Alecko Eskandarian

High School and College

While at Bergen Catholic High School, Eskandarian won the 1999-00 Gatorade National High School Athlete of the Year Award. He was also named a NSCAA/Adidas All-American and New Jersey State Player of the Year after leading the state of New Jersey in scoring with 66 goals and 15 assists through 25 games during his senior year. He finished his high school career with 154 career goals, the most in Bergen County history and the third most in New Jersey high school history. Prior to playing as a professional, he played three years of soccer for the University of Virginia where he was named the best player in college soccer and awarded the Hermann Trophy in 2002 after scoring 25 goals (a school record) and 4 assists for the Cavaliers. He played three standout seasons at the University of Virginia and established himself as one of the all-time greats at the school. He finished his Cavaliers career with 50 goals (including 15 game winners), 113 points, and 13 assists in 60 games, before foregoing his senior year to go pro. During his 3 seasons at UVA, Eskandarian was a 3-time All-American, 1st Team All-ACC, ACC Rookie of the Year in 2000, and was also named ACC Player of the Year and Soccer America's College Player of the Year in 2002. Eskandarian returned to the university during the 2010 season to finish his degree and take an assistant coaching job with the team.

Professional

Eskandarian played his first four MLS seasons for D.C. United,…

Alecko is of Armenian-Iranian descent and is the son of former Iranian soccer player Andranik Eskandarian, who played soccer professionally for the New York Cosmos, and the Iranian national football team. Eskandarian also appeared on an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. During the episode, fellow Armenian-American Kim Kardashian was set up with him on a blind date.