Preki

Predrag Radosavljević (Serbian Cyrillic: Предраг Радосављевић; born June 24, 1963), better known by the nickname Preki (/ˈprɛki/), is a Serbian-American former U.S. international soccer manager. He previously managed Sacramento Republic FC and Saint Louis FC in the United Soccer League. He also previously coached in Major League Soccer with Toronto FC and Chivas USA.

Preki
Preki in a press conference as head coach of Toronto FC, 2010
Personal information
Full name Predrag Radosavljević
Date of birth (1963-06-24) June 24, 1963
Place of birth Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Seattle Sounders FC (assistant)
Youth career
Čukarički Stankom
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1982–1985 Red Star Belgrade 2 (0)
1985–1990 Tacoma Stars (indoor) 247 (209)
1990 Råslätts SK
1990–1992 St. Louis Storm (indoor) 91 (113)
1992–1994 Everton 46 (4)
1994–1995 San Jose Grizzlies (indoor) 32 (67)
1994–1995 Portsmouth 40 (5)
1996–2000 Kansas City Wizards 145 (50)
2001 Miami Fusion 24 (8)
2002–2005 Kansas City Wizards 73 (21)
Total 330 (88)
National team
1996–2001 United States 28 (4)
Teams managed
2006 Chivas USA (assistant)
2007–2009 Chivas USA
2010 Toronto FC
2014–2015 Sacramento Republic
2017 Saint Louis FC
2018– Seattle Sounders FC (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

During his playing career he played for English clubs Everton and Portsmouth, and was an 'MLS original' upon the formation of Major League Soccer 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 at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He was elected to the American National Soccer Hall of Fame 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.[1]

Playing career

Professional

Born in Serbia, Preki played briefly for Red Star Belgrade in the old Yugoslav First League after coming from FK Čukarički Stankom where he played in their youth team.[2] In the summer of 1985, the Tacoma Stars head coach Bob McNab spotted Preki at an indoor tournament in Belgrade. McNab signed Preki.[3] 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.[4] He played one season for Råslätts SK in Sweden in 1990.[5] The Stars released Preki in July 1990 as part of a salary reduction move.[6] In August, he signed with the St. Louis Storm.[7] 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.[8] He played eight games, scoring sixteen goals, before returning to England in August 1994 to play for Portsmouth. On July 5, 1995, the Grizzlies purchased Preki's contract from Portsmouth.[9] He was the CISL's second leading scorer and league MVP.[10]

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.[11] He played every season of his MLS playing career for the Wizards, except for one season with the Miami Fusion in 2001. After the Fusion were contracted, the Wizards reacquired Preki in the 2002 MLS Dispersal Draft, but only after every other team in the league had passed on selecting him. 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 scored (270 on 79 goals and 112 assists, plus another 25 points on 10 goals and 5 assists in the playoffs). He won the 2000 MLS Cup with the Wizards. Preki retired following the 2005 season, scoring a goal in the last minute of his final game with Kansas City. He was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI after the season, and was 42 years old when he played his final competitive game.[12]

International

Originally from Yugoslavia, Preki was living and working in the US in 1985 but when he was offered a spot on the American national team he applied for U.S. citizenship which was granted on October 25, 1996.[13] He made his debut for the United States on November 3, 1996 against Guatemala 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 at the 1998 Gold Cup. Two of those games, including one against his native Yugoslavia (now Serbia), came in the 1998 FIFA World 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.[14]

International goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1December 21, 1996San Salvador, El Salvador Guatemala1–02–21998 World Cup Qualifying
2November 16, 1997Foxborough, Massachusetts El Salvador4–24–21998 World Cup Qualifying
3February 7, 1998Oakland, California Costa Rica2–12–11998 CONCACAF Gold Cup
4February 10, 1998Los Angeles, California Brazil1–01–01998 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Coaching career

Upon the appointment of Bob Bradley as the United States national team manager, Preki was promoted as head coach of Chivas USA for the 2007 Major League Soccer season.[15]

Preki left Chivas "by mutual consent" on November 12, 2009, following Chivas' failure to progress to the latter stages of the MLS playoffs.[16] He became head coach of Toronto FC on November 19, 2009.[17] However, Preki didn't last the 2010 MLS season with Toronto, being fired along with General Manager Mo Johnston on September 14, 2010.[18] 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.[19] He won the USL Pro Championship game in September 2014 with the club.[20] 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.[21]

In January 2018, Preki was hired as an assistant coach to Brian Schmetzer with the Seattle Sounders.

Coaching record
As of November 19, 2017
Team From To Record
G W L T GF GA GD Win %
Chivas USA January 17, 2007[15] November 12, 2009[16] 107 41 36 30 132 125 +7 038.32
Toronto FC November 19, 2009[17] September 14, 2010[18] 32 11 11 10 30 31 −1 034.38
Sacramento Republic July 15, 2013 July 8, 2015 53 33 15 5 108 60 +48 062.26
Saint Louis FC October 12, 2016 November 19, 2017 35 11 15 9 41 53 −12 031.43
Total 227 96 77 54 311 269 +42 042.29

Awards

Club
Tacoma Stars

Major Indoor Soccer League Runners-Up: 1986-87

Kansas City Wizards

Individual

References
  1. "Everton FC cult figure Preki tipped for remarkable Premier League return". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  2. Monografija: 85 godina SD Čukarički Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (page 91&92) (in Serbian)
  3. `SECRET' SLAV ADDS SOCK TO STARS' SOCCER OFFENSE THE SEATTLE TIMES – Thursday, October 24, 1985
  4. PREKI EYES RAISE, U.S. CITIZENSHIP – WORLD CUP BERTH IN MIND Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Wednesday, September 13, 1989
  5. "Råslätts SK – Historia". Archived from the original on July 22, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
  6. Tacoma cuts Preki, 5 more to pare costs San Diego Union (CA) – Thursday, July 5, 1990
  7. STARS' PREKI SIGNS WITH ST. LOUIS THE SEATTLE TIMES – Monday, August 13, 1990
  8. CONTINENTAL INDOOR SOCCER LEAGUE USA TODAY (Arlington, VA) – Tuesday, June 7, 1994
  9. GRIZZLIES ACQUIRE TOP INDOOR PLAYER San Jose Mercury News (CA) – Thursday, July 6, 1995
  10. The Year in American Soccer – 1995 Archived February 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Transactions The Kansas City Star – Tuesday, February 6, 1996
  12. MLS Player Stats Archived May 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  13. https://ussoccerplayers.com/player/preki
  14. About Coaches: Preki Radosavljevic, Head Coach Archived May 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Preki replaces Bradley as Chivas USA coach". ESPN Soccernet. Associated Press. January 17, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  16. "Chivas USA, Preki part ways". ESPN Soccernet. November 12, 2009. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  17. TFC set to name Preki new head coach
  18. Wolstat, Ryan (September 15, 2010). "Axed TFC coach Preki fires back". Toronto Sun. QMI Agency. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. "Republic FC Claims USL PRO Championship". USL Pro. September 27, 2014. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  21. Lyons, Joe (October 12, 2016). "St. Louis FC introduces Preki as its new coach". Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. Saint Louis, Missouri. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  22. "2000 MLS Cup". Sporting KC. MLS Digital. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  23. "Supporters' Shield". Wikipedia. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  24. "2004 U.S. Open Cup". Sporting KC. MLS Digital. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  25. "Major Indoor Soccer League". Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  26. "Major Arena Soccer League". Wikipedia. Wikipedia.
  27. "Major Arena Soccer League". Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  28. "1989 Major Indoor Soccer League All-Star Game". Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  29. "Sporting Legends- Preki". Sporting KC. MLS Digital. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  30. "MLS Golden Boot". Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  31. "PREKI RADOSAVLJEVIÄ". National Soccer Hall of Fame. U.S. Soccer. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  32. "Hall of Famers". Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame. Soccer Shift. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
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