Mark Abboud (born November 19, 1970) is a retired American soccer

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played two season in the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

, one in the National Professional Soccer League, and seven in the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

and

USL A-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

. He also played in France, Belgium and the UAE.

Player

Born in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Ac ...

, Abboud attended the local

Mayo High School Mayo High School (Mayo) is a public high school in Rochester, Minnesota, United States. It is named after the brothers William James Mayo and Charles Horace Mayo, physicians and founders of the Mayo Clinic. It is a public school and part of t ...

before entering

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S t ...

. He played for the Macalester Fighting Scots soccer team from 1988 to 1991, finishing his career as the school's all-time leading scorer. He graduated in 1992 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in mathematics and music. That spring, the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tier ...

of the

drafted Abboud and he spent the 1992 season in Florida. In the fall of 1992, he moved to France where he played for

Grenoble Foot 38 Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the city, and wears whit ...

, at the time playing in the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

. He returned to the Rowdies for the summer 1993 season, then moved to

Dubai Club Dubai Cultural Sports Club () was a football club based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In 2017 merged with Al Shabab to join Al-Ahli to rebrand the club into Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC. History The club was relegated in 2007 to the UAE ...

UAE League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al ...

and Belgian First Division club

K.F.C. Lommel S.K. Koninklijke Football Club Lommelse Sportkring was a Belgian football club that existed between 1932 and 2003. It played two spells at the highest level in the Belgian football league system The Belgian football league system is a series of int ...

In 1994, he returned to Minnesota and signed with the

Minnesota Thunder Minnesota Thunder was an American professional soccer team based in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. The team played its h ...

which played in

. He would remain with the Thunder until retiring in 2000. In 1997, the Thunder moved to the

, at the time the highest level of outdoor soccer in the United States. Abboud also spent one season playing indoor soccer with the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional soccer team in the United States and are seven-time league champions, ...

. He spent the 1994–1995 season with the Wave in the National Professional Soccer League.

Coach

In addition to playing for the Thunder, Abboud was the team's Director of Player Development from 1996 to 1999. Beginning in 2000, he entered the ranks of youth soccer with the Woodbury Soccer Club and then Bangu Tsunami FC where he is the Director of Coaching. In 2004, Abboud left Woodbury to start the Bangu Tsunami Academy, spearheading year-round development opportunities for interested players. In 2008, Abboud led the merger of BTFC and the Wings SC to form the Minnesota Thunder Academy, under the umbrella of the state's professional organization. He was the club's Technical Director until 2010, eventually leaving the club to found his company, Skillzys, LLC. Abboud coached HS soccer at East Ridge High School (Woodbury, MN) from 2009 until fall 2016,Girls soccer Bunnell gets his shot head coach
but is rumored to be making a living as a professional poker player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abboud, Mark 1970 births Living people American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Belgium American expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland American expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates American Professional Soccer League players American soccer coaches Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Men's association football midfielders Grenoble Foot 38 players Milwaukee Wave players Minnesota Thunder players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Sportspeople from Rochester, Minnesota Soccer players from Minnesota Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players USISL players A-League (1995–2004) players USL Second Division players USISL Select League players K.F.C. Lommel S.K. players American men's soccer players