Former Columbus Crew SC defender and member of the United States Men's National Team Frankie Hejduk has been listed as a finalist for the National Soccer Hall of Fame Class of 2021 under the Player category.
Hejduk is in his final year of eligibility in the Player category, and if not elected, he will appear on the Veteran ballot next year.
The Hall of Fame's new Selection Committees finalized the vote-tallying procedures on Feb. 10 to select a class of two to four members from the 40-person pool. Each Voter submitted a vote of up to 10 names who they feel are most deserving to be elected. The 2021 class will be announced in March.
See below for Hejduk's 2021 Player Final Ballot biography:
"A defender who was a key man in the United States’ run at the 2002 World Cup and also had a long career in MLS. Hejduk played 85 full internationals for the United States, the first against El Salvador in 1996 and the last against Denmark in 2009. He started four of the United States’ five games at the 2002 World Cup, missing one game because of a yellow-card suspension. He also played in three games at the 1998 World Cup and 26 World Cup qualifiers in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009. In addition to those two World Cups, he was a member of the United States teams at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games and the 1999 and 2003 Confederations Cups. He was a regular in the United States teams that won the 2002, 2005 and 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cups, playing in both finals and missing the third due to card suspension. Hejduk played 12 seasons in MLS between 1996 and 2011, for Tampa Bay, Columbus and Los Angeles, playing a total of 203 MLS regular-season games and 17 MLS playoff games. He was the captain of the Columbus team that won the MLS championship in 2008, and also was a runner-up in the U.S. Open Cup with Columbus in 2010. In between his two stretches in MLS, he played four seasons in the German first division and one season in the Swiss first division."
