Christian Ramirez (soccer, born 1991)


Christian Ramirez is an American soccer player who plays for the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer.

Early life and education

Born in Santa Ana, California, Ramirez attended La Quinta High School in Westminster, California near his hometown of Garden Grove where he played center midfield and forward. As a freshman, he scored 17 goals and tallied 10 assists. During his sophomore year, he scored 18 goals and served eight assists. He opted not to play for the high school team during his junior and senior seasons. Ramirez played for the Olympic Development Program and earned the Golden Boot award at the nationals in 2008 after the squad won the tournament. He was named team captain for three seasons.
Ramirez played two years at Concordia University Irvine in California after starting his college career at UC Santa Barbara, where he appeared 24 times in two years, making two starts and scoring one goal. The 6'2" forward finished his CUI career with 44 goals and 18 assists. While at Concordia, Ramirez was named NAIA First Team All-American in 2012 while recording 23 goals and 6 assists and was also the GSAC 2012 Player of the Year. In 2011, Ramirez was named All-GSAC First Team and broke the school record for points in a game with five goals and three assists for 13 points against William Jessup. Ramirez tied the school single season mark for points with 48 in 2011 and would go on to set the school record for points in a season with 52 in 2012.

Club career

Charlotte Eagles

In 2013, Ramirez signed with the Charlotte Eagles of the USL PRO. He made his debut for the squad in a match against Antigua Barracuda FC, in which he tallied his first professional goal and was named to the USL Pro Team of the Week. Ramirez finished the regular season with 8 goals and 5 assists. He continued his form into the postseason, scoring 4 goals in 3 playoff appearances and helping lead the Eagles to the USL Pro Championship, though they lost to Orlando City SC.

Minnesota United FC

On January 8, 2014, Minnesota United FC announced that they had signed Ramirez for the 2014 NASL season. After first-choice striker Pablo Campos suffered a torn ACL in preseason, Ramirez enjoyed a breakout season while starting every game. Ramirez was named NASL Player of the Week three times, and the NASL Player of the Month three times, for May/June, August, and October/November.
On the final game of the 2014 NASL Season, Ramirez scored his 20th goal, equaling the league record held by Campos and Etienne Barbara. Ramirez won the 2014 NASL Golden Boot by an 8 goal margin and the NASL Young Player of the Year award. Due to his performances, Ramirez was named in NASL's Best XI for 2014 and went on to earn the same honor in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Ramirez again won the NASL Golden Boot in 2016 after tallying 18 goals in 31 appearances. Ramirez holds the club record for both appearances and goals for the now defunct NASL version of Minnesota United after they folded due to being selected for MLS expansion.
With Minnesota United FC's move to Major League Soccer, Ramirez was signed to an MLS contract, which was announced in January 2017. He scored the first goal in Minnesota's MLS history, on March 3, 2017, in Portland. During the 2017 MLS season, Ramirez scored 14 goals in 30 games, which put him in a three-way tie for 11th on the MLS top scorer list.
Ramirez got off to a slow start in 2018. After being scoreless in the first 6 games, he found the back of the net on April 22 in a 3–1 defeat to the Seattle Sounders.

Los Angeles FC

On August 6, 2018, Ramirez was traded to Los Angeles FC in exchange for $250,000 in General Allocation Money in 2018 and 2019, $100,000 in Targeted Allocation Money in 2018, $200,000 in Targeted Allocation Money in 2019, and up to $200,000 in future Allocation Money based on the player's performance. Should Ramirez satisfy all performance metrics, the total transfer fee will be $1,000,000. Ramirez made his LAFC debut on August 11, coming on as a sub in a 2–0 loss to Sporting Kansas City. On August 15, 2018, Ramirez scored his first two LAFC goals in a 2–0 win against Real Salt Lake. He would go scoreless for his next 5 appearances, but in the 1st game of the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs, Ramirez would score to give LAFC a lead in the 54th minute. However, Real Salt Lake would come back to win 3–2 to eliminate LAFC and Ramirez.
In 2019, LAFC got off to a strong start to the season. Ramirez picked up his first goal of the season in matchweek 2 in a 4–1 win over the Timbers. Ramirez started the season as the team's starting striker, in part due to Adama Diomande not being fully fit. He would however struggle to find the back of the net consistently and eventually lost his starting spot to Diomande.

Houston Dynamo

On August 7, 2019, Ramirez was traded to Houston Dynamo in exchange for $250,000 in allocation money. Ramirez made his Dynamo debut and scored his first goal for his new club on August 11 in a 2–1 loss to the Philadelphia Union. On September 11, the Dynamo hosted Ramirez's old team, Minnesota. He scored once as the Dynamo defeated the Loons 2–0. In the final game of the season, Ramirez scored twice, including the winner in the 83rd minute, to help Houston defeat the LA Galaxy 4–2. He enjoyed good form to end the year, scoring 5 and assisting 1 in his 10 games with the Dynamo.

International career

On January 8, 2018, Ramirez received a call-up for the United States men's national soccer team for a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He made his first appearance as a substitute against Panama on January 27, 2019, along with scoring his first goal for the senior team.

Career statistics

Club

International

As of February 2, 2019.

International goals

NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.January 27, 2019State Farm Stadium, Glendale, United States3–03–0Friendly

Source: US Soccer

Personal life

Ramirez's father, Juan, is a Colombian former footballer, who immigrated to the United States prior to Christian's birth. Juan stopped pursuing his soccer career in order to move his family to California. Ramirez says one of his motivations for playing soccer is to "live out dream that he wasn't able to." He was raised in a Catholic home and is a Christian Christian is married and has one daughter. Ramirez developed a strong friendship with fellow Californian and former Orange County Blue Star and Minnesota United teammate Miguel Ibarra. Ramirez and Ibarra were nicknamed "Superman" and "Batman" by the Minnesota fans.

Honors

Team

Minnesota United