Kasey Keller

Millwall After being a member of the U.S. national team in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, he was signed by the English club Millwall, playing there and becoming a fan favorite between 1992 and 1996.

Leicester City In his first year with Leicester City, Keller played a vital part in the team's success in both a strong league position and winning the 1997 League Cup. The team reached the final again in 1999; a last minute goal lost them the match. That summer, he left the club for Spain on a free transfer.

Rayo Vallecano Keller signed with the newly promoted Spanish club Rayo Vallecano for the 1999–2000 season and played there for two years.

Tottenham Hotspur In August 2001, Keller returned to England and the Premier League, joining Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer. Relegated to backup duty for Neil Sullivan early on, he won the starting spot and played every minute for Spurs in both the 2002–03 and the 2003–04 seasons.

In the 2004–05 Premiership season, Keller fell out of favor at Tottenham, as Paul Robinson became the first-choice keeper. In November 2004, Kasey was loaned out to Southampton, a Premiership club ravaged by injuries to its goalkeepers, for one month.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

On January 15, 2005, Keller joined German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach on a free transfer during the Bundesliga's winter break. He got off to a good start in the Bundesliga, keeping a clean sheet in his first appearance for Borussia. Keller played every minute in the second half of the season and kept a total of seven clean sheets in that period, playing an important role in saving the club from relegation.

Keller also lived in Haus Donk, a castle in Tönisvorst, near Mönchengladbach. During the 2006–07 season he was one of the two Bundesliga players to be hobby-columnists for RUND, a German soccer magazine published monthly, reflecting his life in Germany and his Bundesliga career within those lines. He shared that role with VfB Stuttgart's shot-stopper Timo Hildebrand.

On August 10, 2006, Keller was selected by his teammates to captain club side Borussia Mönchengladbach during the 2006–07 campaign. He is the second American (after Claudio Reyna) to captain a top-level German club.

Fulham In August 2007, Keller returned to the Premier League, signing for Fulham. The length of Keller's contract and financial details were not disclosed by the club. He was bought as a backup to goalkeeper Antti Niemi, but nagging injuries to Niemi saw him take over as principal goalkeeper at Fulham. However, the day before the Premier League match against Derby County in October, Keller injured his arm in training and was on the sidelines until late January. He returned as a substitute keeper in the 2–1 win over Aston Villa on February 3. From then on he was only second choice until Fulham's match against Blackburn where he started the game, with Niemi on the bench. He then went on to start Fulham's remaining games as they defied all odds and avoided relegation on the last day of the season with a 1–0 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Seattle Sounders FC

Keller considered retiring after the 2007–08 season, but instead returned to the United States to sign with Major League Soccer expansion team Seattle Sounders FC on August 14, 2008. He was the starting goalkeeper for the MLS team's first-ever match, on March 19, 2009, which the Sounders won 3–0. He continued to have a clean sheet in each of his next three starts, with a score of 2–0 per start. He also set the record for most minutes without a goal to start a season in MLS history. His clean sheet streak came to an end on May 2, at 457 minutes in the second half of a game against the Chicago Fire FC. He started in every match of the 2009 U.S. Open Cup, as the Sounders won the title after beating D.C. United in the final on September 2, 2009, thus becoming the second expansion team in MLS history to win the tournament in their inaugural season. Keller was then named TheCup.us Player of the Tournament. On October 3, Keller recorded his 10th clean-sheet in a 1–0 over Columbus Crew to end the Crew's 22-game home unbeaten streak.

In the 2010 season, the 40-year-old Keller was the only Sounders FC player to have started every league match (32) in regular season and playoffs, logging a total of 3585 in all competitions. On June 27, he recorded a season-high nine saves in a 1–3 loss to Philadelphia Union, and three days later, he made two stops in a penalty shootout against Portland Timbers in the round of 16 of the 2010 U.S. Open Cup. On September 9, Keller saved a first-half penalty in a goalless draw with Real Salt Lake. On October 5, Keller won his second U.S. Open Cup title after helping his side beat Columbus Crew 2–1 in the final in front of 31,311, the largest crowd to witness a US Open Cup final; Seattle thus become the first MLS club to successfully defend the Open Cup title and the first club overall to repeat since the New York Pancyprian-Freedoms did so in 1982 and 1983. He ended the 2010 season with 11 clean-sheets, thus surpassing his 2009 total. He won MLS Save of the Year for his stop against Kansas City Wizards on April 17 and six of his 82 saves were voted MLS Save of the Week. and in doing so at the age of 41 years and 306 days, he became the oldest player in the competition's history at the time, a record that has since been surpassed by Marcus Hahnemann in 2014 and Claudio Muñoz in 2024. He played his final regular season home game for the Sounders on October 15, 2011, helping his side to a 2–1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes in front of a record crowd of 64,140 people were present. In the following week, on October 22, Keller played his last match for the club in a 3–1 win over Chivas USA, and in doing so at the age of 41 years and 324 days, he became the third oldest player in the history of the MLS, only behind Preki (42) and Pat Onstad (43).

International career Keller got his first senior team cap against Colombia on February 4, 1990, and was on the roster as Tony Meola's back up at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

After being ignored by U.S. coach Bora Milutinović for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he was selected by Steve Sampson for several tournaments. Keller was part of the team that finished fourth in the 1995 Copa América and went on to play two games during the 1998 World Cup. the performance was commemorated in the song "Kasey Keller" by synth-pop band Barcelona.

For most of their careers, Keller and Brad Friedel were engaged in a head-to-head battle for the U.S. goalkeeper's jersey. Keller got the nod in 1998 but was second choice to Friedel in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In spite of this stiff competition he has the second most caps and wins of any men's goalkeeper in U.S. soccer history with 102 and 53, respectively, behind Tim Howard. Keller remains the team's all-time leader in keeping clean sheets with 47.

Keller crowned the U.S.'s run in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament with a clean sheet in the final match against Panama and two saves in the penalty shootout to give the side the trophy. He remained with the club through the 2022 season, when Apple TV's MLS Season Pass took over from local broadcasters. Keller also worked on ESPN broadcasts as a color commentator and studio analyst for various international tournaments and ESPN FC programs.

Personal life Keller resides in Seattle with his wife Kristin and their two children, twins born on August 26, 1997. Keller has lived in London, Madrid, and Germany, where he and his family lived in a 1,000-year-old castle. During his time abroad, Keller learned to speak German and Spanish fluently.

He told the New York Times that he turned down offers from several European clubs to sign with Seattle for the sake of his children, who have attended a new school with every transfer he has made. In another interview, Keller revealed that he wrote two academic papers on Millwall hooliganism, an experience had during his playing career at the English club to earn a degree in sociology. Keller was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma late in his career with the Sounders and underwent treatments from 2018 to 2021, when he entered remission.

In April 2016, Keller and his former USMNT goalkeeper teammate Marcus Hahnemann became coaches of the boys' soccer team at Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington. He also owns a minority stake in AC Boise, a professional team in USL League One.

Career statistics Club

International

Honors

Leicester City Football League Cup: 1996–97; runner-up: 1998–99

Tottenham Hotspur Football League Cup runner-up: 2001–02

Seattle Sounders FC Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: 2009, 2010, 2011

United States CONCACAF Gold Cup: 1991, 2002, 2005, 2007

Individual Millwall Player of the Year: 1992–93 National Soccer Hall of Fame: 2015 FIFA World Youth Championship Silver Ball: 1989 Honda Player of the Year: 1999, 2005 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 1997, 1999, 2005 MLS Save of the Year: 2010, 2011 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year: 2011 MLS Best XI: 2011 Western Soccer League MVP:1989 Western Soccer League Western Soccer League Top Goalkeeper: 1989 State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame: 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 1998, 2005 (Honorable Mention)