Krzysztof "Chris" Pozniak (born 10 January 1981) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired soccer player.

Club career

Pozniak emigrated from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

with his parents Tadeusz and Elżbieta, and sister Kinga, to Canada in 1990. He is able to speak Polish. He began his professional career with the Toronto Lynx at age 18. Poźniak has since played for FK Haugesund of the

Norwegian Second division The Norwegian Second Division, also called 2. divisjon and often referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the third-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. There are 28 teams divided into two groups, and at the ...

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 ...

of the

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 ...

in Sweden. On 22 November 2006,

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

manager

Mo Johnston Maurice John Giblin Johnston (born 13 April 1963) is a Scottish football player and coach. Johnston, who played as a forward, started his senior football career with Partick Thistle in 1981. He moved to Watford in 1983, where he scored 23 l ...

announced the signings of Pozniak along with fellow Canadians

Adam Braz Adam Braz (born June 7, 1981) is a former professional footballer who last served as Technical Director of the Montreal Impact of Major League Soccer. Braz was a Canadian soccer player for nine years including as a player on the national team an ...

and Marco Reda for TFC's inaugural season. In his first year at TFC, Pozniak featured in the defense and midfield acting as a backup and occasional starter. On 21 November 2007, Pozniak was selected tenth by the

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 ...

in the 2007 MLS Expansion Draft. On 28 March 2008 he was traded to

CD Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

for John Cunliffe. In May 2008 he moved to

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

. He was released in July with a link to Europe. Pozniak signed a one-year deal with Dundee on 7 August 2008 and left the club on 29 June 2009. At Dundee he scored once against Queen of the South. On 30 July 2009, the Whitecaps announced that they had signed him for a second spell at the club. The deal lasted until the end of the season, and had an option for 2010, which was not picked up. On 12 December 2012, it was revealed that FK Haugesund had released him from his contract with the club and the player was moving into retirement.,

International career

Pozniak has been capped by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

at the U20, U23, and senior levels. He competed in the

2001 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between 17 June and 8 July 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar del ...

in Argentina. His first senior cap for Canada came in the

2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the sixth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The tournament was once again held in the United States, in Miami and Pasadena. The for ...

against

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

as a late game substitute. He has since earned a total of 24 caps, scoring no goals, and become an important contributing member for Canada's squad. He has represented Canada in 3

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches.

Coaching career

On 29 April 2015, K-W United FC announced that Chris Pozniak would be the team's new head coach. He would lead United to an 11-2-1 season and the PDL playoffs. In the playoffs, United would beat the Des Moines Menace, Michigan Bucks, Seattle Sounders U23 and New York Red Bulls U23's to claim the PDL North American Championship. Pozniak is currently an assistant coach of Toronto FC II.

Career stats

References

External links

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archive
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Player profile
– Vancouover Whitecaps {{DEFAULTSORT:Pozniak, Chris 1981 births Living people Footballers from Kraków Polish emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Association football defenders Canadian soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian expatriate soccer players Pan American Games competitors for Canada Footballers at the 1999 Pan American Games 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Toronto Lynx players Örebro SK players FK Haugesund players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Toronto FC players Chivas USA players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Dundee F.C. players Bryne FK players Allsvenskan players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Major League Soccer players USL First Division players Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Norway Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate soccer players in the United States Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Canadian soccer coaches Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland