*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of November 23, 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of March 24, 2022
Theoson-Jordan Siebatcheu[1] (born April 26, 1996), commonly known as Jordan Pefok or just Jordan, is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Union Berlin.[4]
Club career
Reims
Pefok is a youth product of Stade de Reims, having joined the club as a 7-year-old.[5] He made his Ligue 1 debut on January 31, 2015, against Toulouse, replacing Alexi Peuget after 67 minutes in a 1–0 away defeat.[6] On August 9, 2015, Pefok scored his first Ligue 1 goal in only his second appearance, against Girondins de Bordeaux.[7] He signed his first professional contract in September 2015 committing to a three-year deal with Reims.[5]
On October 24, 2017, Pefok was named the Ligue 2 Player of the Month for September due to ranking among the league's best in both goals and assists, while leading Reims to the top of the Ligue 2 table.[8] On December 16, 2017, he set a career high for goals in a match by netting a hat trick against Valenciennes.[9] Pefok helped Reims win the 2017–18 Ligue 2 season and promotion to Ligue 1 for the 2018–19 season while also setting a record for the number of points in a Ligue 2 season. He finished the season with 17 goals, the second-highest total among all Ligue 2 players, as well as seven assists.[10]
Rennes
On June 12, 2018, Pefok signed a contract with Ligue 1 side Rennes.[11] On September 20, he made his European debut in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage for Rennes. On November 8, he scored his first European goal, against Dynamo Kyiv.[12] On December 22, he had his first Ligue 1 brace, scoring two goals and adding an assist against Nîmes Olympique in a 4–0 victory.[13]
Young Boys
On September 13, 2020, Pefok was loaned to Swiss side Young Boys.[14] After recording 15 goals and four assists across all competitions during the loan, Young Boys exercised the option to make the move permanent, effective July 1, 2021.[15]
Pefok earned the Swiss Super League scoring title for the 2021–22 season with 22 league goals, despite missing most of May 2022 due to injury. He became the first American to win the Golden Boot for a European league. Pefok recorded a career-best 27 goals and five assists across all competitions during the year including UEFA Champions League and its qualifiers.[17]
Pefok was born in Washington, D.C. to Cameroonian parents and grew up in France.[22] As a result, he was initially eligible to play for France, Cameroon, or the United States internationally.[23]
The United States Soccer Federation inquired about Pefok,[25] and he was invited to the United States camp for a match against France in June 2018 but declined the call-up, citing his transfer from Reims to Rennes, while leaving the door open for possible inclusion in the United States squad in the future.[26] On March 10, 2021, he announced that he had committed to play for the United States.[27]
Pefok made his debut for the United States on March 25, 2021, in a 4–1 friendly win over Jamaica.[28] On June 3, 2021, he scored the winning goal in the 89th minute of a 1–0 win over Honduras in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinal, after entering the game as a late substitution.[29]
Name
Jordan wears Pefok, his mother's maiden name, on the back of his jersey for the United States. He also wore it on the back of his Young Boys jersey,[30][31] but decided to switch to using only his first name Jordan for Union Berlin.[32][33] On the squad page for Union Berlin, he is identified as Jordan Siebatcheu.[34]
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