Benny Feilhaber

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Personal information
Benny Feilhaber
Full name	Benny Feilhaber
Date of birth	January 19, 1985 (age 22)
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	5'9 (175cm)
Playing position	midfielder
Club information
Current club	Hamburger SV
Number	33
Youth clubs
2003-05	UCLA
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005-	Hamburger SV	9 (0)
National team²
2007-	United States	2 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 March 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 25 March 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Benny Feilhaber (born January 19, 1985 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is an American professional soccer player. He currently plays for Hamburger SV in the German Bundesliga.

Feilhaber is of Austrian Jewish descent.^[1] He was six years old when his family moved from Brazil to settle in the United States.^[2] He attended Northwood High School in Irvine, California where he was a standout midfielder on the school’s soccer team. After graduating in 2003 he enrolled at UCLA where he became a mainstay in the Bruins’ midfield. Surprisingly, Feilhaber made the team as a walk-on, rather than being recruited with a scholarship offer.

After his second year at UCLA Feilhaber was called up by the U.S. U-20 national soccer team to play in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in The Netherlands. His performances in the tournament caught the attention of scouts from several European teams and, after representing the U.S. in the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Israel, Feilhaber signed for Hamburg in July of 2005. In the 2005-06 season Feilhaber played with the Hamburg amateur team in the third division, or Regionalliga.

Feilhaber was called up twice to the U.S. squad for friendlies against Scotland on November 12, 2005 and Germany on March 22, 2006, but did not play in either game.

On October 12, 2006 Feilhaber made his Bundesliga debut, coming on as a second half substitute in a 2-1 home loss to Schalke 04. On October 22, 2006 he made his first Bundesliga start, playing all 90 minutes in a 2-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg's first win of the season.

On March 15, 2007, Feilhaber was again placed on the 24-man roster by coach Bob Bradley for friendly matches against Ecuador and Guatemala, on March 25 and March 28, 2007, respectively. Feilhaber made his first career start for the US team in the March 25th, 2007 game against Ecuador.