Marc Stephen John Bircham (born 11 May 1978) is a former soccer player. Born in England, he represented Canada at international level. He was recently assistant coach at

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

, but left in 2023

Club career

London-born Bircham started his professional career at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

and after 6 seasons joined

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

where he became a crowd favorite. Bircham used to be known for his unusual hairstyle – a

dyed Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ch ...

blue and white streak down the centre of his hair from when he played for QPR and a red and white streak while playing for

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 ...

. QPR fans sang a song to the tune of " I Love You, Baby": ''"We love you, Bircham/ because you got blue hair/ We love you, Bircham/ because you're everywhere/ We love you, Bircham/ because you're Rangers through and through."'' In 2007, he moved to Yeovil Town. He scored his first and what turned out to be only goal for Yeovil against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

. After a series of ankle injuries in the 2008–09 season it was revealed that Bircham had quit football and is going to set up a youth coaching camp in Cyprus.

International career

Bircham was eligible to play for Canada because one of his grandfathers was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. He made his debut for

in an April 1999 friendly match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. He is the only player to have played for a country without actually visiting it when his first cap – as well as his first and only goal – came. He scored that goal only 8 minutes after coming on as a substitute for another player making his debut,

Davide Xausa Davide Antonio Xausa (born 10 March 1976) is a Canadian former soccer player. Club career Xausa started his career with Metro Ford Wolves before accepting a scholarship with the University of Portland where he was a 3 time All American, 4 time ...

. Bircham earned 17 caps for his adopted country, representing Canada in two

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches. His final international was a June 2004 World Cup qualification match against

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Managerial career

QPR

After becoming a QPR youth coach at the start of the 2009–10 season, he was put in temporary charge with fellow Youth Coach Steve Gallen due to manager

Jim Magilton James Magilton (born 6 May 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional football player and current manager of NIFL Premiership side Cliftonville. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Southampton, Shef ...

's suspension on 9 December 2009. The duo took charge of a 2–2 draw away to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

on 14 December 2009.

Waterford

On 12 May 2021, Bircham was named manager of

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side

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

until the end of the season. With Waterford bottom of the table when Bircham took over, he led his side to 6 wins and a draw from his first 12 league games in charge, taking the club out of the relegation zone and earning a new -year contract which was announced in August 2021. On 23 November 2021, Bircham was sacked by

, having learned of the news on

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without being contacted by the club following a text exchange between himself and owner Richard Forrest the previous night in which Forrest suspended Bircham for a week, preventing him from taking charge of the club's crucial Promotion/relegation play-off final against UCD.

Como

In the summer of 2022, he was appointed as first team coach of Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side

under manager Giacomo Gattuso, but left in 2023.

Personal life

Bircham has 3 children from a previous marriage. 1 boy, Frankie and 2 girls, Layla & Dolly. He currently regularly appears on

Talksport Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Managerial

As of 23 November 2021.

Honours

Canada *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

* *
archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bircham, Marc 1978 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Brent People from Wembley English people of Canadian descent English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players Millwall F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players English Football League players Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers Chicago Fire FC non-playing staff Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England English football managers