Preki

Playing career

Professional

Born in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Preki played briefly for Red Star Belgrade in the old Yugoslav First League after coming from FK Čukarički where he played in their youth team. In the summer of 1985, the Tacoma Stars head coach Bob McNab spotted Preki at an indoor tournament in Belgrade and sent him to the United States. 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. He played one season for Råslätts SK in Sweden in 1990. The Stars released Preki in July 1990 as part of a salary reduction move. In August, he signed with the St. Louis Storm. He played two seasons 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. 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. He was the CISL's second-leading scorer and league MVP.

Major League Soccer

Preki resumed outdoor play beginning with MLS's inaugural season in 1996 when he joined the Kansas City Wiz, renamed the Wizards after the 1996 season. The league allocated him to the Wiz on February 6, 1996. He was named to the MLS All-Star for five straight years between 1996 and 2000, being the MVP of the 1999 match after scoring a first-half brace to lead his side to a 6–4 win. On 15 October, the 37-year-old Preki started in the 2000 MLS Cup, again against Chicago Fire, which ended in a 1–0 victory, being one of only three players, along with Mo Johnston and Uche Okafor, to have been a member of the inaugural Wizards team. The 2000 season still is the most successful in the club's history. Between 1996 and 2000, Preki scored a total of 50 goals in 145 appearances for Kansas City.

In 2001, Preki joined the Miami Fusion and scored eight goals and 14 assists in 24 games, thus playing a crucial role in the turnaround that saw the Fusion go from worst to first, winning his second Supporters Shield for the best regular season record in MLS. In 2003, the 40-year-old Preki played and started 30 games for the Wizards, logging nearly 2,700 minutes. His season total of 12 goals and 17 assists won him the MLS Most Valuable Player award, making him the oldest-ever winner of the award and also the only player to win MLS MVP more than once.

On 21 February 2004, Preki suffered a fractured fibula and dislocated left ankle during a preseason exhibition match and missed four months of the season, returning only in a 1–2 loss to Columbus Crew on 18 August. He was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI after his retirement.

Preki is the only player to have won the MLS MVP Award and the MLS Scoring Champion Award (now respectively known as the Landon Donovan MVP Award and the MLS Golden Boot) twice, winning in 1997 and 2003, and is also the current all-time league leader in points with 270 (79 goals and 112 assists, plus another 25 points on 10 goals and 5 assists in the playoffs). Preki is still widely regarded as the greatest player in Kansas City's history, as he ranks first on career charts for both goals (79), and assists (112).

International

Originally from Yugoslavia, Preki was living and working in the U.S. in 1985 but when he was offered a spot on the U.S. national team he applied for U.S. citizenship which was granted on October 25, 1996.

International goals

Coaching career

Upon the appointment of Bob Bradley as the United States national team head coach, Preki was promoted as head coach of Chivas USA for the 2007 Major League Soccer season.

Preki left Chivas "by mutual consent" on November 12, 2009, following Chivas' failure to progress to the latter stages of the MLS playoffs. He became head coach of Toronto FC on November 19, 2009. However, Preki didn't last the 2010 MLS season with Toronto, being fired along with General Manager Mo Johnston on September 14, 2010. Under Preki, Toronto qualified for the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League after winning the 2010 Canadian Championship.

On July 15, 2013, after nearly three years out of coaching, Preki was named head coach of the USL Professional Division (now United Soccer League) expansion Sacramento Republic FC in advance of their inaugural 2014 season. He won the USL Pro Championship game in September 2014 with the club. On July 8, 2015, Preki announced his resignation from his post to take up a coaching role in the United Kingdom.

On October 12, 2016, USL club Saint Louis FC introduced Preki as its coach for the upcoming 2017 season. On November 20, 2017, Saint Louis FC relieved Preki of his coaching duties.

In January 2018, Preki was hired as an assistant coach to Brian Schmetzer with the Seattle Sounders FC.

Coaching record

Honors

Player

Red Star Belgrade

• Yugoslav First League: 1983–84

Tacoma Stars

• Major Indoor Soccer League runner-up: 1986–87
• Western Division Regular Season: 1986–87

Kansas City Wizards

• MLS Cup: 2000
• Supporters' Shield: 2000
• Western Conference Playoffs: 2004
• Western Conference Regular Season: 1997, 2000, 2004
• U.S. Open Cup: 2004

Miami Fusion

• Supporters' Shield: 2001
• Eastern Conference Regular Season: 2001

Individual

• Major Indoor Soccer League MVP: 1988–89
• Major Indoor Soccer League Scoring Champion: 1988–89
• MISL Pass Master (most assists): 1987–88, 1988–89
• MISL All-Star: 1989{{cite web|title=10th MISL All-Star Game
• MISL All-Star Game MVP: 1989{{cite web|title=10th MISL All-Star Game
• CISL MVP: 1995
• MLS All-Star: 1996,All-Star Game flashback, 1996 at MLSsoccer.com 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
• MLS Best XI: 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003
• MLS MVP Award: 1997, 2003
• MLS Golden Boot: 1997, 2003
• CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 1998
• MLS 50/50 Club
• National Soccer Hall of Fame: Class of 2010
• Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame: Class of 2013
• MLS 10th Anniversary Team

Manager

Source:

Chivas USA

• Western Conference Regular Season: 2007

Toronto FC

• Canadian Championship: 2009, 2010

Sacramento Republic

• USL Championship: 2014
• USL Playoffs: 2014, 2015

Seattle Sounders FC

• MLS Cup: 2019
• Western Conference Playoffs: 2019, 2020
• CONCACAF Champions League: 2022
• Leagues Cup: 2025

References

References

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11. ''CONTINENTAL INDOOR SOCCER LEAGUE'' USA TODAY (Arlington, VA) – Tuesday, June 7, 1994
12. ''GRIZZLIES ACQUIRE TOP INDOOR PLAYER'' San Jose Mercury News (CA) – Thursday, July 6, 1995
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