Sporting Kansas City forward Dom Dwyer became a U.S. citizen on Thursday, taking the Oath of Allegiance during his naturalization ceremony at Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri.
Dwyer, who ranks second on Sporting Kansas City’s all-time goal scoring charts, has lived in the United States since 2009 and has had his green card since February 2012.
“I am extremely happy to have completed the process of becoming a U.S. citizen,” Dwyer said. “This country has given me a lot over the past eight years, and I look forward to giving back as much as possible. I want to thank everyone who has supported me on this journey, most importantly my family and my club. This was a very meaningful day for me, and I’m excited to start the next chapter of my life as a U.S. citizen.”
The England-born striker joined Sporting Kansas City out of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft and has notched 61 goals for the club in all competitions. He helped Sporting KC win the 2013 MLS Cup in his second season, starting in the final after scoring the series-winning goal in the Eastern Conference Championship. He then enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2014 with a team-record 22 league goals and MLS All-Star accolades.
Dwyer bagged 17 total goals in 2015 — including five during Sporting KC’s run to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title — and scored 16 times last season to help secure a club-record sixth straight playoff berth. In doing so, he became the first Sporting KC player to score at least 12 goals in three straight regular seasons.
Since the start of 2014, Dwyer’s 50 regular season goals are the second-most in MLS. He has started 99 of 115 career regular season appearances and has played 141 matches for the club in all competitions.
As a youth player, Dwyer competed for Norwich City (2000-06), Staines Town FFC (2007-08) and King’s Lynn FC (2008-09) in his native England.
Dwyer arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and starred for two years at Tyler Junior College in Texas, leading the school to a 40-0-1 overall record and back-to-back national championships. He then moved to the University of South Florida, where he led the Big East with 16 goals in 2011.
Dwyer has been married to U.S. Women’s National Team forward Sydney Leroux since 2015. Their first son, Cassius Cruz, was born last September.
