*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of September 22, 2016 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 7, 2015
Zachary "Zach" Pfeffer (born January 6, 1995) is an American former professional soccer player. In 2010 at the age of 15 he became the fourth-youngest player ever to sign a Major League Soccer contract. He retired from soccer in 2016 at 21 years of age.
Pfeffer then spent several months training with the Philadelphia Union first team and made an appearance for them in a friendly against C.D. Guadalajara on September 1, 2010.[8] Pfeffer was a member of Philadelphia's U-17 squad that competed in the MLS U-17 SUM Cup in Houston, Texas.
He scored his first goal for the Union in a preseason friendly against UCF on February 14, 2011, off a brilliant, long-range effort.[10] He made his regular season Philadelphia Union debut on September 17 against Columbus Crew, at 16 years of age.[7] In 2015 in 21 games (11 starts) he had two goals and an assist.[2] Pfeffer was one of the longest-tenured Union players when he left the team.[2]
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (loan)
Pfeffer was loaned to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for the whole of 2013, beginning on January 7, 2013.[11] In the 2012–2013 campaign, Pfeffer scored 2 goals in 9 matches playing for the Hoffenheim U-19 side.
He decided to leave soccer, to go to college and then pursue a career in finance.[2] Pfeffer explained: "I sat down and took a look where I wanted to be long-term, and I knew that in a year, five years, 10 years, the financial industry is where I wanted to be. Everything came together nicely with my contract expiring and where I was at academically and where I was professionally.... I looked at where my heart was and where my passions were. Obviously I love the game and I always will, but there was an overriding passion to pursue this next part of my life."[2]Jim Curtin, who had been his manager at Union, said: "I want to say he should still be playing because he’s that talented... It’s too young to have a career come to an end."[2]
Pfeffer was called into the first U-18 National Team camp of 2012 by then-Manager Richie Williams.[18] He was also called up to numerous U-18 National Team camps in 2012. He scored a goal in their November friendly against Canada.[19]
Pfeffer had taken Penn State online courses during his soccer career, and completed over three semesters of college before he stopped playing soccer.[2] He as of 2020 was an investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs.[7]