Tony Tchani

Tony Tchani

Tchani playing for New York Red Bulls in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Tony Ghislain Tchani [1]
Date of birth	(1989-04-13) 13 April 1989 (age 34)
Place of birth	Douala, Cameroon
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Maryland Bobcats
Number	18
Youth career
2004–2008	Beach FC
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2009	Virginia Cavaliers	37	(17)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008	Hampton Roads Piranhas	1	(0)
2010–2011	New York Red Bulls	29	(1)
2011	Toronto FC	13	(1)
2011–2017	Columbus Crew SC	130	(8)
2017	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	27	(4)
2018	Chicago Fire	13	(1)
2019	FC Edmonton	5	(0)
2021–	Maryland Bobcats	2	(0)
International career‡
2016	United States	1	(0)
2016	Cameroon	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10 October 2021 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 September 2016

Tony Ghislain Tchani ( /ˈtʃɑːni/ ; born 13 April 1989) is a Cameroonian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Maryland Bobcats in the NISA.

Youth and college soccer

Tchani moved to the United States from his native Cameroon in 2004, settling in Norfolk, Virginia. He attended Maury High School, and played club soccer for Beach FC before playing college soccer at the University of Virginia. He started 12 matches and scored 9 goals as a freshman, was the 2008 ACC Freshman of the Year, a second team all-ACC selection, was named to the first team All-South Atlantic Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), and was a Soccer America first team All-Freshmen. During the 2009 season, Tchani was named First-Team All America by College Soccer News, a member of the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament team, First Team All-America by NSCAA, and a second team All-ACC member. In 2009, the UVa Men's Soccer team won the National Championship (a 3–2 penalty kick shootout against Akron), with Tchani scoring one of Virginia's penalty kicks.

During his college years he also played with the Hampton Roads Piranhas in the USL Premier Development League. ^[2]

Club career

New York Red Bulls

Tchani was drafted in the first round (2nd overall) of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft by New York Red Bulls. ^[3] He made his professional debut on 27 March 2010, in New York's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against Chicago Fire. ^[4] On 27 April 2010 Tchani made his first start for New York helping the club to a 2–1 victory over Philadelphia Union in a 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification match. ^[5] On 20 May 2010 Tchani headed in his first career goal in a 3–1 loss to Columbus Crew. ^[6] During Tchani's initial campaign with New York he was gradually brought into the first unit by coach Hans Backe and eventually began to form a solid partnership in the heart of the Red Bulls' midfield with newly signed Rafael Marquez. ^[7] Tchani ended his first professional season appearing in 27 regular season matches for New York scoring 1 goal and providing 3 assists in helping his side capture the regular season Eastern Conference title. ^[8]

Toronto FC

Tchani was traded to Toronto FC on 1 April 2011 along with teammate Danleigh Borman and a 2012 SuperDraft 1st round pick for Dwayne De Rosario. ^[9] The following day Tchani made his debut for Toronto in a 1–1 home draw against Chivas USA. ^[10] Tchani scored his first goal for Toronto in a 1–1 home draw versus Columbus Crew on 23 April 2011, following his goal celebration he was shown his second yellow of the game leading to an ejection. ^[11] Tchani was forced to change his number in late June from 22 to 32 with Toronto's new designated player signing of Torsten Frings. ^[12]

Columbus Crew

On 15 July 2011, Tchani was traded to Columbus Crew in exchange for Andy Iro and Léandre Griffit. ^[13] Due to a left knee injury, Tchani was sidelined upon his arrival at the club, and underwent surgery in late August. ^[14] Finally, on 27 October 2011, he made his debut for the Black & Gold, playing 90 minutes in the midfield in a 1–0 away defeat at the hands of the Colorado Rapids in the Wild Card round of the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs. ^[15]

On 7 December 2012 Tchani signed a new deal with Columbus. ^[16] In 2013, Tchani remained a part-time player starting 13 matches for Columbus. However, in 2014 he became a mainstay and started 33 of 34 league matches. In 2016, he missed time because of national team commitments, but still made 21 appearances, scoring against Orlando City SC in a 2–2 draw. ^[17]

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

In a deal announced 30 March 2017, Tchani, along with $300,000 in various allocation funds and a possible future draft pick, was traded to Vancouver Whitecaps FC for Kekuta Manneh. ^[18]

Chicago Fire

On 28 February 2018, Tchani was traded to the Chicago Fire for $150,000 in Targeted Allocation Money. ^[19] He was waived by the Fire on 9 August 2018. ^[20]

Later career

On 7 August 2019, Tchani signed with Canadian Premier League side FC Edmonton. ^[21] He made his debut on August 10 against Pacific FC. ^[22] On November 4 Edmonton announced Tchani would not return to the club for the 2020 season. ^[23]

On 30 July 2021, Tchani signed with NISA side Maryland Bobcats. ^[24]

International career

On 4 November 2015, Tchani received his first call up from Cameroon for their upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches against Niger. ^[25] However, after aggravating an injury during a match with Columbus, he withdrew from the squad. ^[26]

In January 2016, Tchani was called up by the United States for their friendlies against Iceland and Canada ^[27] He made his U.S. debut on 31 January against Iceland, coming on as a substitute in the 70th minute. However, this friendly appearance did not cap-tie Tchani.

In March 2016 he accepted a call up from Cameroon for their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa. After appearing against South Africa, he was cap-tied to Cameroon. ^[28]

Personal life

Tchani received U.S. citizenship in 2013. ^[29]

Career statistics

As of 5 November 2019 ^{[30] [31]}

Club	Season	League			Playoffs [lower-alpha 1]		Cup [lower-alpha 2]		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Hampton Roads Piranhas	2008 [2]	PDL	1	0	–		–		–		1	0
New York Red Bulls	2010	Major League Soccer	27	1	0	0	3	0	–		30	1
	2011		2	0	0	0	0	0	–		2	0
	Total		29	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	32	1
Toronto FC	2011	Major League Soccer	13	1	–		4	0	0	0	17	1
Columbus Crew SC	2011	Major League Soccer	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	2012		22	2	–		0	0	–		22	2
	2013		22	0	–		1	0	–		23	0
	2014		33	0	2	1	2	0	–		37	1
	2015		32	5	5	0	2	0	–		39	5
	2016		21	1	–		2	0	–		23	1
	2017		0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0
	Total		130	8	8	1	7	0	0	0	145	9
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2017	Major League Soccer	27	4	2	0	0	0	1	0	30	4
Chicago Fire	2018	Major League Soccer	13	1	–		3	0	–		16	1
FC Edmonton	2019	Canadian Premier League	5	0	0	0	0	0	–		5	0
Total			218	15	10	1	17	0	1	0	246	16

1. Includes appearances in the MLS Cup Playoffs
2. Includes appearances in the U.S. Open Cup and Canadian Championship

Honours

University of Virginia

• NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship: 2009

Toronto FC

• Canadian Championship: 2011

References

1. Tony Tchani at Confederation of African Football website^{[ dead link ]}
2. "United Soccer Leagues (USL)". Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
3. "2010 MLS SuperDraft" . Retrieved 30 March 2017.
4. "Sports – CBC.ca".
5. "USOC: Chinn's brace leads Red Bulls over Union 2–1". MLSsoccer.com.
6. "Crew defeat Red Bulls, move atop the Eastern Conference | Major League Soccer". Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
7. "Tchani raises his game, Red Bulls' expectations". New York Red Bulls.
8. "Red Bulls beat Revs, clinch Eastern Conference | Major League Soccer". Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
9. "News". MLSsoccer.com.
10. "Gordon Goal Gifts Reds a Draw". Toronto FC. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
11. Girard, Daniel (23 April 2011). "TFC battles to 1–1 tie with Crew". The Star. Toronto. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
12. "Frings & Koevermans Join TFC". www.torontofc.ca. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
13. "Crew acquires rising star Tchani from TFC". Columbus Crew SC.
14. "Tchani's debut gives Crew a brief glimpse into 2012". 28 October 2011.
15. "Recap: Cummings' goal lifts Colorado past Columbus 1-0". 28 October 2011.
16. "Crew re-signs midfielder Tony Tchani". TheCrew.com. Crew Communications. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
17. "Higuain returns as Tchani, Kamara score in draw vs. Orlando City". ColumbusCrewSC.com. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
18. "Whitecaps FC acquire Tony Tchani and $300,000 in allocation money from Columbus for Kekuta Manneh". 30 March 2017.
19. "Chicago Fire Soccer Club Acquires Midfielder Tony Tchani from Vancouver Whitecaps FC". chicago-fire.com. MLS. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
20. "Chicago Fire Waive Defender Kevin Ellis and Midfielder Tony Tchani". chicago-fire.com. MLS. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
21. Khimji, Kassim (7 August 2019). "FC Edmonton Signs Veteran Midfielder Tony Tchani". FC Edmonton. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
22. "FC Edmonton 3- 1 Pacific FC". canpl.ca. 10 August 2019.
23. Khimji, Khassim (4 November 2019). "FC Edmonton announces the departures of eight players following 2019 CPL season".
24. "Home | Maryland Bobcats FC".
25. "Columbus Crew SC midfielder Tony Tchani ecstatic to receive first call-up from Cameroon". MLSsoccer.com.
26. "Columbus Crew SC's Tony Tchani would "have to discuss with my mom" on possible decision between USA and Cameroon". MLSsoccer.com.
27. "MLS standouts, youth dominate Jurgen Klinsmann's call-ups to US national team's January camp". MLSsoccer.com.
28. "Alex Song is recalled by new Cameroon coach Hugo Broos". BBC Sport.
29. "Tchani Earns U.S. Citizenship". Columbus Crew SC.
30. Tony Tchani at Major League Soccer
31. Tony Tchani at Soccerway

External links

• Tony Tchani at Major League Soccer
• Tony Tchani at Soccerway