Ferdo "Fred" Grgurev (born September 14, 1951) is a retired

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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

and Major Indoor Soccer League. Born in Yugoslavia, he earned 14

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 Java ...

and scored one goal for the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

. He is a current owner of the famed

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

steakhouse,

Delmonico's Delmonico's is a series of restaurants that have operated in New York City, and Greenwich, Connecticut, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Manhattan. The origin ...

Professional

In 1976 and 1977, Grgurev played for the

New York Apollo The New York Greeks was an American soccer club based in New York City that was a member of the American Soccer League (1933-1983), American Soccer League. The team began as the amateur Greek-Americans. The club played lower Premier Division of ...

in the American Soccer League. In 1978, he joined the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

of the

. In the fall of 1978, he began his indoor career with the Philadelphia Fever of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He led the league in scoring and was a First Team All Star. He was back in the NASL in 1979, this time with the Rochester Lancers. He went on to play for the Fever again during the 1979–80 indoor season and the Lancers during the 1980 outdoor season. In the fall of 1980, Grgurev joined the

New York Arrows The New York Arrows were an indoor soccer team that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1978 to 1984. They were the MISL's first dynasty, winning the first four championships. H ...

, winning the 1981 MISL title with them. He moved to the New Jersey Rockets during the offseason, but on October 2, 1982, rejoined the Arrows on a two-year contract. He began the 1983–84 season in New York before being sold to the Memphis Americans in February 1984. At the end of the season, the Americans moved to

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

to become the

Las Vegas Americans The Las Vegas Americans were a soccer team based out of Las Vegas that played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League. Prior to Las Vegas, the team had operated as the Memphis Americans. They only played in Las Vegas during the 1984–85 seaso ...

. Grgurev continued playing for the Americans in their new home during the 1984–85 season. When the Americans folded in the summer of 1985, Grgurev became a free agent and signed with the

Pittsburgh Spirit Pittsburgh Spirit was an indoor soccer team based in Pittsburgh and one of the original six teams that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). The Spirit was founded in 1978, suspended operation for the 1980–81 season, then returned ...

in September 1985. The Spirit folded at the end of the season and Grgurev did not play again until he signed with the

New York Express The New York Express was a soccer team based out of Uniondale, New York that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played only part of the 1986–87 MISL season before folding just after the league's midseason All-Star Break. Their home ...

on January 2, 1987. However, the Express also folded soon after and Grgurev retired. Grgurev was the original MISL's ninth all-time point scorer with 544. He was the league's seventh all-time goal scorer with 331. As a member of the Fever, Grgurev was Scoring Champion as well as Pass Master (''ie.'' assists leader) in the league's inaugural season, 1978–79. It would be however his only scoring title as all-time leaguer scoring

Slaviša Žungul Slaviša Žungul (born 28 July 1954), also known as Steve Zungul, is a retired Yugoslav American soccer striker. Žungul began his career with Hajduk in his native Yugoslavia before controversially moving to the United States where he became a ...

won six of the next seven seasons'.

National team

Grgurev earned fourteen caps with the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...

between 1973 and 1976. He scored against

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 friendly played in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

on May 8, 1973, which the Americans won 2–0.USA - Details of International Matches 1970-1979

Awards

* MISL Top Goalscorer 1978-79 (46) * MISL Scoring Champion 1978-79 (74) * MISL Pass Master (most assists) 1978–79 * MISL All-Star Team 1978-79

References

External links

*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grgurev, Fred 1951 births Living people American men's soccer players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Yugoslav emigrants to the United States Las Vegas Americans players Memphis Americans players New Jersey Rockets (MISL) players New York Apollo players New York Arrows players New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players New York Express players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Pittsburgh Spirit players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players United States men's international soccer players Footballers from Zadar Yugoslav men's footballers Men's association football forwards 20th-century American sportsmen