Chad Deering (born September 2, 1970) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Deering spent his professional career in Germany, Norway,

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 Major Indoor Soccer League. He earned eighteen

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

with the United States national team including one game in the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for th ...

Club career

Youth and early career

Deering grew up in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, a suburb of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, where he attended

Plano Senior High School Plano Senior High School (commonly Plano, Plano Senior High, or PSHS) is a public secondary school in Plano, Texas, serving students in grades 11– 12. The school is part of the Plano Independent School District, with admission based primari ...

. He was twice selected as a ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

'' high school All-American and was the 1988 Texas high school player of the year his senior year. While in high school, he debuted with the U.S. U-16 national team for whom he played at the

1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship The FIFA U-16 World Championship 1987, the second edition of the tournament, was hosted by Canada and held in the cities of Montreal, Saint John, St. John's, and Toronto between 12 July and 25 July 1987. Players born after 1 August 1970 could p ...

. During that tournament, Deering scored a goal in a 4–2 loss to South Korea. Deering was highly recruited out of high school and elected to play with

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...

which had just won the

NCAA Men's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champ ...

. However, he left Indiana after only two seasons in order to pursue a professional career in Germany, having scored twelve goals and assisted on twelve others. He earned

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

First-Team All-American honors his second, and final season, with Indiana. That year he was also the NCAA's post-season tournament's points leader with three goals and one assist.

Germany

Deering began his professional career with the

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for th ...

reserve team. After three years and no chance of playing for the Bremen first team, Deering moved to

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

in 1993 where he continued to languish playing for Schalke's amateur squad. In 1994, Deering played a single season with Rosenborg of the

Norwegian Premier League Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...

. He returned to Germany the next year, becoming the first of several Americans to sign with

Regionalliga The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the fourt ...

team Kickers Emden. In 1996, he moved from Emden to German Second Division club

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

and finally found a top German team which would play him. That season, he helped Wolfsburg gain promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

. The next year, Deering played fifteen games for Wolfsburg in its first year in the German top division.

MLS

In 1998, Deering expressed an interest in returning to the U.S. to play in

(MLS). He subsequently signed with the league, and on July 2, 1998, MLS allocated Deering to the

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wit ...

where he became a regular for the next seven years.

MISL

On January 24, 2004, Deering signed with the Dallas Sidekicks of Major Indoor Soccer League. The 2003–2004 season was nearly over and Deering played only nine games with the Sidekicks.

U.S. Minor Leagues

In 2004, he played with the DFW Tornados of the minor league

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

. On December 30, 2004, the

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

signed Deering. On March 16, 2005, Deering announced his retirement from professional soccer and his intention to return to Plano, Texas, to pursue a coaching career. He never played a game with the Battery, as its season had ended in August 2004 and the 2005 season did not begin until April 2005.

International career

Deering earned his first cap when he came on for Hugo Perez in a December 18, 1993 loss to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. Deering would go on to play eighteen games for the U.S. national team, scoring his only national team goal in a March 14, 1998, 2–2 tie with

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. When U.S. coach Steve Sampson sacked

John Harkes John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is the head coach of Greenville Triumph SC. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American ever to play in th ...

, the team's primary defensive midfielder prior to the

, Sampson moved Deering into that position. However, Deering played only a single game, a 0–2 loss to Germany, in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Post-playing career

Deering was the director of coaching for the Blackwatch Soccer Club in

McKinney, Texas McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano, Texas, Plano and Frisco, Texas, Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas. ...

which merged with Solar Soccer Club in Dallas. He was the Director of coaching for Solar in McKinney and coached the Solar 98 and 96 Girls Gold teams. Currently (2014) he is the President and Director of Coaching for Dallas Rush FC in McKinney, TX. Deering now coaches club at DKSC in Dallas, TX, which is a merger of D’Feeters and Kicks.

References

External links

Dallas Sidekicks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deering, Chad 1970 births Living people All-American men's college soccer players Association football midfielders American soccer players United States men's international soccer players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate footballers in Norway People from Garland, Texas Soccer players from Texas Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer) Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players FC St. Pauli players SV Werder Bremen players SV Werder Bremen II players FC Schalke 04 players Rosenborg BK players Kickers Emden players VfL Wolfsburg players FC Dallas players Dallas Sidekicks (2001–2008 MISL) players Dallas Sidekicks (PASL/MASL) players DFW Tornados players Charleston Battery players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Eliteserien players USL League Two players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars 1998 FIFA World Cup players Sportspeople from Plano, Texas