Demetrios "Jim" Lefkos is a retired Cypriot

football (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 ...

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 ...

. He played professionally 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 American Soccer League, where he led the league in scoring in 1969.

Player

A native of Cyprus, Lefkos attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

where he played on the school's soccer team from 1964 to 1969. Lefkos led the team in scoring for three consecutive seasons during which the Varsity Blues won three OQAA championships. He was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1999. In 1963, he played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

with Toronto Hakoah. He contributed a hattrick which secured the NSL Championship for Hakoah against Toronto Ukraina in the 1965 season. In 1966, he played with league rivals Toronto Hellas. He re-signed with Toronto for the 1967 NSL season. In 1969, Lefkos signed with the Syracuse Scorpions of the American Soccer League. Lefkos led the league in scoring and was a First Team All Star. In 1970, he moved to the Rochester Lancers of the

. In 1971, he began the season in Rochester before being traded to the

Toronto Metros Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. In late July, 1971 he was traded to former club Toronto Hellas for Panos Polyviou.

Coach

Lefkos then became a physical education and health teacher as well as the boys' soccer coach at Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute. In 1981, Lefkos, in addition to his high school responsibilities, became the head soccer coach of the

men's soccer team. He coached the team to one national championship before retiring in 2002.

References

External links

NASL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefkos, Jim Living people Cypriot men's footballers Canadian soccer coaches American Soccer League (1933–1983) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players Syracuse Scorpions players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Men's association football forwards Year of birth missing (living people) Toronto Varsity Blues men's soccer players Toronto Varsity Blues men's soccer Canadian National Soccer League players University and college men's soccer players in Canada