Young BVB star Mathis Albert writes US history book after historic goal

While Mathis Albert has been quietly working in the professional squad of BVB since 2014 and only received sporadic playing opportunities, he celebrated a historic goal for the US national team in stoppage time on Wednesday, which made him, despite limited club minutes, the youngest scorer in the country's history.

From LA Galaxy to BVB‑U17

Taylor Banner/USSF/GettyImages documented that the US‑American already moved to BVB in 2014. At that time he came from LA Galaxy initially into the U17 team of Borussia Dortmund. Since then he has been firmly embedded in the system of the German club.

The offensive jewel is today considered a permanent part of the professional squad. At Schwarzgelb great hopes are placed on the future of the 17‑year‑old, but in the team of coach Edin Kovac he still has to be patient.

Limited opportunities in the professional team

In the previous half‑season Albert made his Bundesliga debut on matchday 31 as a super‑sub against Freiburg. Since that appearance only one appearance followed in the first round of the DFB‑Cup.

Before the international break he was missing from the squad of the 1:0 win in Stuttgart. These scarce appearances illustrate that he is not yet regularly used in the BVB‑first‑team.

Historic debut for the USA

US‑national team coach Mauricio Pochettino already placed Albert in the A‑national team. Last Saturday, in the 4:1 win over Peru, the 17‑year‑old made his international debut as a super‑sub and set up the 2:1 intermediate result through Malik Tillman of Leverkusen.

In the night on Wednesday German time it then became historic for the USA and the BVB‑youngster: In the 4:2 victory over Chile Albert was used again and scored in stoppage time his debut goal for the Soccer Boys.

“His first action on the pitch? Zack, aggressive. Take the ball and go. Is he young? Yes. Does he still need to improve? Yes. Does he need experience? Yes. Does he need everything? Yes, of course. But he says: ‘I want out, I want to play, I want to prove myself.’ That’s exactly what we need, and that’s why I’m so happy,” Pochettino gushed after the match.

At 17 years and 131 days Albert is now the youngest scorer in the history of the US‑national team. He overtook Christian Pulisic, who held the record at 17 years and 253 days before moving to AC Milan.

Albert’s path began already in 2016/17, when he scored five goals and provided 13 assists in 43 league matches. In 2019 he moved for around 64 million euros from Dortmund to FC Chelsea, before returning to Germany again in 2024.