Andrew Farrell has been anchoring the New England Revolution backline for over a decade. Born in Kentucky, the center back moved to Peru at age five, before returning to the US in 2007. He played college ball at his hometown college, the University of Louisville. He was named to the NCAA D1 First-Team All-American team and won Big East Player of the Year in his time there. He signed with MLS as a Generation Adidas player. The Revs traded up from pick No. 4 to the first overall pick, with Toronto FC. Farrell was chosen with the first overall pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft. He began his career as a right back for the Revs, becoming an immediate starter in 2013.
In 2014, just Farrell's second year, he was a massive part of a deep Revolution run. Finishing in second place during the regular season, Farrell's defense kept 8 clean sheets. While he did not play in the first playoff game, he started every match the rest of the way as they knocked out the Crew and Red Bull’s en route to MLS Cup. Farrell had a chance to score his first MLS goal in the 118th minute, but it would've been extremely hard for anyone to put it on frame, and the Revs lost 2-1 to the Galaxy in the final match.
In the 2015 season, Farrell made the switch from fullback into the center. In his first season after the position change, he set a career-high in clean sheets, with 9. It's sort of hard to find many highlights for a guy like Andrew Farrell, who was so solid defensively that he very rarely got forward for any goal contributions. The Revs finished fifth, losing in a controversial knockout match at DC United. In the following season, Farrell contributed to his first ever professional goal. On September 10th, 2016 against NYCFC, he was credited with a secondary assist on a Lee Nguyen goal, though his pass was not very important to the goal so it's not even shown in the highlights. The Revs missed the playoffs by zero points, only going out based on goal difference. Farrell was named to the 2016 MLS All-Star Team.
In 2017, Farrell notched a career-high 3 assists while helping keep another 8 clean sheets. On July 22nd, Andrew Farrell squared a cross for Teal Bunbury in a 4-3 over the Galaxy for his first ever primary assist. In the very next match, he did it again, setting up Kei Kamara with a nice little pass into the box. His last assist of the season against NYCFC in October, as he squirmed his way through defenders, laying off for a Diego Fagundez screamer. The team missed the playoffs by one spot for the second straight year, finishing in seventh.
At long last, Andrew Farrell scored his first ever MLS goal in his fifth season in the league. On April 6th against Montreal, it bounced to Farrell at the right side of the box, where he steered it in at the back post. Pure emotion ensued. The celebration was clearly of a player that had never scored before, he could do not much else but run to the corner and flop on the ground like a dead fish. He then assisted a goal to Teal Bunbury against the other Eastern Conference Canadian team a month later. He added his second helper of the season on a perfect cross played onto the head of Luis Caicedo. In August, Farrell smashed home his second career goal, and his most recent goal to this day, to pull one back on Philadelphia. They missed the playoffs once again, despite the unusual production from their defender.
In 2019, New England finally returned to the playoffs, barely. They took the very last position, setting up a date with Atlanta. Farrell's lone assist of the campaign was a beautiful through ball for Juan Fernando Caicedo, once against versus NYCFC. Franco Escobar scored the lone goal as Atlanta United sent the Revs home early. The 2020 season was the first without a goal contribution since 2015 for Andrew Farrell. His team made a bit of a magical run, getting through Montreal, Philadelphia, and Orlando as the eight seed, before losing to Columbus in the ECF.
In 2021, the New England Revolution hoisted the Supporters' Shield. It was a first piece of hardware for Farrell, who is the all-time appearance leader for the original club. He set this record during the 2021 season. He registered two assists, the first a secondary assist on the long ball to the MVP in Carles Gil. The second came against against NYCFC, his favorite team to assist against, was similar as he found Carles Gil for the pass to assist. The Revs of course, despite having the best regular season ever, lost to that same NYCFC team in the first match they played in the playoffs. The year 2022 was the exact opposite of a regular season, as the Revolution flopped. Despite this, Farrell helped keep a career-record of 9 clean sheets, a tie with 2015. He assisted twice again, one against RSL, the other of course against NYCFC. It was a year to forget for his team.
In 2023, Andrew Farrell finally lost his job as a starter after a decade in charge of the backline. It did not last long. After Henry Kessler went down with an injury early in the season, Farrell resumed his usual, starting next to Dave Romney for the most part. He started 16 consecutive games through Leagues Cup. His New England team started hot, but after the messiness with Bruce Arena and losing their star goalkeeper, the team has taken a serious plunge, dropping results left and right going into the postseason. Kessler is back from injury, so it remains to be seen if Farrell will still have a role the rest of the way. Farrell has gotten some backlash in the more recent years, but it's difficult to deny his consistency. Andrew Farrell has been a fixture in New England since the day he was drafted, placing him at #63 on the list.
YEAR | CLUB | MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS | CS |
2023 | NE | 1,842* | 0* | 0* | 3* |
2022 | NE | 2,780 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
2021 | NE | 2,970 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
2020 | NE | 1,711 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
2019 | NE | 2,603 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
2018 | NE | 2,701 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
2017 | NE | 2,664 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
2016 | NE | 2,891 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
2015 | NE | 2,819 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
2014 | NE | 2,840 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
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