Premier League legend Brad Friedel has admitted he never planned to become a professional footballer, revealing that as a boy he was pursuing a career in basketball instead. Friedel, who played 450 times in the Premier League for Tottenham, Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Blackburn, still holds the record for most consecutive Premier League appearances with 310.
The 55-year-old, capped 82 times by the USA, grew up in Ohio excelling at football, basketball, and tennis. Standing at 6ft 4in, he seemed destined for basketball. He won his school's Outstanding Athlete of the Year award and was invited to try out for UCLA's basketball team after being an All-State player in Ohio.
A Lucky Break into Football
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport, via casino.org, Friedel said: "I never thought I'd play football at all. I got scholarship offers in other sports, basketball being one of them. I only got one scholarship offer, and that was to UCLA for soccer. So I never thought I'd play at all. Then Ziggy Schmidt gave me the scholarship offer for the sport that I loved the most. So I went out and it was complete luck. I always kind of laugh when people talk about pathways. I mean, my pathway was either playing tennis, ice hockey, or basketball, and then someone threw me a lucky chip and then football found me."
Friedel played in goal for UCLA Bruins in the NCAA Championship, earning first-team All-American goalkeeper honors in consecutive years before being named the top collegiate player in 1993.
Road to the Premier League
He left UCLA early, already capped by the USMNT, to pursue a professional career. After being denied a work permit for Nottingham Forest, he joined Brondby in Denmark and then Galatasaray. He returned to the US with the Columbus Crew in the newly founded MLS before finally signing for Liverpool in 1997 after numerous failed attempts to join a Premier League club.
At Liverpool, he spent three years as second choice behind David James and Sander Westerveld. Former Galatasaray manager Graeme Souness then signed him for Blackburn, where he became a legend. Friedel was named man of the match as Blackburn won the 2002 League Cup final against Tottenham. In 2002-03, his 15 clean sheets earned him Blackburn's Player of the Year and a place in the Premiership Starting XI.
Records and Legacy
During eight seasons at Ewood Park, he became the second goalkeeper in Premier League history to score, after Peter Schmeichel, netting against Charlton Athletic. He joined Aston Villa, becoming their oldest ever player at 39 against Manchester United, and later Tottenham, retiring in 2015 at age 44. Between August 2004 and October 2012, Friedel played an unbroken 310 consecutive appearances, a record he still holds.
For the US national team, he was unable to beat Tony Meola for the 1994 World Cup starting spot but played in 1998 and shone in 2002, helping the team reach the quarter-finals and earning the nickname 'The Human Wall'.
