Summit High School graduate Matt Felix is representing the United States at the 2026 Transplant Football World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany, which started Sunday, Sept. 13.

It won't be his first time on the international stage. At the inaugural tournament in Cervia, Italy, in 2024, Felix scored the winning goal as Team USA beat Northern Ireland 2-1 in its final match.

Felix, a 1981 Summit High alum who has lived in Westfield for decades, earned his spot on the U.S. National Transplant Soccer Team roster, according to TAPinto Westfield. The tournament, organized by the World Transplant Games Federation, features 15 nations competing in seven-a-side matches. Every player on every roster is a transplant recipient.

Felix knows what that means firsthand. He lived for roughly two decades with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a disease of the bile ducts, before his liver failed. On Nov. 27, 2012, his former University of Richmond soccer teammate and college roommate Patrick Kacani donated a portion of his liver.

"He just decided he was going to be my donor," Felix said in an NJ Sharing Network statement published by TAPinto. "There was no hesitation."

Word of Felix's need had spread through the Westfield soccer community via an email shared among members of the local soccer association. That message eventually reached Kacani in Richmond, Virginia.

Felix's soccer roots run deep in Summit. His family moved from Philadelphia to Vienna, Austria, when he was 6, and soccer became his sport. He played for the Hilltoppers before continuing at Richmond, where he and Kacani became teammates.

At the 2024 tournament, Team USA finished ninth after players met for the first time just before competition began. The squad earned ties against Romania and Wales before the win over Northern Ireland.

Felix scored the winner.

He is a longtime advocate for NJ Sharing Network and competes with Team Liberty at the Transplant Games of America. According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, more than 100,000 Americans are waiting for an organ transplant, including more than 3,000 New Jerseyans.

Matches in Frankfurt consist of two 20-minute halves. Play runs Sunday, Sept. 13, through Friday, Sept. 18.