Matt Turner
Goalkeeper · USMNT · New England RevolutionUS Soccer’s own bio opens with the fact that he did not begin playing soccer until he was 14. No youth academy, no club badge, a baseball and basketball kid. He walked on in college and was picked for two World Cup squads. Here’s the climb, rung by rung.
- Position
- Goalkeeper
- Hometown
- Park Ridge, New Jersey
- Born
- 1994
- Plays now
- New England Revolution
Every club, in order, with the years
Look at the years beside each rung. Several of them cover three or four seasons in one place, and the second-division USL turns up on four of these thirteen routes.
- 1A late startTown & rec soccer
Saint Joseph Regional High School
Montvale, NJ Age 14 on
He grew up on baseball and basketball and, in US Soccer’s words, did not begin playing soccer until age 14. No academy, no travel-club résumé, none of the things people say you need by eight.
Started soccer at 14Multi-sport kidNo youth academyParent translationThe top US youth league starts at U13, so a kid who has not played a competitive soccer season by 14 is already outside it. Turner was, and it did not close the door.
- 2Walked on, then startedCollege · NCAA D1
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT · MAAC 2012-2015
He walked on at Fairfield, a smaller Division I program. His first season was rough enough that teammates would kick the ball out of play rather than pass back to him. He finished with 39 appearances, 21 shutouts and an All-MAAC second-team spot as a senior.
Walk-on21 college shutoutsAll-MAAC second team - 3Undrafted, then a regularPro · MLS / USL
New England Revolution
Foxborough, MA · MLS 2016-2022
He went undrafted in 2016 and signed with New England as a free agent that March. He spent his first seasons as a backup, then made 84 appearances and was MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2021 with 17 clean sheets in 33 matches.
Undrafted, 201684 MLS appearancesMLS Keeper of the Year 2021 - 4Europe, and back againPro · MLS / USL
Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Lyon
England, then France 2022-present
Arsenal signed him in 2022. Three Premier League seasons followed across Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and a loan at Crystal Palace, where he was the starting keeper through the run to the 2025 FA Cup. He moved to Olympique Lyonnais in 2025 and is back at New England on loan from Lyon.
Arsenal 2022FA Cup 2025 with PalaceAt New England on loan - 5The national teamNational team
United States men’s national team
USMNT Debut 2021
He debuted on 31 January 2021, saving a penalty, and started every US match at the 2022 World Cup. He was picked again for the 2026 squad, this time as the backup: Matt Freese started the opener against Paraguay.
Debut 2021Started the 2022 World Cup2026 squad, as backup
A walk-on keeper his own teammates wouldn’t pass back to, then a World Cup starter.
The part worth reading is the order it happened in and how long each step took. Look at the years beside each rung above. Several of them cover three or four seasons in one place.
What a parent can take from this one
A few things worth pulling out of the route above, none of them a formula you can copy.
Starting late didn’t stop him
He didn’t touch soccer until 14 and still reached the very top. Early specialization is a choice, not a requirement.
He never played academy soccer
High school, then a college walk-on spot, did the work an academy is supposed to do. The badge was never part of it.
The unrecruited route is real
No college recruited him out of high school. Walking on at a smaller program and earning the shirt beat waiting to be picked.
A shirt you win can be lost again
He was the starter in 2022 and the backup in 2026, behind a keeper who made his first US appearance a year before the tournament. Nobody holds a place permanently.
One path, not the path. MLS NEXT alone holds more than 53,000 players across 318 clubs. MLS has 30 clubs and caps an active roster at 30 players, and a World Cup squad is 26. Matt Turner’s route is worth understanding rather than copying step for step, because the arithmetic between those numbers is not something a plan can beat. Here is where the odds actually land.
Which rung is your kid on right now?
Town, club, academy, college: the rungs Matt Turner climbed are the same ones the clubs near you sit on. Read the ladder, or tell us about your kid and we’ll place them on it.
How we built this page
Every club, date and figure on this page was checked against US Soccer, the clubs themselves, college athletics departments and dated reporting. The professional record is well documented. The youth years are thinner, so where a claim could not be traced to one of those sources we cut it rather than fill the gap.
- US Soccer: Matt Turner
- ESPN: from college walk-on to the World Cup
- New England Revolution: Turner returns on loan
- US Soccer: Matt Freese starts the 2026 World Cup opener
Not affiliated with Matt Turner, US Soccer, New England Revolution, or any club or league. No endorsement implied. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
Photo: Bryan Berlin · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.