FREDDY ADU Biography - Famous Sports men and women

 
 

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FREDDY ADU

Name: Fredua Koranteng Adu                                                             
Born: 2 June 1989 Tema, Ghana                                                           
                                                                                       
Fredua Koranteng "Freddy" Adu (born 2 June 1989 in Tema, Ghana) is a Ghanaian-American 
footballer playing as a striker and an attacking midfielder. He currently plays         
for Portuguese team S.L. Benfica of the Portuguese Liga (BWINLIGA), wearing the         
number 30.                                                                             
                                                                                       
Adu grew up in the port city of Tema, where he played football against men three       
times his age. When he was eight, his mother won the Green Card Lottery, and           
he and his family moved to the Washington, D.C. area, and in 2003 he became a U.S.     
citizen. Soon after arriving in the United States, he was discovered by a local         
soccer coach and began playing with boys several years older. Adu attended The         
Heights School, a private school in Potomac, Maryland, for several years. While         
playing with the U.S. Olympic Development Program in an under-14 tournament             
against the youth squads of such traditionally strong Italian teams as Lazio of         
Rome and Turin’s Juventus, Freddy’s team won the competition and he led the         
tournament in scoring and was named MVP. Adu was noticed by Italian                     
football clubs, including Inter Milan, who discussed a six-figure offer for him         
that was turned down by his mother on the advice of his agents.He was only 10           
years old at that time.                                                                 
                                                                                       
At age 12 in January, 2002, Adu joined the IMG Soccer Academy, U.S. Soccer's           
full-time residency program in Bradenton, Florida. He made his professional             
debut in Major League Soccer in early 2004, at just 14 years of age, and now           
plays for the United States Under-20 and men's national teams.                         
                                                                                       
Adu has played for the United States in four international tournaments: the 2003       
FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland, the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship         
in the United Arab Emirates, the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the             
Netherlands, and the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada.                               
                                                                                       
At the age of 14, Adu became the youngest American athlete in over 100 years to         
sign a major league pro contract - in any team sport - when he was chosen by DC         
United as the number one overall pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft, and won the           
MLS Cup title with them that year.