Michael Stephens

College and amateur

Stephens grew up in Naperville, Illinois, attended Edison Academic Center, and played four years of college soccer at UCLA. He was honored as UCLA's Rookie of the Year in 2006, while also being selected to the Top Drawer Soccer All-Freshman first team and to Soccer America's All-Freshman second team, playing in all 24 games in his rookie season. He was named to the Soccer America MVP second-team in 2008, and became only the third player in Bruin history to earn Pac-10 Player of the Year honors. As a senior, he was named to the All-Pac-10 First-team and was a NSCAA All-Far West second-team honoree. He finished his UCLA career with 81 appearances, 11 goals and 20 assists. During his college years Stephens also played two seasons with Chicago Fire Premier in the USL Premier Development League.

Professional

Stephens was drafted in the first round (16th overall) of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft by Los Angeles Galaxy. He made his professional debut on March 27, 2010, in Galaxy's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against New England Revolution. In March 2014, Stephens signed a two-year contract with Norwegian Tippeligaen side Stabæk. After one season with Stabæk, Stephens returned to MLS on 9 December 2014, signing with Chicago Fire. After the end of 2016 season, Fire did not exercise his contract option and he became a free agent. After his release from Chicago, Stephens joined North American Soccer League side San Francisco Deltas on January 6,…

As of 10 December 2016