Sport: Soccer
Born: April 29, 1987
Town: Englewood, New Jersey
Alejandro Bedoya was born April 29, 1987 in Englewood, NJ. He grew up in Florida after his family moved to the city of Weston, an inland suburb of Miami. Weston is a fairly affluent town with a good sports culture. The Bedoyas fit right in. Alejandro’s grandfather and father were professional soccer players in Colombia, with his dad (Adriano) having played with the country’s top team, Millonarios, and his grandfather (Fabio) suiting up for Deportes Quindío .
Alejandro excelled as an attacking midfielder in youth leagues and was already a top player when he enrolled at St. Thomas Aquinas High, a Catholic prep school in Ft. Lauderdale. As a senior, he led the Raiders to their fourth state soccer title. He was named Florida Player of the Year.
Several colleges offered Alejandro a scholarship. He picked Fairleigh Dickinson, choosing to return to Bergen County, where he had friends and family. He played two years for FDU and was named first-team All-Northeast Conference as a freshman and sophomore. Alejandro wanted to test his skills on a bigger stage, so coach Seth Roland engineered a transfer to Boston College.
As a junior at BC, Alejandro was an All-American and was named 2007 ACC Player of the Year. He led the Eagles to victory in the ACC Tournament and was named to the All-Tournament team. Among the highlights of the season were deciding goals over Duke and Wake Forest, both ranked in the Top 5 nationally. As a senior, Alejandro earned All-America honors again and was also invited to train in Bradenton with Team USA.
Upon graduation, Alejandro decided that the development of his game would be better served playing soccer abroad than in MLS. He signed with Obrero SK, where he teamed with young Swedish stars Marcus Astvald and Michael Almeback to boost the club to elite status in the Swedish League.
Alejandro also began to carve out a place for himself on the US national team. He just missed the cut for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but played for Team USA in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup and won a silver medal.
In 2011, Alejandro transferred to Rangers FC in Glasgow for one season before moving back to Sweden to play with another top club, Helsingborgs IF. Helsingborgs made it to UEFA Champions League competition, and Alejandro scored twice in their two games.
In the summer of 2013, Alejandro joined FC Nantes in the French Premier League. During the 2013–14 season, he went on a scoring binge that helped Nantes climb into Ligue 1 contention. Also in 2013, he scored his first goal for Team USA, during a friendly against Guatemala, and was a member of the championship squad at the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.
In the summer of 2014, Alejandro was a member of America’s World Cup team. He played in all four matches, as Team USA made it out of the group stages but lost to Belgium in the round of 16. Following the 2015–16 European season, Alejandro transferred to the Philadelphia Union in MLS. He was named team captain in 2017 and was a mainstay as an attacking midfielder and wing. In 2020, he captain the Union to the Supporter’s Shield—Philadelphia’s first-ever trophy. In 2022, he scored his 20th MLS goal as the Union and helped them reach the MLS Cup Final for the first time. They face Los Angeles FC and staged a great comeback to tie the match 3–3, but lost on penalty kicks.