| Caps2: | 0 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2014–2015 |
| Clubs3: | → Harrisburg City Islanders (loan) |
| Caps3: | 4 |
| Goals3: | 1 |
| Years4: | 2016 |
| Clubs4: | Colorado Rapids |
| Caps4: | 0 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Years5: | 2016 |
| Clubs5: | → Charlotte Independence (loan) |
| Caps5: | 16 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Years6: | 2016 |
| Clubs6: | → Colorado Springs Switchbacks (loan) |
| Caps6: | 2 |
| Goals6: | 0 |
| Totalcaps: | 52 |
| Totalgoals: | 3 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2010–2011 |
| Nationalteam1: | United States U17 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 5 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2012–2013 |
| Nationalteam2: | United States U18 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 9 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 2 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2014–2015 |
| Nationalteam3: | United States U20 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 12 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 5 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2015 |
| Nationalteam4: | United States U23 |
| Nationalcaps4: | 1 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | September 22, 2016 |
| Ntupdate: | June 7, 2015 |
Zachary "Zach" Pfeffer (born January 6, 1995) is an American former professional soccer player. In 2010 at the age of 15 he became the fourth-youngest player ever to sign a Major League Soccer contract. He retired from soccer in 2016 at 21 years of age.
Pfeffer is Jewish and was born in Dresher, Pennsylvania.[1] He attended Upper Dublin High School, finishing on time as he played soccer for Union.[2] [1] He played for YMS Celtics, FC Delco Academy along with the Montgomery Maniacs as a young man in Pennsylvania before spending a semester at the U-17 national team residency at IMG in 2010.[3] [4]
After retiring from soccer in 2016 at 21 years of age, as of January 2017, he was a junior at the Fox School of Business and Management department of Temple University; he became an investment banker thereafter.[5] [6] [7]
Pfeffer then spent several months training with the Philadelphia Union first team and made an appearance for them in a friendly against C.D. Guadalajara on September 1, 2010.[8] Pfeffer was a member of Philadelphia's U-17 squad that competed in the MLS U-17 SUM Cup in Houston, Texas.
On December 22, 2010, the Union signed Pfeffer at the age of 15 as their first-ever homegrown player.[9] [7] He was the fourth-youngest player ever to sign an MLS contract, behind Freddy Adu, Fuad Ibrahim, and Diego Fagundez.[6]
He scored his first goal for the Union in a preseason friendly against UCF on February 14, 2011, off a brilliant, long-range effort.[10] He made his regular season Philadelphia Union debut on September 17 against Columbus Crew, at 16 years of age.[7] In 2015 in 21 games (11 starts) he had two goals and an assist.[2] Pfeffer was one of the longest-tenured Union players when he left the team.[2]
Pfeffer was loaned to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for the whole of 2013, beginning on January 7, 2013.[11] In the 2012–2013 campaign, Pfeffer scored 2 goals in 9 matches playing for the Hoffenheim U-19 side.
Pfeffer was traded to the Colorado Rapids in January 2016 in exchange for the overall second pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, which was used to draft defender Josh Yaro.[2] [12] [13] [14] [15] In 2014 and 2015 he played in the Major League Soccer Homegrown Game.[16]
He decided to leave soccer, to go to college and then pursue a career in finance.[2] Pfeffer explained: "I sat down and took a look where I wanted to be long-term, and I knew that in a year, five years, 10 years, the financial industry is where I wanted to be. Everything came together nicely with my contract expiring and where I was at academically and where I was professionally.... I looked at where my heart was and where my passions were. Obviously I love the game and I always will, but there was an overriding passion to pursue this next part of my life."[2] Jim Curtin, who had been his manager at Union, said: "I want to say he should still be playing because he’s that talented... It’s too young to have a career come to an end."[2]
Pfeffer represented the United States at the U-14 and U-15 levels and trained at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, as part of U.S. Soccer's U-17 residency program.[4] On April 18, 2011, he was called up to the U-17 National Team to play in the Mondial Minimes Montaigu Tournament in Montaigu, France, from April 18–26.[17]
Pfeffer was called into the first U-18 National Team camp of 2012 by then-Manager Richie Williams.[18] He was also called up to numerous U-18 National Team camps in 2012. He scored a goal in their November friendly against Canada.[19]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| USA | League | Open Cup | League Cup | North America | Total | ||||||||
| 2011 | Philadelphia Union | Major League Soccer | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | ||
| 2012 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 2014 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 1 | |||||
| 2015 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 23 | 2 | |||||
| Total | USA | 30 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 3 | ||
| Career total | 30 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 3 | |||
Updated January 15, 2016[20]
Pfeffer had taken Penn State online courses during his soccer career, and completed over three semesters of college before he stopped playing soccer.[2] He as of 2020 was an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs.[7]