Roy Wegerle (born March 19, 1964) is a former
United States international soccer player who appeared for the national team 41 times between 1992 and 1998. Born and raised in South Africa, he was
naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...
as a U.S. citizen in 1991. Since retiring from soccer he has become a
professional golfer
A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
.
As a soccer player, Wegerle was a
striker from 1984 until 1998. He notably played in the English
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
for
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...
,
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...
and
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...
, and in the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
for
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...
,
Swindon Town
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...
and
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...
. He made appearances in the United States for
Tampa Bay Rowdies
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 ...
,
Tacoma Stars,
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, ...
,
D.C. United
D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Su ...
and
Tampa Bay Mutiny
Tampa Bay Mutiny was a professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. They were a charter member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and played from 1996 to 2001. They played their home games at Tampa Stadium and then at Raymond James Stadium.
The ...
, and was a member of the United States squad at the
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...
and
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 frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
World Cups
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 concept i ...
. Wegerle is one of two players who played in both the
NASL and
MLS
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
; the other is
Hugo Sánchez
Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican ...
.
Club career
Early career
Born in
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...
, Wegerle's football career began at the city's Waterkloof Primary School. Surrounded by teammates Clifford Rostowsky, Deon Stein and David Kroser, Wegerle's talents developed rapidly. He soon earned an invitation to join the local adult club,
Arcadia Shepherds F.C.
Arcadia Shepherds are a South African association football club based in Arcadia, Pretoria. It is affiliated with the Football Association of Pretoria (FAP).
History
The club was founded in 1903, and was briefly renamed ''Arcadia United'' in th ...
, where his brothers had enjoyed long, successful careers.
Tampa Bay Rowdies
Following an unsuccessful trial with
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
in 1980, Wegerle chose to play
college soccer
College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and Philippines, the Philippines. Th ...
in the United States. He spent two seasons with the
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...
's team, the
South Florida Bulls
The South Florida Bulls (also known as the USF Bulls) are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sai ...
, in 1982 and 1983 and holds the school's single season scoring record with 21 goals. The
Tampa Bay Rowdies
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
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to:
* North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league
* North American Soccer League (2011–2017), a former Division II league
{{disambig ...
drafted Wegerle in the first round of the 1984 NASL college draft. He would play 21 games and score 9 goals, adding 17 assists, during the
last year of the NASL's existence in 1984, being named league's Rookie of the Year. More significantly,
Rodney Marsh
Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English former footballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. A forward, he won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal.
Brought up in th ...
coached him at Tampa Bay. This association would be integral to Wegerle's future move to England. When the league folded, Wegerle moved indoors with the
Tacoma Stars of the
Major Indoor Soccer League for two seasons. At the University of South Florida, Wegerle came under the professional instruction of ex-Chelsea striker and
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised ...
winner
Derek Smethurst
Derek Smethurst (born 24 October 1947, in Durban) is a retired South African soccer forward who played professionally in South Africa, England and the United States.
Biography
Born into a sporting family, both his father Norman and brother Pet ...
, who grounded him and got him ready for his professional career.
Chelsea
In 1986, Marsh, a former
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...
star, worked his contacts in England to get Wegerle a tryout. While QPR passed on Wegerle at the time,
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...
were sufficiently impressed to offer Wegerle a contract. However, Wegerle never played consistently for the Chelsea first team and on March 24, 1988, Chelsea loaned Wegerle to
Swindon Town
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...
for the last seven games of the season.
Luton Town and QPR
At the end of the season, Chelsea sold Wegerle to
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...
. In his time with Luton, Wegerle became the team's leading scorer and was sold in December 1989 to
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...
for £1 million.
/sup> He finished the 1990–91 season third on the First Division's scoring table, including having the honour of receiving the ITV 'Goal of the Season' award for that season (against Leeds at Elland Road). Wegerle continued to thrive at QPR until the arrival of new manager Gerry Francis
Gerald Charles James Francis (born 6 December 1951) is an English former footballer and manager.
Playing career
Francis made his first team debut for Queens Park Rangers against Liverpool in March 1969. He was captain and central midfield play ...
who had little use for Wegerle and sold him in March 1992.
Blackburn Rovers
He joined Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...
for £1.1 million – a joint record fee to be paid by a Second Division club. He helped Blackburn reach the new FA Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
as Second Division playoff winners in May 1992, but his first team chances were then dented by the arrival of Alan Shearer
Alan Shearer CBE DL (born 13 August 1970) is an English football pundit and retired football player and manager who played as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in Premie ...
at Ewood Park
Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facil ...
, who led the forward line with Mike Newell.
Coventry City
The 1992–93 season saw yet another transfer for Wegerle as Blackburn sold him to Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...
in March 1993 for £1 million after only 22 games. Despite a series of injuries, Wegerle played 53 league games for Coventry, scoring nine goals, until his contract expired at the end of the 1994–95 season.
Colorado Rapids
In 1996, Wegerle signed with Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
(MLS). At the time, the newly established league was signing known players and allocating them to each of the league's teams in order to ensure an initial parity of talent. As part of this process, MLS allocated Wegerle to the Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, ...
. However, he enjoyed little success in MLS.
D.C. United
He played a season and a half for Colorado before the team traded him to D.C. United
D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Su ...
for Steve Rammel
Steve Rammel (born April 20, 1968) is a retired American soccer player who played as a forward. Rammel spent five seasons in the U.S. and German lower divisions before playing two seasons in Major League Soccer. After retiring from playing in 19 ...
14 games into the 1997 season. Aside from scoring four goals over 36 games with the Rapids, Wegerle also served a single game as caretaker head coach after Bobby Houghton
Robert Douglas Houghton (born 30 October 1947) is an English football manager and former player. His career has spanned over 30 years and 10 countries. He is most famous for taking Swedish club Malmö FF to the 1979 European Cup Final, where th ...
was fired. When Wegerle arrived in D.C., he joined a team on its way to the league championship. While his scoring pace increased slightly, five goals over 19 regular and post-season games, Wegerle failed to produce as United coach Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution.
He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has ha ...
expected.
Tampa Bay Mutiny
As a result, Wegerle became part of what is considered the most lop-sided trade in league history, when D.C. sent him to the Tampa Bay Mutiny
Tampa Bay Mutiny was a professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. They were a charter member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and played from 1996 to 2001. They played their home games at Tampa Stadium and then at Raymond James Stadium.
The ...
for Roy Lassiter
Roy Lee Lassiter (born March 9, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He played the first few years of his professional career in Costa Rica. He returned to the United States to play in Major League S ...
on April 26, 1998. Lassiter was MLS's all-time leading goalscorer; Wegerle played the rest of the 1998 season for the Mutiny, scoring a single goal, then retired.
International career
Wegerle gained his US citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
in 1991, after being eligible through his American wife. He made his national team debut on May 30, 1992, against the Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
, and would go on to record 41 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 Ja ...
and score seven goals for his adopted country. On January 8, 1994, Wegerle injured his knee and underwent numerous arthroscopic surgeries, but he was able to recover in time to become a key player for the U.S. in the 1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...
. By 1998, his repeated injuries had hobbled Wegerle. He enjoyed a brief resurgence leading up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for th ...
, but never became the key player he had been in 1994.
According to former US National Team Manager Steve Sampson
Mark Stephen Sampson (born January 19, 1957) is an American soccer coach. He is also the former head coach of both the United States men's national team and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.
Collegiate career
Sampson attended UCL ...
, Wegerle came to him and assistant coach Clive Charles
Clive Michael Charles (3 October 1951 – 26 August 2003) was an English football player, coach and television announcer. He was one of five National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) coaches to win more than 400 games.
Born in Dagenham, ...
between the February 25, 1998 game at Belgium and the March 14, 1998 match against Paraguay in San Diego and said he had personal knowledge of an affair between US team captain John Harkes
John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is the head coach of Greenville Triumph SC.
A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American ever to play in th ...
and Amy Wynalda
Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''"Aimée"''.
People A–E
* Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress
* Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886–19 ...
, the wife of US Striker Eric Wynalda
Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and retired player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...
. As a result, Harkes was dropped from the team. The US would go on to finish in last place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for th ...
.
International goals
Personal life
He is the younger brother of former NASL-ers Geoff Wegerle
Geoff Wegerle (born 9 June 1954) is a South African former football (soccer) forward who played professionally in Europe, South Africa and the North American Soccer League.
Wegerle scored 20 goals when his club Arcadia Shepherds won the South A ...
and Steve Wegerle
Steve Wegerle (born 15 May 1953) is a former professional soccer player who played as a winger.
Wegerle was born in Pretoria. He was voted Player of the Year is South Africa in 1974. He then joined Coventry City in 1975, but made no first tea ...
. All three played for Tampa Bay at some point in their careers.
Golf career
Since his retirement, Wegerle has been trying to make it as a professional golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
er.
Media career
He had a brief stay as a co-host of ''MLS Extratime
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
'' on ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially ...
.
References
External links
Excellent account of Wegerle at QPR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegerle, Roy
1964 births
Living people
All-American men's college soccer players
American soccer players
United States men's international soccer players
South African soccer players
South African people of Scottish descent
South African people of German descent
Arcadia Shepherds F.C. players
Alumni of Pretoria Boys High School
American expatriate soccer players
American expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate soccer players in the United States
South African expatriate soccer players
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players
South Florida Bulls men's soccer players
Tampa Bay Rowdies draft picks
Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players
Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players
South African emigrants to the United States
Tacoma Stars players
Chelsea F.C. players
Swindon Town F.C. players
Luton Town F.C. players
Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
Coventry City F.C. players
Major League Soccer players
Colorado Rapids players
Colorado Rapids coaches
D.C. United players
Sportspeople from Pretoria
Tampa Bay Mutiny players
1992 King Fahd Cup players
1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Premier League players
White South African people
Major League Soccer coaches
Association football midfielders
Association football forwards
American soccer coaches