Predrag Radosavljević ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Радосављевић; born June 24, 1963), better known by the nickname Preki (), is a former

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 and coach. He is currently an assistant coach with

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

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 ...

(MLS). He previously coached Sacramento Republic FC and Saint Louis FC in the

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

and coached in MLS with

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

and

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 ...

. Born in Yugoslavia, he represented the United States national team. He played indoor soccer in the United States for over a decade, being considered among the best indoor players of all time. During his playing football career, he played for English clubs Everton and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, and was an 'MLS original' upon the formation of MLS in 1996, playing for the Kansas City Wizards (now known as Sporting Kansas City) and Miami Fusion. He is the only two-time winner of the MLS MVP award, now known as the Landon Donovan MVP Award, and represented 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 ...

at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. He was elected to the American

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 ...

in 2010. In 2015 Preki left his managing role at Sacramento Republic FC by mutual consent. It was thought that he had landed the Leicester City FC job, but it was given to

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Serie A club AS Roma, Roma but will leave on 30 June 2025, followin ...

Playing career

Professional

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, SR Serbia, Preki played briefly for

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

in the old Yugoslav First League after coming from FK Čukarički where he played in their youth team. In the summer of 1985, the Tacoma Stars head coach Bob McNab spotted Preki at an indoor tournament in

and sent him to the United States. He played five seasons for the Stars. During those years, he was a three-time First Team All Star, the 1988 and 1989 All Star Game MVP, led the league in assists in 1988 and scoring in 1989, and was the 1989 MISL MVP. During the summer of 1989, Preki began to consider becoming a U.S. citizen and returning to the outdoor game in order to make himself eligible for the U.S. national team. He played one season for Råslätts SK in Sweden in 1990. The Stars released Preki in July 1990 as part of a salary reduction move. In August, he signed with the St. Louis Storm. He played two seasons in St. Louis before being bought by Everton manager Howard Kendall for a fee of £100,000 in the summer of 1992 following a trial. He made 53 appearances for the Blues, 28 of those as a substitute. In June 1994, Preki signed with the San Jose Grizzlies of the Continental Indoor Soccer League where he rejoined Bob McNab from his Tacoma days. He played eight games, scoring sixteen goals, before returning to England in August 1994 to play for

. On July 5, 1995, the Grizzlies purchased Preki's contract from Portsmouth. He was the CISL's second-leading scorer and league MVP.

Major League Soccer

Preki resumed outdoor play beginning with MLS's inaugural season in 1996 when he joined the Kansas City Wiz, renamed the Wizards after the 1996 season. The league allocated him to the Wiz on February 6, 1996. He was named to the

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

for five straight years between

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

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 ...

, being the MVP of the 1999 match after scoring a first-half brace to lead his side to a 6–4 win. In 1997, he won the scoring title with 41 points as well as the league MVP award. On 9 September 1998, Preki scored a hat-trick and made two assists against

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 ...

, tying a league record with eight points in a single game. In the opening match of the 2000 season, Preki scored his side's fourth goal in a 4–3 win over Chicago Fire, which proved to be crucial as both sides finished the 2000 regular season with a record-breaking 57 points, but the Wizards won the Supporters' Shield due to the goal difference. On 15 October, the 37-year-old Preki started in the 2000 MLS Cup, again against Chicago Fire, which ended in a 1–0 victory, being one of only three players, along with Mo Johnston and Uche Okafor, to have been a member of the inaugural Wizards team. The 2000 season still is the most successful in the club's history. Between 1996 and 2000, Preki scored a total of 50 goals in 145 appearances for Kansas City. In 2001, Preki joined the Miami Fusion and scored eight goals and 14 assists in 24 games, thus playing a crucial role in the turnaround that saw the Fusion go from worst to first, winning his second Supporters Shield for the best regular season record in MLS. After spending the 2001 campaign with the Miami Fusion, Preki was able to rejoin his former club in the 2002 MLS Dispersal Draft, but only after every other team in the league had passed on selecting him. On 23 March 2002, he became MLS' all-time leading scorer with 223 points (65g, 93a), and finished that season as the team's leading scorer with 24 points (7g, 10a). On 31 May 2003, Preki notched two late goal contributions against

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

to salvage a 2–2 away draw, marking the first time that Kansas City had come away with a road result after trailing by two goals with 20 minutes remaining. In 2003, the 40-year-old Preki played and started 30 games for the Wizards, logging nearly 2,700 minutes. His season total of 12 goals and 17 assists won him the MLS Most Valuable Player award, making him the oldest-ever winner of the award and also the only player to win MLS MVP more than once. On 21 February 2004, Preki suffered a fractured fibula and dislocated left ankle during a preseason exhibition match and missed four months of the season, returning only in a 1–2 loss to Columbus Crew on 18 August. On 10 September, he underwent a arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle that ended his season, so he did not participate in Kansas' triumphant campaign in the 2004 U.S. Open Cup. He retired following the 2005 season, scoring a goal in the last minute of his final game with Kansas City to salvage a 2–2 draw with

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

on 15 October, and in doing so at the age of 42 years and 111 days, he became both the oldest player and the oldest scorer in MLS history, although the appearance record has since been broken by Pat Onstad in 2011. He was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI after his retirement. Preki is the only player to have won the MLS MVP Award and the MLS Scoring Champion Award (now respectively known as the Landon Donovan MVP Award and the MLS Golden Boot) twice, winning in 1997 and 2003, and is also the current all-time league leader in points with 270 (79 goals and 112 assists, plus another 25 points on 10 goals and 5 assists in the playoffs). Preki is still widely regarded as the greatest player in Kansas City's history, as he ranks first on career charts for both goals (79), and assists (112).

International

Originally from Yugoslavia, Preki was living and working in the U.S. in 1985 but when he was offered a spot on the U.S. national team he applied for U.S. citizenship which was granted on October 25, 1996. He made his debut for the United States on November 3, 1996, against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

at the age of 33, making him one of the oldest players to make an international debut. Preki played a total of 28 games for the U.S., scoring four goals, one of them to beat

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

at the 1998 Gold Cup. He made his last appearance for the national team in a 2–0 loss away to Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying on September 5, 2001.

International goals

Coaching career

Upon the appointment of Bob Bradley as the United States national team head coach, Preki was promoted as head coach of Chivas USA for the 2007

season. Preki left Chivas "by mutual consent" on November 12, 2009, following Chivas' failure to progress to the latter stages of the MLS playoffs. He became head coach of

on November 19, 2009. However, Preki didn't last the 2010 MLS season with Toronto, being fired along with General Manager Mo Johnston on September 14, 2010. Under Preki, Toronto qualified for the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League after winning the 2010 Canadian Championship. On July 15, 2013, after nearly three years out of coaching, Preki was named head coach of the USL Professional Division (now United Soccer League) expansion Sacramento Republic FC in advance of their inaugural 2014 season. He won the USL Pro Championship game in September 2014 with the club. On July 8, 2015, Preki announced his resignation from his post to take up a coaching role in the United Kingdom. On October 12, 2016, USL club Saint Louis FC introduced Preki as its coach for the upcoming 2017 season. On November 20, 2017, Saint Louis FC relieved Preki of his coaching duties. In January 2018, Preki was hired as an assistant coach to Brian Schmetzer with the

Coaching record

Honors

Tacoma Stars * Major Indoor Soccer League runner-up: 1986–87 Kansas City Wizards *

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 ...

: 2000 * Supporters' Shield: 2000 * US Open Cup: 2004 Individual * Major Indoor Soccer League MVP: 1988–89 * Major Indoor Soccer League Scoring Champion: 1988–89 * Major Indoor Soccer League Pass Master (most assists): 1987–88, 1988–89 * 1989 Major Indoor Soccer League All-Star Game MVP: 1989 *

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. The selection is determined by a collection of media, players, and MLS club technical staffs. Winners Appearances by player The following players ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

* MLS MVP Award: 1997, 2003 *

MLS Golden Boot The MLS Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "Audi Golden Boot") has been awarded since the 2005 Major League Soccer season, 2005 season to Major League Soccer's regular–season leading scorer. The award replaced the MLS Scoring Champion ...

: 1997, 2003 * CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI:

* MLS 50/50 Club *

: Class of 2010 *Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame: Class of 2013 * MLS 10th Anniversary Team

References

External links

Preki profile at United States National Soccer Players

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Preki 1963 births Living people Footballers from Belgrade Yugoslav emigrants to the United States American people of Serbian descent Naturalized citizens of the United States Naturalised association football players Men's association football midfielders Yugoslav men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro men's footballers American men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Red Star Belgrade footballers Tacoma Stars players St. Louis Storm players Everton F.C. players San Jose Grizzlies players Portsmouth F.C. players Sporting Kansas City players Miami Fusion players Yugoslav First League players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Premier League players Continental Indoor Soccer League players English Football League players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars National Soccer Hall of Fame members Yugoslav expatriate men's footballers Serbia and Montenegro expatriate men's footballers American expatriate men's soccer players Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in England Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in England Serbian football managers American soccer coaches Chivas USA non-playing staff Chivas USA head coaches Toronto FC head coaches Sacramento Republic FC coaches Saint Louis FC coaches Seattle Sounders FC non-playing staff Major League Soccer head coaches USL Championship coaches Serbian expatriate football managers American expatriate soccer coaches American expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada 20th-century American sportsmen