page_title: Clint Dempsey
section_title: Return to Seattle
hierarchical_section_title: Clint Dempsey / Club career / Seattle Sounders / Return to Seattle
caption_attribution_description: English: Clint Dempsey, Levi Stadium inaugural game, Seattle Sounders vs San Jose Earthquakes, Santa Clara, California
context_page_description: Clinton Drew Dempsey is an American retired football player, who played as a forward. During his career, he played in the Premier League for Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur and in Major League Soccer for New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders FC. ESPN, FOX Sports, and NBC Sports have each ranked Dempsey as the greatest men's American soccer player in history.
  A native of Nacogdoches, Texas, Dempsey spent his youth career with the Dallas Texans before joining Furman University's men's soccer team in 2001. In 2004, Dempsey was drafted by the New England Revolution, where he scored 25 goals in 71 appearances. Between 2007 and 2012, Dempsey played for Fulham in the Premier League, eventually becoming the club's leading Premier League goalscorer. Dempsey also became the first American player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League during a 5–2 win against Newcastle United in 2012. On August 31, 2012, Tottenham signed Dempsey for a fee of $9.6 million, then a record signing for an American. Dempsey scored 12 goals in one season with Tottenham, giving him 72 goals across all competitions for Premier League clubs—the most by an American in a top-tier European league.
context_section_description: Although no announcement was made by Fulham, Dempsey appeared in the Seattle squad to face Sporting Kansas City in the season opener on March 10, 2014. Dempsey had made a return to form, scoring a hat-trick against Portland Timbers, and recording braces against FC Dallas and the Colorado Rapids, leaving his goal tally at 8 in 5 games for 2014. He earned the MLS's Player of the Month award for April. Both Dempsey's 15 goals and 10 assists were MLS career highs, as Seattle won the Supporters' Shield, but were eliminated in the conference finals of the MLS Cup by eventual champions LA Galaxy.
  On June 16, 2015 in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup against rivals the Portland Timbers, Dempsey was sent off for ripping up referee Daniel Radford's notebook in protest at the dismissal of Michael Azira. The Sounders finished the match with seven men through three dismissals and an injury, and lost 1–3 at home. For the incident, he was given a three-match MLS suspension and a fine, and banned from the Open Cup for two years in addition to a second fine.
  On July 13, 2016, Dempsey picked up his first MLS red card after putting his hands in the face of FC Dallas midfielder Juan Esteban Ortiz, who came in with a late challenge on Dempsey. Earlier in the game, Dempsey scored and provided an assist on Jordan Morris's goal. On August 7, he scored a hat-trick against Orlando City to capture their second road victory of the 2016 season. Dempsey played his last game of the season on August 21 against Portland, picking up a brace in the 3–1 win while simultaneously setting a franchise record for the most goals by a player against one team in MLS play, with the goals being his 7th and 8th. While his absence in Seattle's next game at Houston was a scheduled rest, Dempsey was sidelined with an irregular heartbeat ahead of their Cascadia rivalry tie in Portland.
  After returning to training in September, Dempsey was ruled out for the remainder of the season by general manager Garth Lagerwey on September 27.
  Although there was speculation about the irregular heartbeat ending his career, Dempsey was eventually cleared to play in time for the 2017 MLS season. During the season Dempsey tallied 12 goals in 29 regular season appearances and was named MLS Comeback Player of the Year for 2017.
  He announced his retirement from soccer on August 29, 2018.
caption: Dempsey playing for the Seattle Sounders in 2014
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