There’s beauty in the struggle, and nobody knows that better than Jason Shokalook.
Born on September 30, 2002, Shokalook was raised in Erie, PA, and quickly grew accustomed to a life of travel. Every Monday and Wednesday, his mother would pick him up from school and drive 2.5 hours south to Pittsburgh so that he could play hockey, and another 2.5 hours back, and every Tuesday and Thursday, they’d drive 2 hours west to Cleveland, where he played soccer. This ended after two years, as Shokalook prioritized soccer and eventually earned an athletic scholarship from the University of Akron, where, after gradually adjusting to life in Ohio, he excelled during his junior year with 9 goals in 18 appearances. He took it up another level in 2023 with a league-high 14 goals and 5 assists in 17 appearances, earning the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year award and gaining praise from the likes of Martin Tyler, in addition to also making his mark in USL League Two with SC United FC in 2021 and Flint City in 2023.
After bouncing around from Pennsylvania to Ohio to South Carolina to Michigan, Shokalook made the move to Illinois after being selected by the Chicago Fire with the 35th pick of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft. Forced to take a backseat role to MLS Next Pro Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner David Poreba, Shokalook scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 27 appearances across the 2024 season before starting the season on the bench under new manager Mike Matkovich in 2025. But after a frank discussion with Matkovich, Shokalook was given his chance and rewarded his coach’s trust with five goal contributions in five games, before earning his MLS debut vs. D.C. United. He then returned to the reserves and continued his stellar performances, bagging a league-high 20 goals, before scoring a brace in their MLS Next Pro Playoffs quarterfinal defeat to New York Red Bulls. As well as winning the league’s Golden Boot, he was also named a finalist for the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro MVP award. And on December 10, Shokalook signed an MLS contract through the 2026 season with club options for 2027 and 2028.
As he approaches his first-ever MLS season, WFi spoke to Shokalook about:
It’s been four years since MLS Next Pro was launched. You personally have been able to cut your teeth in that league for two years before making the jump to MLS…just how important was it having a bridge like MLS Next Pro before ascending to the top league?
It’s a great step for a lot of college players to come into. It’s an amazing, developmental league, because you get to get used to how long the pro season is, how to adapt to that type of schedule, how to adapt to how intense the trainings are in between the games, and overall, I just think it’s a great league to make that jump into the first team.
What do you like to do whenever you’re not playing soccer or training?
I would say that I try to do a lot of things that bring peace to me. I enjoy reading, I enjoy a lot of the recovery aspects of just being an athlete: I love saunas, I find a lot of joy in going to saunas, and those types of things. I was living with Owen Pratt, a 17-year-old goalkeeper who just got signed recently to Chicago, before moving out and getting my own space in December. There was a bit of an age gap, but I think that it’s good to be around all different types of ages of people, and learn from whoever you can.
Lastly, you’re not just representing all of the MLS Next Pro players who are looking to make their mark in MLS, but you’re representing all of Erie. How proud are you to be a trailblazer for your community?
That was one thing that was super important for me – growing up in Erie, I wanted to inspire the kids that are in the youth clubs there, and the kids are all around the United States. Honestly, my journey hasn’t been perfect. There’s been a lot of question marks along the way, and when these kids are in these situations, that’s been a lot of inspiration on my journey, is to inspire the youth and to help them grow and to show them that this is possible. That’s been a big thing for me that I really wanted to prove and show the kids in Erie, Pennsylvania, and all around the United States, that if you work hard, make sacrifices, and do the little things right, it’s possible. Growing up in Erie, it’s a smaller town, it’s not famous, but I don’t really care. I just want to inspire people that if you put your mind to something and you’re willing to do everything possible, you can make it happen.