Nkosi Tafari Burgess (born March 23, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC.
Tafari began playing college soccer at the University of Connecticut in 2015. He redshirted his Freshman season, before going on to make 46 appearances for the Huskies, scoring 1 goal and tallying 1 assist between 2016 and 2018.[2] In 2019, Tafari played his senior season at Seattle University, making 20 appearances and again tallying a single goal and an assist on his way to been named WAC Defensive Player of the Year and United Soccer Coaches All-Region First Team.[3][4]
On January 9, 2020, Tafari was selected 14th overall in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas.[5] He signed with the club on February 18, 2020.[6]
He made his professional debut on October 3, 2020, starting for Dallas' USL League One affiliate side North Texas SC in a fixture against Fort Lauderdale CF.[7]
He scored his first professional goal with FC Dallas on August 21, 2021, against the Houston Dynamo. On August 26, 2023, Tafari scored the game-winning goal in a 1–0 game against rivals . The goal came at 96:49 the latest game-winning goal in club history.[8]
On January 23, 2025, Tafari was traded to Los Angeles FC in exchange for $300,000 in General Allocation Money and an International Roster Slot.[9]
In January 2024 he was selected for the senior United States squad for a match against Slovenia.[10]
In 2021, Tafari announced he would go by his middle name Tafari instead of Burgess, choosing to distance himself from the name that has been "passed down from master to slave" and saying "I want to get back to my own roots and be proud of being African".[11] He is of mixed race Ethiopian and Malagasy descent through his mother.[12]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| FC Dallas | 2020 | MLS | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | MLS | 22 | 1 | — | — | 22 | 1 | |||
| 2022 | MLS | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 29 | 0 | ||
| 2023 | MLS | 33 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4[a] | 0 | 37 | 3 | |
| 2024 | MLS | 25 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 30 | 3 | |
| Total | 107 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 118 | 7 | ||
| North Texas SC | 2020 | USL League One | 6 | 1 | — | — | 6 | 1 | ||
| 2021 | USL League One | 2 | 1 | — | — | 2 | 1 | |||
| Total | 8 | 2 | — | — | 8 | 2 | ||||
| Career Total | 115 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 126 | 9 | ||
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_(cropped).jpg "Nkosi Tafari")
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