Ronnie O'Brien (born 5 January 1979) is an Irish retired

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 ...

. Although released early in his career by his first club

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, he was subsequently signed by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in 1999. During three years with the Italian club, he played only occasionally for the first team and was loaned out to

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

in Switzerland, lower division Italian clubs

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

and

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

, and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

in Scotland. After leaving Juventus in 2002, O'Brien spent the rest of his career playing in

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) for

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 ...

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

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 ...

before retiring in 2008. He was named in the

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 ...

in both 2004 and 2005, and was selected for the

MLS All-Star Game The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual 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 adopted a traditional all ...

for four years running. O'Brien also represented the Republic of Ireland under-16 team and was part of the squad that won the 1998 Under-16 European Championship.

Playing career

Club career

O'Brien's footballing career began very promisingly, when at the age of 18 he signed a contract with

of the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

. After two years and little playing time with

, O'Brien was released on a free transfer. Italian giants

offered the 20-year-old O'Brien a five-year contract; however, he had trouble getting playing time on such a talented side and was loaned out to

of Switzerland,

of Scotland, and lower league Italian side

. After several years of disappointment and one

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

appearance, O'Brien was released from his contract with Juventus in 2002. His solitary competitive appearance for Juventus was an Intertoto Cup match against

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

on 4 August 1999 when he entered the match as a substitute for

Zoran Mirković Zoran "Bata" Mirković ( sr-cyrl, Зоран Бата Мирковић, ; born 21 September 1971) is a retired Serbian footballer and current manager. Playing career Club career Mirković made his first appearance for FK Rad during the 1990– ...

in the 77th minute.

MLS

In search of consistent playing time, O'Brien, made the unconventional decision to move to America to join the Dallas Burn. O'Brien made an immediate impact, scoring on his debut for the club 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 ...

match. He finished the 2002 season with two goals and two assists in 11 games but had proven himself one of the more dynamic players on the team. O'Brien entered the 2003 season with great expectations, but these were cut short early in the season. In the Burn's third game of the season, a tackle from

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

Dema Kovalenko Dmytro Hennadiiovych Kovalenko (born August 28, 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent the majority of his playing career in the United States after moving there in 1992, most notably for Chicago Fire a ...

broke O'Brien's tibia, effectively ending his season. O'Brien returned to the team in 2004 and was one of the team's offensive leaders – he started 29 games, registering two goals and 10 assists, was named to the

, and helped revitalise a Burn team that had recorded one of the league's worst records ever in the previous season. In 2005, O'Brien repeated his Best XI form, finishing the year with six goals and 12 assists. During the 2006 season, O'Brien clashed with FC Dallas' head coach Colin Clarke all season. His form was poor and he finished with only one goal in 27 games. At the conclusion of the season, O'Brien was traded to the expansion club

with a gentlemen's agreement that Toronto FC would not draft any other FC Dallas players. Due to a knee injury during a training session, which was later aggravated during a friendly match, O'Brien was limited to 13 games in the 2007 season. In 2008, O'Brien was traded to the San Jose Earthquakes. In return, Toronto FC received San Jose's first round pick in the 2009 draft plus an undisclosed amount of money. He made 28 appearances, scoring four goals (his 16th in the MLS). His six assists brought his MLS career assist total to 45 (from 142 total appearances). Following O'Brien's strong performance and evident leadership in 2008, the San Jose Earthquakes stunned their fans by failing to pick up his contract option for the 2009 season. Instead, Earthquakes' GM John Doyle was hoping that he would accept a substantial pay cut. In January 2009, O'Brien made it known that he would not be returning to the

. Without O'Brien's leadership and strong play, the Earthquakes struggled early in 2009. Despite a favourable schedule in which San Jose played five of their seven games at home, the Quakes managed just one win, leading many San Jose fans to call for O'Brien's return.

International career

O'Brien achieved success with the Republic of Ireland national youth sides, including winning the 1998 Under-16 European Championship alongside

John O'Shea John Francis O'Shea (; born 30 April 1981) is an Irish professional football coach and former player who is currently assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland men's national team. He was known for his versatility in playing several defensi ...

. Despite having played multiple times for the Irish underage sides, O'Brien only received one call-up to the senior side.

Steve Staunton Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa and Liverpool. He also played in the F ...

contacted Toronto FC about his availability for a short tour of the US in June 2007. However, O'Brien turned down the chance to play for his country again, as he had just returned from injury, while adding he was happy playing club football.

Coaching career

He is now a coach of FC Dallas' youth teams.

Personal life

O'Brien keeps an off-season residence in Dallas and is an avid

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

fan.

''Time'' magazine stunt

In August 1999, e-mails circulated urging Irish people to vote for Ronnie O'Brien in ''Time'''s Person of the Century Internet poll, causing O'Brien to lead the poll, above those such as

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

and

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

After the poll crashed due to attracting too much traffic, ''Time'' removed O'Brien from the running, restating the rule that "whimsical candidates will not be counted."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Ronnie 1979 births Living people FC Lugano players FC Dallas players Dundee United F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Juventus FC players Middlesbrough F.C. players Sportspeople from Bray, County Wicklow Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States San Jose Earthquakes players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Scottish Premier League players Association footballers from County Wicklow Toronto FC players FC Crotone players Calcio Lecco 1912 players Men's association football midfielders