Brian "Cobi" Span (born February 23, 1992) is a Costa Rican-American professional soccer player who plays for Swedish club

Haninge Haninge Municipality (''Haninge kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Handen, a part of the Stockholm urban area. Haninge Municipality was formed in 1971 when ''Västerhaninge'' and ''Öst ...

Club career

Span started out playing for FC Westchester as a youth player at age twelve. He stayed there for seven years and then went on to play two years of college soccer at the University of Virginia, scoring 12 goals and registering 8 assists during that time. During the summer of 2011 he trained in Europe with German club

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1 ...

and

Örebro SK Örebro Sportklubb, more commonly known as Örebro SK, Örebro or (especially locally) ÖSK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Örebro. The club are affiliated to Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Behrn ...

in Sweden. After his sophomore season that autumn, the winger felt ready to go professional but MLS did not offer him a

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S ...

contract. Instead, the North Salem native signed a two-year deal with

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

in Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

Djurgårdens IF

Span made his debut on May 20, 2012. He came on at the 65th minute, replacing Ricardo Santos, and played the rest of the match. Three days later he scored his first professional goal in his first game as a starter to equalize 1–1 against

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs IF (full name Helsingborgs Idrottsförening), commonly referred to as HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, following promotion in the 2021 Superett ...

. Span's contract was not renewed following the 2013 season.

FC Dallas

On January 8, 2014, Span signed a contract with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

and was allocated via a weighted lottery with

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the leag ...

, Chicago Fire,

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchis ...

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

and

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in ...

participating. FC Dallas acquired Span on January 9 in the weighted lottery. Span was waived by Dallas on February 5, 2015.

Orlando City

Span was loaned to

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, ...

club Orlando City on April 2, 2014.

International career

While not a recent national team participant, Span was a member of the U17 residency program in Bradenton, Florida. In 2020, Span expressed his intention to play for the Costa Rica national team, motivated by his maternal family, who are relatives to Costa Rican legend

Juan Cayasso Juan Arnoldo Cayasso Reid (born 24 June 1961) is a Costa Rican former professional footballer who played during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2014, the film ''Italia 90'' was shot with actor Winston Washington featuring as Cayasso. Club career C ...

Honours

IFK Mariehamn *

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

: 2016 *

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Västerås SK *

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. ...

: 2018

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Span, Brian 1992 births Living people American soccer players African-American soccer players American expatriate soccer players Association football midfielders Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer players Reading United A.C. players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players FC Dallas players Orlando City SC (2010–2014) players IFK Mariehamn players Västerås SK Fotboll players Soccer players from New York (state) USL League Two players Allsvenskan players Veikkausliiga players USL Championship players Superettan players Ettan Fotboll players People from Somers, New York American people of Costa Rican descent American sportspeople of Latin American descent 21st-century African-American sportspeople American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate footballers in Finland