Rob Valentino (born December 21, 1985) is an American soccer coach and 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, who was most recently the interim head coach at

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 ...

side

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won one MLS Cup, one U.S. Open Cup, and one Eastern ...

Career

College and amateur

Valentino grew up in

Danville, California The Town of DanvillePronounced is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is one of the List of municipalities in California, incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their nam ...

, and began his soccer career playing youth soccer for the local Mustang Club. In 1999, his family moved to Arizona, where he played for the 1986 Sereno Golden Eagles with coach Harry Demos. Valentino was recruited out of high school, and chose to attend the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

. Valentino was captain all four years at USF, where he was the WCC Defensive Player of the Year his sophomore season. He also earned WCC Player of the Year honors his junior season. In addition to playing collegiate soccer, Valentino spent the 2007 season with the San Jose Frogs 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 ...

. However, he injured his left knee and was set to red-shirt the season, but ultimately decided to sign a

generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S ...

contract.

Professional

Valentino was drafted in the first round, 13th overall, of the

2008 MLS SuperDraft The 2008 MLS SuperDraft took place on January 18, 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the ninth annual Major League Soccer MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft. The first selection was made by the Kansas City Wizards, after acquiring the selection from t ...

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 ...

. He made his full professional debut for Revolution on July 1, 2008, in a

US Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

third-round game against

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

, and was traded to

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

in exchange for Nico Colaluca on May 6, 2009. Valentino asked for and was released before the 2010 season to play for Tampa without ever making an MLS appearance. He signed with

FC Tampa Bay 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

USSF Division 2 The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding U ...

League in 2010, but chose not to re-sign with the club at the end of the season. He later signed with new

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) as its premier league for men above USL League One. Operating under a f ...

franchise Orlando City on March 31, 2011; he scored his first career goal on April 16, 2011, in a 1–0 victory over the

Charlotte Eagles The Charlotte Eagles is an American amateur soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1991, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at the ...

. In addition Valentino was voted Defensive Player of the year for the 2011 USL season. He also became the captain for Orlando City following his debut season. Valentino played for Orlando City for 5 years, but was not among the Orlando City players to make the move to MLS. Following Orlando City's move to

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional 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 sanctioned by the United ...

Valentino signed with

Arizona United Phoenix Rising Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2014 as Arizona United Soccer Club, the team is a member of the USL Championship. They won the league championship i ...

and was named captain for the team. He started in all 15 games for which he was fit. He missed a month of the season due to injury. Arizona announced that Valentino would retire from playing on August 11, 2015..

Coaching

On August 11, 2015, Valentino was announced as an assistant coach for

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at ...

who began play in 2016. The USL club is owned by

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

and reunited Valentino with his former teammate

Anthony Pulis Anthony James Pulis (born 21 July 1984) is a Welsh football coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. A journeyman for much of his career Pulis represented Portsmouth, Stoke City, ...

who was the team's head coach. He was also named to the club's technical staff. In 2019 he was added to Frank De Boer's technical staff as an assistant manager to the

2018 MLS Cup MLS Cup 2018 was the 23rd edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), which took place on December 8, 2018. It was the final match of the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs and was contested by Atlanta United FC and the P ...

-winning team Atlanta United FC. On July 18, 2021, Valentino was named Atlanta United's interim head coach following the firing of previous head coach Gabriel Heinze. Valentino led Atlanta United to a 4-2-2 record as the caretaker manager. When Gonzalo Pineda was hired as the new head coach on August 12, Valentino was retained as an assistant. Valentino was again named interim head coach on June 3, 2024, after Atlanta parted ways with Pineda.

Honors

Orlando City

(2):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

MLS player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valentino, Rob 1985 births Living people People from Cave Creek, Arizona Soccer players from Maricopa County, Arizona American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders San Francisco Dons men's soccer players San Jose Frogs players New England Revolution draft picks New England Revolution players Colorado Rapids players Tampa Bay Rowdies players Orlando City SC (2010–2014) players Phoenix Rising FC players Orlando City B players USL League Two players USSF Division 2 Professional League players USL Championship players United States men's under-23 international soccer players American soccer coaches Orlando City B coaches Atlanta United 2 coaches Atlanta United FC head coaches