Leo Kulinczenko is an American/Ukrainian

association football 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 professionally in the

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

and 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. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

. He played in the American Soccer League,

National Soccer League (Chicago) The Greater Chicago Soccer League , formerly the National Soccer League (Chicago), formed by the merger of the Chicago Soccer League and International Soccer Football League of Chicago in 1928, is a semi-professional U.S. soccer league which claim ...

and the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League.

Youth career

Kulinczenko who is of Ukrainian descent started his playing career in the youth system of the

Ukrainian Lions The Ukrainian Lions was a soccer club that was operated by the Ukrainian American Sports Club. The club was based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1949 by Ukrainians that had settled in the Chicago area after the Second World War. They com ...

Professional career

In 1974 he began his career with the first team of the

. In 1976 he was invited to the

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...

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 ...

training squad but then was released after three months. He played for five-time

Champions

Maccabee Los Angeles Maccabee Athletic Club (, MAH-KAH-Bee) was an American athletic club based in Los Angeles, California. The primary activity of the club was Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Club, a team which competed professionally in the Greater Los Angeles Soccer ...

in 1977 and 1978 winning the

. In 1979 he played for the

Los Angeles Skyhawks The Los Angeles Skyhawks was an American professional Football (soccer), soccer club based in Los Angeles, California, that was a member of the American Soccer League (1933-1983), American Soccer League. Founded as part of the American Soccer L ...

of the American Soccer League. His first game with the Skyhawks was a friendly against the 1980 US Olympic team the game was played in Los Angeles. In 1980 he returned to play with the

until 1983. In 1984 he played for

finalist

Chicago Croatian Chicago Croatian was an American soccer club based in Chicago, Illinois. The club competed professionally in the US Open Cup, the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the National Soccer League (Chicago). All their home matches were played in Hanson Stadi ...

in the

1985 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 1985 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 21st edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's clu ...

against Honduras champion

Club Deportivo Olimpia Club Deportivo Olimpia is a professional association football in Honduras, Honduran football club based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazán Department, Francisco Morazán. The club is the nation's most successful team both ...

. He retired after the 1985 season.

Coaching career

He held a full-time position with the highly competitive

Chicago Sockers The Chicago Sockers were an American soccer team that were founded in 1995 as the Chicago Stingers. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues (USL) and played at the professional level in the USISL Pro League, USISL Select League an ...

as a staff coach for 16 years. The

is a nationally recognized youth soccer program it is the only program in Illinois to provide the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league featured youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

for the boys and girls the highest competition platforms in the U.S. In 2007 and 2008 he was director for the twelve to fourteen year-old age group at

Chicago Eclipse Select The Eclipse Select Soccer Club or just Eclipse, is an American soccer club for boys and girls in the Chicago metropolitan area. Founded in 1996, Eclipse has teams in local, regional, and national competitions, including the Elite Clubs National Lea ...

which was part of the Elite Clubs National League. 1998–2000 he coached the boys varsity team at Saint Viator High School. 2001 he was assistant men's coach at

North Central College North Central College is a private college in Naperville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and has 73 undergraduate majors of study, 17 minors, 25 graduate programs, and 4 certificate programs offered by four undergradu ...

References

External files

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulinczenko, Leo Living people 1954 births Soccer players from Chicago American men's soccer players Los Angeles Skyhawks players Ukrainian Lions players National Soccer League (Chicago) players American people of Ukrainian descent Men's association football defenders American Soccer League (1933–1983) players American soccer coaches College men's soccer coaches in the United States North Central Cardinals men's soccer coaches CONCACAF Champions Cup U.S. Open Cup 20th-century American sportsmen