Paul David Caligiuri (born March 9, 1964) is an American former professional

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 ...

player who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Caligiuri's professional career spanned 16 years, during which he played for numerous teams in the United States and Germany, and for the U.S. national team. During his 14 years as a defender and defensive midfielder with the national team, he earned 110

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scored five goals. Caligiuri is best remembered for his game-winning goal widely dubbed the " Shot heard round the world," which he scored in a 1–0

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifier victory over

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

on November 19, 1989. The victory qualified the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, its first World Cup berth since

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. There Caligiuri notched the first World Cup goal for the U.S. national team in 40 years, scoring in a 5–1 defeat against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. He is a member of the

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

High school and college

Caligiuri was born in

Westminster, California Westminster is a city in western Orange County, California, United States. Westminster was founded in 1870 by Rev. Lemuel Webber as a Presbyterian Temperance movement, temperance colony and was incorporated in 1957. Westminster is bordered by ...

. After graduating from Walnut High School, he attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

from 1982 to 1985. During his four seasons with the Bruins, he was twice named an NCAA All-American. He also captained the Bruins to an NCAA Championship his junior year.

Club career

San Diego Nomads

After graduating from UCLA, Caligiuri played the 1986 season with the San Diego Nomads of the Western Soccer Alliance, earning the league's Most Valuable Player award. He was also named the 1986 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year.

Germany

Caligiuri's rookie professional accomplishments attracted the attention of German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

, who signed him after his appearance in the 1986 FIFA/UNICEF All Star Game. In 1988, Hamburg transferred Caligiuri to SV Meppen of the German 2. Bundesliga, where he played for two seasons. From Meppen, he moved to

FC Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, with whom he would win the East German professional championship. From 1991 to 1992 he played for Second Bundesliga club

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

Los Angeles Salsa

On May 4, 1995, Caliguiri returned to the United States from Germany to sign with the Los Angeles Salsa of 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. ...

to gain match fitness before the U.S. national team's games that summer. (The Salsa played the season however in the USISL Pro League.) Caligiuri donated his entire salary from the Salsa to the victims of the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...

Loan to St. Pauli

In August, the Salsa loaned Caligiuri to

club

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

, where he appeared in 14 games. In January 1996, the team elected not to exercise an option in Caligiuri's contract.

Major League Soccer

Caligiuri returned to the United States, where he signed with the emergent

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 ...

. Despite Caligiuri's stated position that a contract clause that dictated he play for his hometown

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 ...

, MLS allocated Caligiuri to the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

. During his lone season with the Crew, he scored three goals. Caligiuri sued Major League Soccer to play for the LA Galaxy, and in March 1997 was placed with Los Angeles for the 1997 season, despite his high salary and the fact that the Galaxy were close to the salary cap. He played there until his 2001 retirement, finishing his MLS career with nine goals and 14 assists accumulated during 135 games, including 123 starts. Caligiuri's final professional appearance was in the 2001 U.S. Open Cup Final on October 27, 2001, where the LA Galaxy defeated New England Revolution 2–1 in extra time.

International career

Caligiuri represented the U.S. at the 1983 Pan American Games. While at UCLA Caligiuri had earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the national team, playing October 9, 1984 against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. Caligiuri eventually tallied 110 appearances for the United States, and scored five goals from his position in the midfield. Perhaps his biggest goal was in a 1989 World Cup qualifier in Trinidad and Tobago that gave the U.S. a 1–0 victory and sent the Americans to the World Cup finals for the first time in 40 years. On March 14, 1990, Caligiuri signed a contract with USSF making him a full-time national team member. He remained on contract with USSF for several years. In 1993, he briefly considered moving to a British or German club after being omitted from the U.S. team's Gold Cup roster, but ultimately chose to dedicate himself to the national team as it prepared for the 1994 World Cup. Caligiuri was a central figure in the national team from the 1980s through the mid-1990s, and started every U.S. match in both the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

World Cups. In 1997, he played his final game for the national team. Caligiuri played with the U.S.

Futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

team in 1996, earning four

and scoring one goal.

International goals

:''Scores and results list the United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Caligiuri goal.''

Post-soccer career

Caligiuri was appointed head coach of both the men and women's soccer teams at Cal Poly Pomona before the beginning of their 2001 fall seasons, although he did not take over until 2002. He held the women's team's coaching position through the 2005 season and the men's team's coaching position through the end of the 2008 season. Later Caligiuri coached youth soccer for socal reds in Irvine, California as well as their UPSL team from 2023 to 2024.

Personal life

In 2004, Caligiuri was inducted into the U.S.

. He serves as an athlete representative on the board of directors of the

United States 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 ...

. Caligiuri coached a BU-19 and GU-14 team for California Football Academy in Mission Viejo, California. He is currently an Area Director for the Pateadores Soccer Club. He is also the Head Coach for the Orange County Football Club, Men's Semi-Pro soccer team in the NPSL (National Premier Soccer League). This was OCFC's first season in the league where they ended the season in a 1–0 loss in the Western Conference Final of the NPSL.

References

External links

Video of goal versus Trinidad and Tobago

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caligiuri, Paul 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Westminster, California Soccer players from Orange County, California All-American college men's soccer players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1992 King Fahd Cup players 1993 Copa América players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 Copa América players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players American men's soccer players American men's futsal players American soccer coaches American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players in Germany American people of Italian descent Expatriate men's footballers in East Germany UCLA Bruins men's soccer players Nomads Soccer Club players Hamburger SV players SV Meppen players FC Hansa Rostock players SC Freiburg players Los Angeles Salsa U-23 players FC St. Pauli players Columbus Crew players LA Galaxy players FIFA Men's Century Club Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics National Soccer Hall of Fame members Olympic soccer players for the United States United States men's international soccer players USL Second Division players Western Soccer Alliance players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players Pan American Games footballers for the United States Footballers at the 1983 Pan American Games United States men's under-20 international soccer players Columbus Crew draft picks California State Polytechnic University, Pomona alumni California State Polytechnic University, Pomona faculty DDR-Oberliga players People from Walnut, California College men's soccer coaches in the United States College women's soccer coaches in the United States United Premier Soccer League coaches American expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 20th-century American sportsmen