SAN DIEGO — Landon Donovan is joining the San Diego Sockers, a professional arena soccer team.
Donovan is set to join the San Diego Sockers of the Major Arena Soccer League and will play with the team for the rest of the season. The 36-year-old is the US men’s national team’s all-time leader in goals and assists. He also holds those records in Major League Soccer.
I have confirmed that former Team USA captain Landon Donovan will join the @SanDiegoSockers. Great move by both sides! He now lives in SD and he gets to play where he lives for a good organization and challenge himself w a different style of soccer.
— Troy Hirsch (@troyhirschfox5) January 23, 2019
This is the third time Donovan has come out of retirement to play professionally since 2014, SI reports. He played for the LA Galaxy in 2016 and played half a year with Club León in Mexico last year.
Donovan, a San Diego resident, was active in the push for SoccerCity, a ballot initiative that aimed to reimagine SDCCU Stadium in Mission Valley as a 23,000-seat soccer stadium with an MLS team. That measure ultimately fell to a competing proposal to give San Diego State a campus extension and control over the stadium’s refurbishment.
The soccer star was also a guest analyst on FOX 5 in our coverage of the 2018 World Cup.