Pablo Campos (born January 29, 1983) is a Brazilian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Career

College and amateur

Campos began his amateur career at

Fresno Pacific University Fresno Pacific University (FPU) is a private Christian university in Fresno, California, United States. It was founded as the Pacific Bible Institute in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. ...

, and was named to the 2007 NSCAA/adidas NAIA Men's All-America Team, before going on to excel with the

Fresno Fuego Fresno Football Club U-23, formerly Fresno Fuego FC, was an American association football, soccer team based in Fresno, California, United States. Founded in 2003, the team played in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid ...

of the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

. In his first year with Fresno in 2007, he scored 18 goals in 15 appearances, ending the year as the top scorer in the entire PDL, and PDL MVP. After being courted by several

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

teams in the 2007–08 offseason, notably

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

, Campos decided to forego a professional career in the US, where his salary as a developmental player would have been small, and instead chose to continue his college studies and play for Fresno Fuego for one more season; he subsequently scored 14 goals in 10 games for the Fresno Fuego in the PDL in 2008.

Professional

Campos signed with

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

in July 2008. He made his debut for in an Allsvenskan game against Gefle, on September 24 and made his first professional start two weeks later, against

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

. In February 2009, Campos joined 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 ...

after the team won a weighted

lottery for his services. He scored his first professional goal on April 18, 2009, in a 1–1 tie with

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

. Campos was later traded to

in July 2009. Campos scored his first goal for Salt Lake on August 26 in a home match against

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

Rio Tinto Stadium America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is a soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, United States. It is the home of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Utah Royals of the National Women' ...

. The strike turned out to be the winning goal in a 4–0 RSL triumph. A few days later, he scored the lone goal in Real Salt Lake's 1–0 victory against the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown K ...

– the club's first-ever win in Kansas City. Campos and Real Salt Lake won the

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

in 2009 after a great season. Campos played sparingly for RSL in 2010 and was released by the club ahead of the 2011 season. He signed with

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Carolina Railhawks. On December 6, 2016, the RailH ...

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 ...

in April 2011. After one season with Carolina, Campos signed with NASL expansion side.

San Antonio Scorpions The San Antonio Scorpions were an American professional soccer team based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 2010, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2012. The Scorpions played at Toyota Field, a soccer specific stadi ...

in February 2012. This year he won several awards which include Golden Boot (most goals) and Golden Ball (MVP). In 2013, Pablo joined the relaunched Minnesota Franchise now known as Minnesota United where he continued his success in front of goal. He became the all-time modern NASL leading scorer on June 3, 2015. Campos joined NASL expansion team

Miami FC Miami FC is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (201 ...

ahead of the 2016 season.

Personal

On April 30, 2015, Campos announced that he had become an American citizen.

Honors

Real Salt Lake

MLS Cup:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Eastern Conference Championship:

References

External links

*
Fresno Bee article about Campos

P. Campos's YouTube video

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campos, Pablo 1983 births Living people American men's soccer players Brazilian emigrants to the United States Fresno FC U-23 players GAIS players San Jose Earthquakes players Real Salt Lake players North Carolina FC players San Antonio Scorpions players Minnesota United FC (2010–2016) players Miami FC players Oklahoma Baptist Bison men's soccer players Oklahoma Baptist University alumni Fresno Pacific University alumni USL League Two players Allsvenskan players Major League Soccer players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Men's association football forwards Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian men's footballers 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen