Alecko Eskandarian (born July 9, 1982 in Montvale,
New Jersey) is an American professional soccer
player in Major League Soccer, playing for Chivas
USA as of the 2008 season. He is the son of Iranian
national player Andranik Eskandarian, an Armenian
who played soccer professionally for the New York
Cosmos.
Prior to playing as a professional, he played three
years of soccer for the University of Virginia where
he was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 2000, and was
both named Soccer America's College Player of the
Year and awarded the Hermann Trophy in 2002 after
scoring 25 goals and 4 assists for the Cavaliers.
While at Bergen Catholic High School Eskandarian won
the 1999-00 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year
Award.
Eskandarian has played his first four MLS seasons
for D.C. United, who drafted him first overall in
the 2003 MLS Superdraft. During his first season he
recorded three goals and two assists in 23 games. In
the 2004 season, after the replacement of coach Ray
Hudson with Peter Nowak, Eskandarian saw
significantly more playing time. In his sophomore
campaign, Eskandarian led D.C. United in goal
scoring with ten in the regular season and added two
assists. He also was awarded D.C. United Coaches'
Award for his play during the 2004 season.
On November 14, 2004, Eskandarian played in his
first MLS Cup game. He helped D.C. United defeat the
Kansas City Wizards by scoring two goals in the
first half just four minutes apart — the fastest
pair of goals in MLS Cup history — and was voted
Most Valuable Player of the match. In 2005, Alecko's
season ended early after suffering a concussion. On
August 9, 2006, during the 2006 Summer Tour of Real
Madrid, he scored DC United's only goal in the draw
with Real Madrid.
On December 22, 2006, Eskandarian was traded from
D.C. United to Toronto FC for a partial allocation.
On May 22, 2007, Eskandarian was traded from Toronto
FC to Real Salt Lake in exchange for forward Jeff
Cunningham.
Alecko has played one game for the United States
national team, against Wales on May 27, 2003.
Chivas USA acquired Eskandarian from Real Salt Lake
in exchange for salary cap allocation money. This
move was announced on January 18, 2008 at the 2008
MLS SuperDraft.
