Juli Veee
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Juli Veee (born Gyula Visnyei; February 22, 1950) is a 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
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. Announced as "Double-deuce, triple-E, the one and only Juli Veee", Veee experienced his greatest success as an indoor player with the San Diego Sockers. Born in Hungary, he earned four
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, scoring two goals, with the
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.


Early life

Veee grew up impoverished in Budapest, Hungary. The
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
government controlled nearly every aspect of a Hungarian's life and when Veee turned fifteen he was given a choice, pursue a career in
table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...
or soccer. He chose soccer. Chafing under the restrictions of his homeland under a
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regime, Veee defected when he was eighteen years old while on a tour of Western Europe with the Hungarian U-21 national team. He began his professional career in France before moving to the United States.


Club career


NASL

In 1975, Veee moved to the U.S. where he signed with the
Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs were an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 North American Soccer League season, 1974 ...
of 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 ...
. That season, he played in nineteen games, scoring six goals. He was traded to the
San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...
for the 1976 season. At the completion of the 1976 NASL season, Veee moved to Belgium where he signed with First Division club Lierse. He spent one season with Lierse before moving to Standard Liège for the 1977–78 season. Veee returned to the NASL to play for the San Diego Sockers from 1978 to 1982. Veee was a fan favorite for the Sockers.


NASL indoor

Veee played for San Jose during the 1976 indoor tournament and led the competition with eight goals. A few years later the NASL started an indoor league, in which the Sockers participated in 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84. San Diego won the championship in the 1981–82 and 1983–84 seasons. Juli Veee was their star. He went on to play with the Sockers in the MISL. Overall, the Sockers won 10 indoor soccer championships (two in the NASL, and eight more in the MISL). Veee finished his career with the Sockers with 254 goals and 214 assists. Veee was described in a 1984
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article as a player "who would find it tough to hold a place on a European third-division side, nd whorecognizes that the simplistic indoor version suits his talents better than the grown-ups' game." In the same article Veee was quoted as stating, "tell the rest of the world to go on playing in the mud and rain...we'll get rich while staying clean. The future of American soccer is indoors."


MISL

Veee began his career in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) with 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 ...
. His greatest achievement in soccer probably came as he led the San Diego Sockers to five championships. He was MVP three times. He was the 1982–83 championship series MVP. At the end of the 1984 season, the Sockers traded Veee to 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 ...
for whom he played a single season. In 1985, he returned to the Sockers and finished his career with them in 1988.


International career

Veee earned four
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 ...
with 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 ...
after he became a U.S. citizen. His first game with the national team came in an October 15, 1976 loss to
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. He scored his first national team goal five days later in a victory over
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. He played one more game in 1976, then did not earn another cap until his last one. That came in the only game the U.S. played in 1982, a 2–1 victory over
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on March 21, 1982. Veee also scored his second national team goal in that game. Veee was also a member of the United States team which qualified for the
1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...
. While Veee scored a goal in the U.S. tie with
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which led to the U.S. qualifying for the games,
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canceled the U.S. participation in those games as punishment for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Because
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
does not recognize Olympic and Olympic qualifying matches as full internationals, these games are not included in Veee's national team statistics.


Post-playing career

After retiring in 1988, he became an artist and book collector, although these did not provide enough income at the time for him to make a living. A local youth coach who knew Veee asked him to help out with the coach's team. In need of income, he agreed and quickly discovered that he loved second career as a coach. His coaching jobs began with club teams, including three years with the SDSC Surf club and two years with the Pegasus club . Veee would eventually become Director of Coaching for the Encinitas Soccer League. In 2005, became the head coach of the
La Costa Canyon High School La Costa Canyon High School (LCC) is a public high school in Carlsbad, California. It is an International Baccalaureate World School and is part of the San Dieguito Union High School District, serving northwestern San Diego County. Established ...
girls' soccer team. He decided to become a high school coach due to dissatisfaction with regression his club players experienced during the high school season. Veee concluded that the low quality of high school soccer hurt his club and decided the best way to raise that quality was through his personal attention. In 1994, he was commissioned to be the artist for the 1994 World Cup hosted by multiple cities across the United States. An exhibition including Veee's work titled "Soccerfest, A Magical World" was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center July 8–17, 1994. As an artist, Veee has produced hundreds of works, including a commissioned portrait of former California Governor and San Diego Mayor
Pete Wilson Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Wilson previously served as a United S ...
. In 1997, the San Diego Breitbard Hall of Fame inducted Veee, the first soccer player so honored. He was also selected as an inaugural member of the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame in 2011.


References


External links


Artist profile

Article about Veee's coaching


{{DEFAULTSORT:Veee, Juli 1950 births Living people American men's soccer players Lierse S.K. players Standard Liège players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Belgian Pro League players Hungarian emigrants to the United States Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Hungarian men's footballers United States men's international soccer players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Los Angeles Aztecs players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players New York Arrows players Las Vegas Americans players San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) indoor players American soccer coaches Footballers from Budapest Men's association football forwards 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen