From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Predrag "Preki" Radosavljević (Serbian: Предраг Радосављевић) (born June 24, 1963 in Belgrade) is a Yugoslavian-born, former American international soccer player of Serbian ethnicity. He is currently the head coach of Toronto FC in Major League Soccer.
During his playing career he played for English clubs Everton and Portsmouth, and was an 'MLS original' upon the formation of Major League Soccer in 1996, playing for the Kansas City Wizards and Miami Fusion. He is a two-time winner of the Major League Soccer MVP Award, and represented the United States at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010.
Playing career
Professional
Preki played briefly for Red Star Belgrade in the old Yugoslav First League. In the summer of 1985, the Tacoma Stars head coach Bob McNab spotted Preki at an indoor tournament in Belgrade. McNab signed Preki.[1] He played five seasons for the Stars. During those years, he was a three-time First Team All Star, the 1988 and 1989 All Star Game MVP, led the league in assists in 1988 and scoring in 1989 and was the 1989 MISL MVP. During the summer of 1989, Preki began to consider becoming a U.S. citizen and returning to the outdoor game in order to make himself eligible for the U.S. national team.[2] The Stars released Preki in July 1990 as part of a salary reduction move.[3] In August, he signed with the St. Louis Storm.[4] He played two season in St. Louis before being bought by Everton manager Howard Kendall for a fee of £100,000 in the summer of 1992 following a trial. He made 53 appearances for the Blues, 28 of those as a substitute. In June 1994, Preki signed with the San Jose Grizzlies of the Continental Indoor Soccer League where he rejoined Bob McNab from his Tacoma days.[5] He played eight games, scoring sixteen goals, before returning to England in August 1994 to play for Portsmouth. On July 5, 1995, the Grizzlies purchased Preki's contract from Portsmouth.[6] He was the CISL's second leading scorer and league MVP.[7]
Major League Soccer
Preki resumed outdoor play beginning with MLS's inaugural season in 1996 when he joined the Kansas City Wizards. The league allocated him to the Wiz on February 6, 1996.[8] He played every season for the Wizards, except for one season with the Miami Fusion in 2001. After the Fusion were contracted, the Wizards re-acquired Preki in the 2002 MLS Dispersal Draft, but only after every other team in the league had passed on selecting him. Preki is the only player to have won the MLS MVP Award and the MLS Scoring Champion Award twice, winning in 1997 and 2003, and is also the current all-time league leader in points scored (270 on 79 goals and 112 assists, plus another 25 points on 10 goals and 5 assists in the playoffs). He won the 2000 MLS Cup with the Wizards. Preki retired following the 2005 season, scoring a goal in the last minute of his final game with Kansas City. He was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI after the season, and was 42 years old when he played his final competitive game[9].
International
Though originally from Yugoslavia, Preki played for the American national team after acquiring U.S. citizenship in 1996. He made his debut for the U.S. on November 3, against Guatemala. Preki played a total of 28 games for the U.S., scoring four goals, one of them to beat Brazil at the 1998 Gold Cup. Two of those games, including one against his native Yugoslavia (now Serbia), came in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He made his last appearance for the national team in a 2-0 loss away to Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying on September 5, 2001[10].
Coaching career
After retiring as a player, Preki became an assistant coach with Chivas USA, and upon the appointment of Bob Bradley as the United States national team manager, Preki was promoted as head coach of Chivas USA for the 2007 Major League Soccer season and was named MLS Coach of the Year in his first season.[11]
Preki left Chivas "by mutual consent" on November 12, 2009, following Chivas' failure to progress to the latter stages of the MLS playoffs, in which they were defeated by Los Angeles Galaxy[12]. He became head coach of Toronto FC on November 19, 2009[13].
See also
Awards
Individual
References
- ^ `SECRET' SLAV ADDS SOCK TO STARS' SOCCER OFFENSE THE SEATTLE TIMES - Thursday, October 24, 1985
- ^ PREKI EYES RAISE, U.S. CITIZENSHIP - WORLD CUP BERTH IN MIND Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Wednesday, September 13, 1989
- ^ Tacoma cuts Preki , 5 more to pare costs San Diego Union, The (CA) - Thursday, July 5, 1990
- ^ STARS' PREKI SIGNS WITH ST. LOUIS THE SEATTLE TIMES - Monday, August 13, 1990
- ^ CONTINENTAL INDOOR SOCCER LEAGUE USA TODAY (Arlington, VA) - Tuesday, June 7, 1994
- ^ GRIZZLIES ACQUIRE TOP INDOOR PLAYER San Jose Mercury News (CA) - Thursday, July 6, 1995
- ^ The Year in American Soccer - 1995
- ^ Transactions The Kansas City Star - Tuesday, February 6, 1996
- ^ MLS Player Stats
- ^ About Coaches: Preki Radosavljevic, Head Coach
- ^ "Preki, Edu named Coach, Rookie of the Year" (press release). Major League Soccer. November 7, 2007. http://www.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20071107&content_id=128236&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Chivas USA Head Coach Preki Leaves Club By Mutual Agreement
- ^ TFC set to name Preki new head coach
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