Sacha Kljestan

Kljestan signed a Generation adidas contract with MLS, and played USL Premier Development League soccer for Orange County Blue Star in 2005. Kljestan was taken fifth overall at the 2006 MLS SuperDraft.

Chivas USA

Kljestan was a finalist for 2006 MLS Rookie of the Year as he appeared in 32 league matches for Chivas and recorded seven assists. He improved his performance in his second year as he recorded four goals and provided 13 assists in 25 matches, helping Chivas to a first-place finish in the Western Conference. He was nominated for the Starting XI in the 2008 MLS All-Star Game, but chose instead to play for the U.S. Olympic Team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His performance for club and country drew attention from many clubs overseas, and he left the U.S. team's winter training camp in mid-January 2009 to go on trial beginning January 17 at Celtic, the Scottish Premier League reigning champions. After the trial he returned to Chivas and continued his fine form as he made 25 league appearances during the 2009 season and scored 5 goals and provided three assists. He began the 2010 season with Chivas before being transferred to top Belgian side Anderlecht. In his time with Chivas, Klejstan finished with fifteen goals and 33 assists in 114 league matches.

Anderlecht

In June 2010, Kljestan signed a four-year contract with 2009–10 Belgian Pro League champions Anderlecht. He made his competitive debut and scored his first goal in the same game on July 27,…

U20

Kljestan was part of the United States Under-20 team at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. He had entered the U-20 program in 2004, earning a total of 16 caps, scoring 1 goal with the team up to 2005. In early 2007, he was called into training camp with the senior U.S. national team, but did not earn a cap in the following games.

U23

He also played for the US Under-23s at the 2008 CONCACAF Men's Pre-Olympic Tournament and scored in a 3–0 win against Canada to send the US Under-23s through to the Olympics. Kljestan was selected to Peter Nowak's roster for the U-23 Olympics in Beijing. He started all three games and finished the tournament as the United States' highest goal scorer with 2, an equalizer against the Netherlands in the 2–2 draw, which was voted goal Best U.S. Men's Soccer goal of 2008, and a penalty against Nigeria in the 2–1 loss that knocked them out of the tournament.

Men's team

Kljestan made his debut for the senior national team under his former club coach Bob Bradley on June 2, 2007, tallying an assist on Benny Feilhaber's winning goal in a 4–1 friendly match victory over China in San Jose. Later that summer Kljestan was a member of the US squad that participated in Copa América 2007. He made regular appearances as a central midfielder and contributed three assists in qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Kljestan scored a hat trick in a 3–2 friendly victory over Sweden on January 24, 2009, his first three goals with…

Club

International

Scores and results list the United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kljestan goal.

His brother Gordon once played an Open Cup match for the New York Red Bulls and also played for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in USSF Division 2. Kljestan's father Slavko Klještan, a Bosnian Serb from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a professional player playing for Željezničar Sarajevo. Kljestan, along with Frank Lampard and Cuauhtémoc Blanco, was featured on the North American cover of FIFA 10. Kljestan married model Jamie Lee Darley in June 2012.