Charleston Battery’s Fidel Barajas Selected to USL Championship All-League Team

By: Battery Media

Charleston Battery attacker Fidel Barajas was named to the USL Championship’s All-League Second Team for the 2023 season, the league announced Tuesday.

The honor adds to Barajas’ breakout campaign in his first full season as a professional. The 17-year-old led the league in assists (11) across the regular season and playoffs. Barajas additionally scored five goals and tallied a team-high 39 chances created across 32 games (28 starts).

Barajas etched his name into the club and league record books throughout the year.

At 16 years, 11 months and 20 days old, Barajas became the youngest goalscorer in club history when he scored his first career professional goal on March 25 against Tampa Bay. His 11 assists matched a single-season club record that has been standing for 23 years in Temoc Suarez’s tally of 11 assists in 2000.

With a two-assist game on July 22 against Pittsburgh, Barajas became the fourth-youngest player in USL Championship history to achieve the feat. He was also the ninth-youngest player in league history to notch a two-goal game, which he did on Sept. 22 against Tulsa.

Barajas was named to the league’s Team of the Week three times in 2023 and was a nominee for March Player of the Month.

Barajas’ game garnered international recognition and he was named to The Guardian’s Next Generation 2023, which is the British newspaper’s annual report of the top 60 young soccer players across the globe.

The selection to the All-League Team marks back-to-back years with the Battery landing a player on the team, with Augi Williams being named to the Second Team in 2022.

The 2023 USL Championship All-League Team was voted on by club management and a league-wide media panel that included representation from every USL market.

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