13 fun facts about Giovanni Reyna

Reyna comes from a family that has football coursing through its veins. Both of his parents are former soccer players who played for the United States men's and women's national teams. His father played almost exclusively in Germany and the UK.

He has a younger brother, Josh, who is following in his elder brother's footsteps. Josh plays for Austin FC's youth team in MLS Next Pro. His father is also involved with Austin FC as their Technical Director.

The midfielder was born in Sunderland in England. His family had settled in the Tyne and Wear port city as his father, Claudio, played for Sunderland.

Gio's older brother Jack, tragically died when he was just 13 after a two-year battle with glioblastoma. This aggressive and extremely rare brain tumour usually affects men in their 60s and 70s. Gio was just nine years old when Jack passed away, and on the evening following his death, the now 20-year-old thought his dreams of being a soccer player were over after losing his brother and mentor.

"I'm never going to be a good soccer player now because my big brother taught me everything," Gio told his mother after Jack's untimely death, according to an interview with Sports Illustrated.

As a 12-year-old, Gio joined the youth setup of New York City FC. He trained with the club for almost four years before his imminent move to Borussia Dortmund in 2019. During his time at the club, he raised a lot of eyebrows with his quick feet and decision-making abilities.

Having been born in Sunderland, Gio lived in both Sunderland and then Manchester for his first five years as his father moved from Sunderland to Manchester City.

Reyna set up Erling Haaland's winner for Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of their Round of 16 clash against PSG on February 18, making him the youngest American to play and record an assist in a Champions League match.

In 2019, he became the youngest American ever to appear in the Bundesliga, aged 17 years and 66 days, breaking Pulisic's record.

Reyna is very open about his multilingualism. The player is known to speak four languages fluently: English, German, French and Spanish, and speaks a little bit of Italian.

On February 4, 2021, Reyna scored against Werder Bremen in the 3-2 DFB Pokal Round of 16 win, and the goal made him the youngest player ever to score in German Cup history at the age of 17 years, two months, and 22 days. It was also his career's first senior-level goal.

Reyna was a second-half substitute for Dortmund in their 4–1 victory over RB Leipzig in the 2021 DFB-Pokal final. His involvement in the match marked him as the youngest American to appear in a domestic cup final in Europe, a record previously held by his international teammate Pulisic as well.

On August 27, 2022, during a league match against Hoffenheim, he became the youngest player to make 50 Bundesliga appearances.

Reyna participated in only 52 minutes at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Analysts conjectured that there might have been problems inside the team because he was benched for the entirety of the group stage of the tournament.

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter confirmed that the team had held a meeting to decide whether or not that player would be allowed to stay with the team in Qatar for the remainder of the tournament. He also publicly addressed concerns regarding an anonymous player for a lack of commitment and a poor attitude.

On December 12, 2022, Reyna acknowledged that he was the player that Berhalter had been talking about. He also apologised for his actions and criticised Berhalter's choice to make the information public. It was discovered in January 2023 that Berhalter had been questioned throughout the competition over damaging personal information that had been communicated to superiors. Reyna's mother, Danielle Reyna, revealed that it was she who contacted the U.S. Soccer Federation about the violent incident involving Berhalter and his wife in 1991.