Chris Henderson
{{Short description|American soccer player (born 1970)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2012}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name= Chris Henderson
| fullname = Christopher Henderson
| image = ChrisHenderson.jpg
| upright = 1.1
| caption = Henderson playing for Colorado Rapids
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|12|11}}
| birth_place = Edmonds, Washington, U.S.
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=9}}
| currentclub =
| position = Midfielder
| collegeyears1 = 1989–1990
| college1 = UCLA Bruins
| years1 = 1989
| years2 = 1994–1995
| years3 = 1995–1996
| years4 = 1996–1998
| years5 = 1999–2000
| years6 = 2001
| years7 = 2002–2005
| years8 = 2005
| years9 = 2006
| clubs1 = Seattle Storm
| clubs2 = FSV Frankfurt
| clubs3 = Stabæk
| clubs4 = Colorado Rapids
| clubs5 = Kansas City Wizards
| clubs6 = Miami Fusion
| clubs7 = Colorado Rapids
| clubs8 = Columbus Crew
| clubs9 = New York Red Bulls
| caps1 =
| caps2 = 15
| caps3 =
| caps4 = 87
| caps5 = 61
| caps6 = 25
| caps7 = 91
| caps8 = 21
| caps9 = 32
| goals1 =
| goals2 = 2
| goals3 =
| goals4 = 12
| goals5 = 12
| goals6 = 3
| goals7 = 19
| goals8 = 2
| goals9 = 3
| totalcaps = 332
| totalgoals = 53
| nationalyears1 = 1990–2001
| nationalteam1 = United States
| nationalcaps1 = 79
| nationalgoals1 = 3
| medaltemplates =
{{Medal|Country|{{USA}}}}
{{Medal|W|CONCACAF Gold Cup|1991}}
{{Medal|RU|CONCACAF Gold Cup|1993}}
{{Medal|RU|CONCACAF Gold Cup|1998}}
{{MedalSport|Men's Soccer}}
}}
Christopher Henderson (born December 11, 1970) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He earned 79 caps with the U.S. national team and part of the U.S. team at the 1992 Summer Olympics. At the time of his retirement from Major League Soccer, he was the league's all-time leader in games played. Henderson served as the technical director of Seattle Sounders FC from 2008 to 2021. He is the chief soccer officer and sporting director of Atlanta United FC.
Club career
=Early career=
Henderson, older brother to Sean Henderson, attended Cascade High School in Everett, Washington.{{Cite web |last=Patterson |first=Nick |date=2022-12-02 |title=Cascade alum Henderson feels ‘incredible pride’ for U.S. men |url=https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/cascade-alum-henderson-feels-incredible-pride-for-u-s-men/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=HeraldNet.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=staff |first=Seattle Times |date=2005-05-24 |title=Flashback: Cascade’s Henderson still get his kicks with soccer |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/high-school/flashback-cascades-henderson-still-get-his-kicks-with-soccer/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US}} In 1989, he played a single season with the Seattle Storm of the Western Soccer League.
Henderson played two years of college soccer at UCLA, where he helped the team win a national championship his sophomore season. Upon graduating from college, Henderson played for 2. Bundesliga club FSV Frankfurt during the 1994–95 season. He turned down offers from the revived Seattle Sounders and new Seattle SeaDogs to play overseas.{{cite news |last=Anderson |first=Lenny |date=November 16, 1994 |title=SeaDogs unveil selves, coach for '95 debut |page=C3 |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer}} After the end of that season, he moved to the Norwegian league, where he trained with Stabæk during the winter. He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.
=Major League Soccer=
At the end of the Norwegian season, Henderson returned to the U.S. and on March 11, 1996, the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer (MLS) named Henderson as a Discovery Player. He immediately stood out by starting 29 games, scoring three goals and eight assists, and being named the Rapids' team MVP. Henderson spent the next two seasons with the Rapids, registering nine goals and 22 assists over 51 games. He then moved to the Kansas City Wizards for the 1999 season, where he started 29 games, scoring three goals and six assists. Henderson was even better in 2000, scoring nine goals and nine assists as one of the major players in the Wizards team that won the MLS Cup.
He moved to the Miami Fusion for the 2001 season, where he scored three goals and eight assists on a team that went on to win the MLS Supporters' Shield in their final year. Upon Fusion's contraction, Henderson was reacquired by the Rapids in the 2002 MLS Dispersal Draft. Henderson continued to be a threat on the right for the Rapids, scoring 11 goals and seven assists in his first season back. Although he began to show his age in the next two seasons, Henderson continued to be dangerous on the flank. He is the Rapids' all-time leader with 178 games played, 53 assists, and 120 points. Henderson was traded to the Columbus Crew in May 2005 in a three-team deal. After the season, he was dealt again, to the MetroStars — soon renamed New York Red Bulls — for Tim Ward. Henderson played every match of the 2006 season, and by its end he was the league's all-time leader in games played, though he has since lost the title. At the end of the season, however, Henderson was waived. He went on to announce his retirement from professional soccer on December 22, 2006.{{cite web | url = http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20061222&content_id=80829&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp | title = MLS original Henderson retires | publisher = MLSnet.com | date = December 22, 2006 | access-date = July 8, 2012 | first = Jonathan | last = Nierman | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070106002310/http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20061222&content_id=80829&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp | archive-date = January 6, 2007 | df = mdy-all }}
International career
Henderson earned 79 caps with the U.S. national team throughout the 1990s, beginning with a call-up while still at UCLA.{{cite news |last=Patterson |first=Nick |date=December 2, 2022 |title=Cascade alum Henderson feels 'incredible pride' for U.S. men |url=https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/cascade-alum-henderson-feels-incredible-pride-for-u-s-men/ |work=The Everett Herald |accessdate=December 2, 2022}} He started in a victory over Iceland and quickly established himself on the national team, seeing time in nearly every game leading up to the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He was on the U.S. roster at the World Cup – and the tournament's youngest player at 19. Henderson was a member of the U.S. team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Henderson continued to play with the national team until 1998. His last game in the 1990s came in a February 25, 1998 loss to Belgium as the U.S. prepared for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Henderson did not earn his next cap until October 25, 2000. His next, and final cap, came on September 1, 2001. Over his 79-cap national team career, Henderson scored three goals and ten assists for the United States.
International goals
| class="wikitable" | ||||||
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 22 June 1993 | Quito, Ecuador | {{fb|VEN}} | align=center|1–0 | align=center| 3–3 | 1993 Copa América |
| 2. | 16 November 1997 | Foxborough, United States | {{fbw|SLV}} | align=center|3–0 | align=center| 4–2 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Post-playing career
Following his retirement as a player, Henderson rejoined the Kansas City Wizards as an assistant coach for the 2007 season. On January 24, 2008, it was announced that Henderson would be joining the front office of the Seattle Sounders FC as the technical director.{{cite web | url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soccer/2004143221_webmls24.html | title = Henderson named technical director for Seattle's MLS team | publisher = The Seattle Times | date = January 24, 2008 | access-date = July 8, 2012 | first = José Miguel | last = Romero}} Under Henderson, the Sounders reached the playoffs in 12 consecutive years starting with their expansion season in 2009. They have won four U.S. Open Cups, one Supporters' Shield, and two MLS Cup championships since joining the league.{{cite news |last=Evans |first=Jayda |date=January 18, 2021 |title=Chris Henderson leaves Sounders to join Inter Miami |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/sounders/chris-henderson-leaves-sounders-to-join-inter-miami/ |work=The Seattle Times |accessdate=February 8, 2021}}
Henderson was named the chief soccer officer and sporting director of Inter Miami CF on January 18, 2021.{{cite news |last=Price |first=Khobi |date=January 18, 2021 |title=Chris Henderson named Inter Miami's chief soccer officer, sporting director |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/soccer/inter-miami/fl-sp-chris-henderson-inter-miami-20210118-ump3vh5e5ngznfostmtqyfqoei-story.html |work=Sun-Sentinel |accessdate=February 8, 2021}}
Career statistics
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | ||||||||||
| rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|National cup{{efn|Includes Open Cup}} !colspan="2"|League cup !colspan="2"|Continental !colspan="2"|Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| FSV Frankfurt
|1994–95{{cite web |title=Chris Henderson » Club matches |url=https://www.worldfootball.net/player_summary/chris-henderson/2/ |website=worldfootball.net |access-date=13 November 2022}} |15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 15 | 2 | |||
| rowspan="4"|Colorado Rapids
|1996{{cite web|url=http://web.mlsnet.com/history/register.jsp?content%3Dplayers_h |access-date=July 27, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514220034/http://web.mlsnet.com/history/register.jsp?content=players_h |archive-date=May 14, 2007 |title=Major League Soccer: History: All-Time MLS Player Register }} |rowspan="3"|Major League Soccer |29 | 3 | |||||||||
| 1997
|30 | 7 | |||||||||
| 1998
|28 | 2 | |||||||||
| colspan="2"|Total
!87 | 12 | |||||||||
| rowspan="3"|Kansas City Wizards
|1999 |rowspan="2"|Major League Soccer |30 | 3 | |||||||||
| 2000
|31 | 9 | |||||||||
| colspan="2"|Total
!61 | 12 | |||||||||
| Miami Fusion
|2001 |Major League Soccer |25 | 3 | |||||||||
| rowspan="5"|Colorado Rapids
|2002 |rowspan="4"|Major League Soccer |28 | 11 | |||||||||
| 2003
|26 | 4 | |||||||||
| 2004
|29 | 3 | |||||||||
| 2005
|8 | 1 | |||||||||
| colspan="2"|Total
!91 | 19 | |||||||||
| Columbus Crew
|2005 |Major League Soccer |21 | 2 | |||||||||
| New York Red Bulls
|2006 |Major League Soccer |32 | 3 | |||||||||
| colspan="3"|Career total
!332 | 53 |
{{notelist}}
Honors
United States
Individual
- MLS All-Star: 1997,[https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/all-star-game-flashback-1997-valderrama-named-mvp-again All-Star Game flashback, 1997] at MLSsoccer.com 2000{{Cite web |date=July 29, 2000 |title=2000 MLS All-Star Game |url=https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2000-mls-all-star-game-373143 |work=MLSsoccer.com |access-date=July 28, 2023}} mls all star game 2001 USA
- MLS Humanitarian of the Year Award: 2004
References
{{reflist}}
{{Navboxes
|title= United States squads
|bg= #002868
|fg= white
|bordercolor= #BF0A30
|list1=
{{United States squad 1990 FIFA World Cup}}
{{United States squad 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup}}
{{United States football squad 1992 Summer Olympics}}
{{United States squad 1992 King Fahd Cup}}
{{United States squad 1993 Copa América}}
{{United States squad 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup}}
{{United States squad 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup}}
}}
{{Colorado Rapids}}
{{Seattle Sounders FC}}
{{Gatorade National Soccer Player of the Year}}
{{Inter Miami CF}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Chris}}
Category:American expatriate men's soccer players in Germany
Category:Colorado Rapids players
Category:Columbus Crew players
Category:1990 FIFA World Cup players
Category:1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
Category:Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Category:1992 King Fahd Cup players
Category:1993 Copa América players
Category:1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
Category:1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
Category:CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players
Category:Sporting Kansas City players
Category:Olympic soccer players for the United States
Category:New York Red Bulls players
Category:Seattle Storm (soccer) players
Category:Major League Soccer players
Category:Major League Soccer All-Stars
Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer)
Category:UCLA Bruins men's soccer players
Category:United States men's international soccer players
Category:Western Soccer Alliance players
Category:FSV Frankfurt players
Category:2. Bundesliga players
Category:Sportspeople from Edmonds, Washington
Category:Soccer players from Snohomish County, Washington
Category:United States men's under-20 international soccer players
Category:United States men's under-23 international soccer players
Category:Men's association football midfielders
Category:American men's soccer players
Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Norway
Category:American expatriate sportspeople in Norway
Category:American expatriate men's soccer players