Khiry Lamar Shelton (/ˈkaɪri ˈʃɛltən/; born June 26, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City. He has also represented the United States at the under-18 and under-23 levels.
Club career College and amateur Shelton was born in Fort Carson, Colorado and raised in Leander, Texas. He attended high school at Vista Ridge in Cedar Park, Texas, becoming a four-year letterman for their soccer team, while in 2010 he was selected as Offensive MVP and was a first-team member of the All District select. Joining Lonestar SC, he was a member of the academy and played for them at under-17/18 level, winning the Disney Showcase Championship with them in 2010.
Joining Oregon State University, he worked his way immediately into their soccer program, starting the first six games of the season before an injury took him off the active roster for the rest of the season. In his second year, he received a Pac-12 Honorable Mention for his fifteen appearances, scoring in his first three appearances and finishing the season as the joint second highest scorer for the team. His third year saw him make ten appearances and equal his four goals from the season before.
New York City FC On January 15, 2015, Shelton was selected 2nd overall by New York City FC in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft, with the expansion club turning down an offer of a considerable amount of allocation money in exchange for their pick to instead draft the player who Head Coach Jason Kreis described as "our top guy".
He made his debut for the club coming in their first Major League Soccer match, away to fellow expansion team Orlando City SC at the Citrus Bowl; he came on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Mehdi Ballouchy in an eventual 1–1 draw. Shelton totalled 17 games in his first season as his team missed out on the MLS Cup Playoffs, and scored one goal: on May 15 at Yankee Stadium against the Chicago Fire, he replaced Patrick Mullins after 60 minutes, and in added time he equalized for a 2–2 draw from David Villa's pass.
