Evan Dylan Whitfield (born June 23, 1977) is a retired American soccer player who spent seven seasons in

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 ...

Player

Youth

Whitfield graduated from

Brophy College Preparatory Brophy College Preparatory is a Jesuit high school in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The school has an all-male enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. It is operated independently of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. The school has ...

in Phoenix. He was the 1995 Arizona 5A Player of the Year as he took Brophy to the Arizona high school soccer championship. Whitfield was also a Parade Magazine All American. In 1997, Whitfield played for the

Tucson Amigos The Tucson Amigos were a soccer club based in Tucson, Arizona that competed in the SISL, USISL and United Soccer Leagues. The founder of the Tucson Amigos was Dennis Archer, a local business owner who owned the Tucson Amigos Indoor Soccer Center. ...

in the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. He played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and Philippines, the Philippines. Th ...

at Duke University from 1995 to 1998. In seventy-five games, he scored one goal and added fifteen assists.

Professional

On February 6, 1999, the Chicago Fire selected Whitfield in the first round (eleventh overall) of the

1999 MLS College Draft The 1999 Major League Soccer College Draft was held on February 6 and 7, 1999 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The first round of the draft took place on February 6 with the second and third rounds on February 7. The College Draft was followed by the ...

. He did not join the Fire, but signed with

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

club

KAA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

. Not being able to break into the first team in Europe, he came back to MLS and joined the Fire midway through the 1999 soccer season. He missed most of the 2002 season with a torn ACL). In 2000 and 2003, the Fire to the

US Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. Ope ...

in 2000 and 2003. In December 2004, the Fire traded Whitfield and Dipsy Selolwane to the expansion

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 ...

in exchange for Salt Lake's 2005 third round and 2006 second round draft picks. He played five games for Salt Lake before being released mid-season.

International

Whitfield played for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Post playing career

In May 2006, Whitfield graduated from DePaul Law. He then worked as an associate at Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck LLP. In 2011, Whitfield became a commentator for Chicago Fire games. Dan Kelly, Evan Whitfield and Oscar Guzman Named Official Chicago Fire Broadcast Team
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References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Evan 1977 births American soccer coaches American soccer players American expatriate soccer players Chicago Fire FC players DePaul University College of Law alumni Duke University alumni Duke Blue Devils men's soccer players Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics K.A.A. Gent players Living people Major League Soccer players Olympic soccer players of the United States Real Salt Lake players Soccer players from Arizona Tucson Amigos players USL League Two players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Chicago Fire FC draft picks Association football defenders Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Footballers at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football