Adam Braz (born June 7, 1981) is a Canadian former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who last served as

Technical Director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. They are responsible for overseeing and coordinating all of the technical aspect ...

of the Montreal Impact of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. Braz played on the Canada national team and in stints with

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

in the

and the Montreal Impact in the

USSF Division 2 Professional League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding U ...

Club career

College

Braz was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, and is Jewish. He attended Herzliah High School in Ville Saint-Laurent. He attended St. John's University in New York and played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

for the Fairfield Stags men's soccer team from 1999 to 2001. In 2000, Braz was a first team all-MAAC defender and helped the Stags earn a No. 15 national ranking. Braz received a bachelor's degree from the Fairfield University Dolan School of Business in 2001.

Professional

In 2002, he signed with the Montreal Impact in the

USL A-League The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second Di ...

. The following season he went abroad to play with Västerås SK in the

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

. Braz returned to Montreal in 2004 and helped the Impact win the USL A-League Championship. Braz was one of the first players to sign with MLS expansion franchise Toronto FC in the 2006–07 soccer offseason and made his MLS debut in Toronto FC's first game, a 2–0 loss to

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

. Braz was transferred back to the Montreal Impact at the end of the 2007 season. During the 2009 USL season Braz contributed by helping the Impact clinch a playoff spot under new head coach Marc Dos Santos. He helped the Impact reach the finals where Montreal would face the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

, this marking the first time in USL history where the final match would consist of two Canadian clubs. In the final Braz helped the Impact win the series 6–3 on aggregate. The victory gave the Impact their third USL Championship and also the victory marked Braz's second USL Championship. On October 6, 2009 Braz received ''Unsung Hero Award'' during the team's 2009 awards banquet. On November 26, 2009 Braz signed a new two-year deal with the club. Braz announced his retirement on March 14, 2011 to become a team manager for the Impact.

International career

Braz made his debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in a January 2004 friendly match against

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

and, has earned a total of 12 caps. In July 2005, he was selected to play for Canada in the Gold Cup, where he played in all three games.

Career statistics

Honours

Montreal Impact *

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

Championship: 2004,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

Montreal Impact profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Braz, Adam 1981 births Living people Soccer players from Montreal Jewish Canadian sportspeople Jewish footballers Men's association football defenders Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden St. John's University (New York City) alumni Fairfield Stags men's soccer players Fairfield University Dolan School of Business alumni Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Västerås SK Fotboll players Toronto FC players A-League (1995–2004) players Major League Soccer players USL First Division players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Anglophone Quebec people 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Superettan players