Michael Dickey is an American

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 ...

coach who is the head coach of

Lexington SC Lexington Sporting Club is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 2021 as an expansion side in USL League One (the third division of the United States soccer league system), the clu ...

in the

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

. Dickey is also currently on the US Soccer Coaching Education staff teaching both the A and B license. In addition to this duty he also is on the National Scouting staff for US Soccer and coaches National/Regional teams in the Olympic Development Program. He is also the Co-Founder of the Olympic Development Program in Europe

Early life

Dickey was born in the United States but spent 27 years of his childhood abroad since his father worked for the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...

. Dickey was introduced to soccer when he was living in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. His family later settled in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

where Dickey had his high school and college education

Coaching career

Early years

After a short stint as a football player in Germany, Dickey started his coaching career with a small club, SC Schwartz Weiss Bad Kreuznach, in Germany. In 1996, he was appointed head coach of the Delaware Wizards which then played at the United States International Soccer League. After he left Delaware he became an Assistant Coach for the Hershey Wildcats that played in the A league of the United Soccer League. Dickey has coached numerous youth club teams to State Championships, Directed the Region 2 Olympic Development Soccer Program, coached both National and Regional ODP teams, Co-founded the USYS ODP program in Europe and currently serves as the Director of Coaching for Mockingbird Valley Premier Soccer Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

United States women's youth

Simultaneously while coaching the Delaware Wizards, Dickey worked with the

U.S. Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer at ...

as a coach in its Olympic Development Program. This led to a staff coaching position with the United States women's national team youth system. He started working with the under-14 team in 2005 as its head coach and later served head coach of the under-15, under-16, and under-17 teams in the subsequent years. He was assistant coach of the U.S. team that finished second in the

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the first women's football edition of the U-17 World Cup. It was held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. North Korea won the first edition, extending their grip of women's youth footbal ...

. He was appointed to coach the U-17 national team two years later after they had failed to qualify for the

2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup women's football tournament was the second such tournament, and was held in Trinidad and Tobago from 5 to 25 September 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in ...

. In 2009, Dickey guested as a coach with the

India women's national football team The India women's national football team represents India at women's international Association football, football competitions and is governed by the All India Football Federation. Under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and governed in Asia by ...

and helped them in preparation for an international tournament which they won and returned to the FIFA rankings. In 2018 Dickey was selected to become the Head Coach of the Women’s National team of Jordan

Jordan women's

On May 1, 2017, the Jordan Football Association announced that they have Dickey signed Dickey as head coach of the

Jordan women's national football team The Jordan women's national football team () is the official women's national football team of the country of Jordan. The team was established in 2005, and is controlled by the Jordan Football Association (JFA), the governing body for football i ...

Mockingbird Valley

Following his time with the Jordan national team, Dickey joined

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

-based Mockingbird Valley Premier SC as director of coaching & player development.

Lexington SC

On January 9, 2024, Dickey was announced as the inaugural coach for

side.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickey, Michael Living people American soccer coaches American expatriate sportspeople in Taiwan American expatriate men's soccer players in Germany Jordan women's national football team managers American expatriate sportspeople in India American expatriate sportspeople in Jordan 1963 births American expatriate soccer coaches Lexington SC USL Super League head coaches Expatriate football managers in Jordan 20th-century American sportsmen