Justin Meram (; born December 4, 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Charlotte FC. Born in the United States, he represents the Iraq national team.
Career
College and amateur
Meram attended Eisenhower High School in Michigan, and played for local side Vardar, before going on to play two years of college soccer at Yavapai College in Arizona. Meram was a program standout at Yavapai, leading his team to back-to-back NJCAA National Championships, earning 2008 National Junior College Player of the Year honors, being named a NSCAA and NJCAA All-American, earning ACCAC Conference Player of the Year honors, and being named MVP at both the national and regional tournaments during the 2007 season, while setting a school record for points and finished second all-time in goals and assists.
He transferred to the University of Michigan as a junior in 2009, where he was named to the All-Big Ten second team both years, and to the NSCAA All-GreatLakes Region second team in his senior year in 2010. He finished his college career with 24 goals and 14 assists in 41 games for the Wolverines.
During his college years in Arizona, Meram also played with the Arizona Sahuaros, both in the National Premier Soccer League and in local amateur USASA competitions.
Club career
Columbus Crew SC
On January 14, 2011, Meram was drafted in the first round (15th overall) in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft by Columbus Crew. He made his professional debut on February 22, 2011, as a second-half substitute in the first leg of the Crew's CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final series against Real Salt Lake, and made his MLS debut on May 28 as a late substitute in a 3–3 tie with Chivas USA.
Meram made his MLS regular season debut on May 28 against Chivas USA. He appeared in 12 other matches as a substitute and started four matches. The rookie recorded his first professional assist on June 4 and another on June 18, 2011. Meram started in seven matches in the MLS Reserve League season, scoring four goals and recording one assist. Meram started and recorded an assist in the Crew's U.S. Open Cup match against Richmond Kickers. Meram appeared in both quarterfinal matches against Real Salt Lake as a substitute in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League.
In his second season, Meram made 22 appearances and 11 starts to score four goals and record one assist in 960 minutes. Meram recorded goals in three consecutive games during the month of May against FC Dallas, San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders FC. He also scored the game-winner in the 89th minute on September 19.
Meram made 19 appearances split between right midfield, left midfield and forward in his third season with the Black & Gold, recording one goal and one assist. His appearances included eight starts and five substitute appearances at left midfield, one start and three substitute appearances at right midfield and two substitute appearances at forward. He made his season debut against San Jose (March 16) and his first start of the year at right wing in the match at Toronto FC (May 18). In his second straight start at right midfield at New York Red Bulls (May 26), he was awarded a penalty which led to a Federico Higuaín goal. Meram made starts in the right midfield at Philadelphia Union (June 5) and against New York (August 10) but did not travel to the match at Real Salt Lake (August 24) suffering from back spasms. He returned to action with a start at left midfield against Seattle (August 31) and in the next match against Houston Dynamo (September 4) scored his first goal and recorded his first assist—the game-winner—of the season in a start at left midfield in the 2–0 win. In MLS Reserve League action, he made nine starts – five at forward and four in the midfield—scoring one goal and recording one assist. In the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, he made two appearances – including one start at forward—and scored the game-winning goal in the 84th minute in the Third Round win against Dayton Dutch Lions (May 29) after subbing-on.