South Jersey Native Makes Olympic Roster For US Men's Soccer

MEDFORD, NJ — A professional soccer player from South Jersey will represent the United States in the Olympic Games.

Paxten Aaronson will compete in Paris for the U.S. men's soccer team, which revealed its Olympic roster on Monday. The Medford native is part of the first U.S. men's soccer team to qualify for the games since 2008.

Aaronson, 20, spent five years in the Philadelphia Union's youth-development program before making his pro debut with the franchise's reserve team in 2020. One year later, he advanced to the Union's first team, which competes in Major League Soccer.

In 2022, the Union transferred Aaronson to Eintracht Frankfurt, which plays in the Bundesliga — Germany's top league. This year, Aaronson has competed for a pair of Dutch clubs on loan — a transaction in which athletes temporarily play for a club while contracted with another team.

• Related: National Team Dreams For Paxten Aaronson, Another South Jersey Soccer Standout

Aaronson extended his contract with Eintracht until 2028 last month, when the club announced that he would join Dutch club FC Utrecht for the 2024-25 season.

Aaronson scored the opening goal in the 2022 victory that clinched the U.S. men's Olympic berth — a 3-0 win against Honduras in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship.

His older brother, Brendan, competed for the U.S. in the 2022 World Cup.

The 2024 Summer Olympics begin July 26 in Paris.

View the full U.S. men's roster, as announced on NBC's "TODAY."