Heath Pearce (born August 13, 1984) is an American former professional

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 defender for teams in Europe and North America. He represented his national team on 35 occasions. Pearce is the host of "The Mixer," "KPR" (Kick Power Rankings) and "WTF" (Walk Talk Football), all programs on the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel COPA90 US (formerly known as KICKTV).

Club career

College and amateur

Pearce played his high school soccer at Peter Johansen High School in

Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...

before playing his

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

at the

University of Portland The University of Portland (UP) is a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1901 and is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, which also founded UP's sister school, the University of Notre Da ...

, where he was an All-West Coast Conference honorable mention selection. In his final year at Portland, he started all 20 games, scoring two goals and racking up five assists. During his college years he also played for the Bradenton Academics in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

FC Nordsjælland

Pearce signed with

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish association football, football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the to ...

and began his professional career in the

2004–05 Danish Superliga The 2004–05 Danish Superliga season was the 15th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from 24 July 2004 to 19 June 2005. The Danish champions qualified for 2005–06 UEF ...

season. He made 75 league appearances and scored two goals for club in his two and a half seasons there.

Hansa Rostock

After stating that he would leave Nordsjælland after the 2007 season with a goal to be signed by a team in Germany, Scotland, or the Netherlands, Pearce signed a two-year contract with Hansa Rostock on July 16, 2007. In January 2008, Pearce was briefly suspended for being late to return to the club from international duty, but was eventually allowed back on the team. On April 13, 2009, Pearce was permanently suspended from Hansa Rostock's first team and demoted to the reserve squad. At the end of the season, Pearce was released from his contract.

FC Dallas

On September 2, 2009, Pearce reportedly signed a two-year contract with Turkish team

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

, but the next day it had emerged that a deal was not reached until after the transfer window had closed. After his failed move to Turkey, he signed with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

on September 11, 2009. In his first full season in Dallas Pearce helped the club to the

2010 MLS Cup MLS Cup 2010 was the 15th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-flight soccer league in the United States and Canada. The match took place on November 21, 2010, at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, the ...

final.

Chivas USA

On February 15, 2011, after two seasons with Dallas, Pearce was traded to

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

in return for allocation money. Pearce was traded to

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

on May 17, 2012, with allocation money and future considerations in exchange for forward

Juan Agudelo Juan Sebastián Agudelo (born November 23, 1992) is a professional soccer player who plays as a striker for San Antonio FC. Born in Colombia, he represented the United States national team. After moving from Colombia to New Jersey at an ear ...

. Pearce scored his first MLS goal on June 20 versus the Vancouver Whitecaps helping New York to earn a 1–1 draw with his late equalizer.

New York Red Bulls

Midway through the 2013 season, Pearce elected to have hip surgery that ruled him out for the remainder of the season. New York and Pearce mutually parted ways at the end of the 2013 MLS season. He entered the 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft but was not selected.

Montreal Impact

On March 6, 2014, Pearce signed with Montreal Impact. Pearce appeared in 29 matches in his lone season in Montreal. After one season in Montreal, in December 2014 Pearce was selected by

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

in the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft.

IFK Göteborg

On January 29, 2015, Pearce signed a five-month-long contract with

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

International career

Pearce made his international debut in November 2005 against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Pearce was included by

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who currently serves as the head coach and sporting director of the San Jose Earthquakes. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

training camps and friendly matches prior to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

but did not make the team. Under

Bob Bradley Robert Frank Bradley (born March 3, 1958) is an American association football, soccer coach, who most recently managed Norwegian football team Stabæk Fotball, Stabæk fron 2023 - 2024. A native of New Jersey and graduate of Princeton Universi ...

, Pearce became a regular starter for the national team. With relatively little competition in the U.S. player pool at left back, Pearce played the most minutes of any American field player in 2008. But as his club situation deteriorated, Pearce has seen less time with national team. Though a member of the squad at the

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth FIFA Confederations Cup, Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton ...

, he did not make an appearance in the tournament as Jonathan Bornstein and

Carlos Bocanegra Carlos Manuel Bocanegra (born May 25, 1979) is an American sports executive and former professional soccer player. A two-time MLS Defender of the Year, Bocanegra also played professionally in England, Scotland, France, and Spain. He earned over ...

were the preferred choices. Pearce was a member of the second-tier U.S. team for the

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United Stat ...

. Lately he has not seen much action due to the return of Bornstein and also Bocanegra and Jonathan Spector both being versatile enough to play in that position. Pearce was included on the 30-man preliminary roster for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, but did not make the final 23 man squad.

Personal life

Pearce has one younger adopted sister and two brothers. His sister Lindsay has starred in the TV series '' The Glee Project'' where she won a role on the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

hit show ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

''. Pearce is an avid car and racing enthusiast. He has partnered with Matt Young as a co-owner in a professional sports car racing venture, Matt Young Motorsports with Heath Pearce. Pearce now works in the field of media and broadcast. He has replaced his former Chivas USA teammate Jimmy Conrad as host of the

channel KICK, now known as COPA90 US. Since 2023, Pearce has been a match analyst for

MLS Season Pass MLS Season Pass is a soccer streaming service operated by Apple Inc. which includes live matches from Major League Soccer (MLS). The package was launched in the 2023 Major League Soccer season as part of a new 10-year media rights agreement be ...

Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

Portland Pilots *

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

Regular Season: 2002 FC Dallas *

Western Conference Championship:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

New York Red Bulls *

Supporters' Shield:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Montreal Impact *

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

IFK Göteborg *

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 2014–15

References

External links

*
U.S Soccer Player Bio
*
Danish Superliga player statistics
at danskfodbold.com * *
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Heath Living people 1984 births Men's association football defenders American men's soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Sportspeople from Modesto, California Soccer players from California Portland Pilots men's soccer players IMG Academy Bradenton players American expatriate men's soccer players FC Nordsjælland players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark American expatriate sportspeople in Denmark FC Hansa Rostock players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players in Germany FC Dallas players Chivas USA players New York Red Bulls players CF Montréal players Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada IFK Göteborg players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden United States men's international soccer players 2007 Copa América players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players USL League Two players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players