Clint Dempsey

Clint Dempsey

Clinton Drew "Clint" Dempsey (born March 9, 1983 in Nacogdoches, Texas) is an American soccer player who plays midfield for Fulham of the Premier League and the United States national team.

Clint Dempsey's exposure to competitive youth soccer began in Dallas, a three-hour drive from his hometown. His older brother Ryan initially went to a tryout for the Dallas Texans, but Clint was noticed and recruited while passing time juggling a ball.

Dempsey began playing competitively at an early age, but had to curtail his team play, due to family time and money constraints as eldest sister Jennifer was on her way to becoming a ranked tennis player. He went on to be the captain and high scorer of the Texans and was honored with MVP in the Tampa Bay Sun Bowl.

Dempsey studied the play of Argentina, especially Diego Maradona. Clint was heartbroken when the news came to Nacogdoches that Maradona would not be playing in the 1994 FIFA World Cup game played in the Cotton Bowl.

Dempsey attended Furman University as a health and exercise major and a key player for the Paladins. In his three seasons at Furman, Dempsey started 61 out of 62 games and scored 17 goals.

Dempsey was drafted eighth in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft by the New England Revolution. Playing as an attacking central midfielder, he scored seven goals in his rookie season and was named MLS Rookie of the Year, despite missing time due to a broken jaw. He missed the decisive penalty kick in a shootout against D.C. United that denied the Revolution a trip to the MLS Cup. In 2005, he scored 10 goals and had nine assists, including five game-winning goals (third best in MLS). Dempsey also contributed in the MLS All-Star Game by assisting on the game-winning goal against Fulham F.C. Dempsey scored the vital goal against the Chicago Fire to put the Revs into MLS Cup 2005. He was named to the MLS Best XI.

In 2004, Dempsey played two games with a broken jaw before the team trainer diagnosed it, and upon his return he played through the pain of a sprained ankle. He has scored repeatedly with diving headers in crowded situations and his quickness in midfield along with his audacious dribbling results in defenders frequently fouling him. He was suspended by the Revolution for two weeks in March 2006 for a fist fight with teammate Joe Franchino during a practice game, and was twice suspended by the league during the 2006 season for violent conduct against opponents.

It was widely rumored that Clint would leave New England for a European team. He trained with Dutch team Feyenoord Rotterdam and stated that "there are some teams interested in the EPL." In August 2006, Charlton Athletic offered a transfer fee for Dempsey of $1.5 million. The offer was rejected by MLS, disappointing Dempsey who felt the move was necessary for him to continue improving. Dempsey stated that he would not stay in MLS when his contract ran out in late 2007, regardless of salary.

In December 2006, Fulham F.C. offered MLS a $4 million transfer fee for Dempsey, then the largest amount ever offered for an MLS player. The league agreed to the transfer; however, Dempsey still needed to receive a work permit from the United Kingdom Home Office. On January 10, 2007, the Home Office granted Dempsey the work permit, thus allowing him to play in England.

Dempsey made his first appearance for Fulham shortly thereafter, coming on as a late substitute in Fulham's match against Tottenham Hotspur on January 20, 2007. However, for the remainder of the spring of 2007 Dempsey was used only sparingly by a relegation-threatened Fulham. On May 5, 2007, Dempsey scored his first and only goal of the 2006-07 season for Fulham after coming on as a 54th minute substitute against Liverpool, in a vital match which Fulham won 1-0. The goal ensured Fulham's top flight status for the 2007-08 season.

Dempsey was a key part of the starting squad for Fulham during the 2007-08 Premier League season. His six goals, all scored in the Premier League, made him Fulham's top scorer in league play and tied for the club lead in all competitions. In May 2008, Dempsey received an automatic contract extension from Fulham that will keep him at the club through 2010.

Dempsey scored his first goal on the 2008-2009 campaign on October 26th, 2008, against Portsmouth. Coming on as a 70th-minute sub, Demspey volleyed home an Erik Nevland cross past David James to tie the game at 1-1. On December 28, 2008, Dempsey started in the SW6 Derby against Chelsea and scored both goals for Fulham, one a chest and flick past Petr Cech that put Fulham ahead, and the other an 89th-minute equalizing header off a Simon Davies corner.

Last updated February 2, 2009.

Dempsey first played for the United States team at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates. He made his first appearance with the senior team on November 17, 2004 against Jamaica. On May 2, 2006, he was named to the U.S. roster for the 2006 FIFA World Cup tournament in Germany. He currently has played over 20 games with the senior team and has recorded six goals and two assists, including the lone goal in the United States' 1-0 victory over Poland in March 2006 and the only goal by a U.S. player in the 2006 World Cup (an equalizing goal in the Americans' eventual 2-1 loss to Ghana). In the United States' first World Cup 2010 Qualifier, Clint recorded what is considered to be the fastest goal in U.S. World Cup Qualifier History with his chest trap and sliding shot 53 seconds into the game versus Barbados. Dempsey has been an instrumental player in many of the United States international matches.

Dempsey won United States men's soccer's highest individual honor when he was named Honda Player of the Year for 2006, beating Fulham colleagues Kasey Keller and Brian McBride in a poll of sportswriters. Dempsey received 237 points in voting by 207 sports journalists to claim the award.

One of Dempsey's passions outside of soccer is hip hop music. Using the alias "Deuce", he, along with fellow Texas rappers XO and the late Houston rapper Big Hawk from the Screwed Up Click, are featured rapping the song "Don't Tread" in a Nike football advertising campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup intended to showcase both the sport's working-class roots and the United States team ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The song's video is dedicated to his sister Jennifer, who at age 16 was suddenly struck with a fatal brain aneurysm. At Dempsey's request, the video ends with a shot of him placing a flower at her grave.

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Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer (MLS) is the top-flight professional soccer league based in the United States, overseen by the United States Soccer Federation. The league is comprised of 15 teams, 14 in the U.S. and one in Canada. MLS represents the top tier of the American and Canadian soccer pyramids.

MLS was founded in 1993 as part of the bid for the United States to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The first season took place in 1996 beginning with 10 teams. Seasons run from late March or early April to November, with teams playing 30 regular season games each. Eight teams from the league compete in the post-season MLS Cup Playoffs, which culminate in MLS Cup.

The 2009 Major League Soccer season runs from March 19 to November. The 15 teams in the league are divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences — seven in the Eastern Conference, eight in the Western Conference. Each team plays 30 games, evenly divided between home and away matches. Each team competes against every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 28 games. The remaining two games are intra-conference matches, often highlighting geographic and conference rivalries.

MLS has four berths in the CONCACAF Champions League. For CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10, qualifying teams include MLS Cup 2008 and Supporters' Shield winner the Columbus Crew, Supporters' Shield runner-up the Houston Dynamo, MLS Cup runner-up the New York Red Bulls, and 2008 U.S. Open Cup winner D.C. United. Columbus and Houston are automatically seeded into the Group Stage, while New York and D.C. are required to play in the Preliminary Round.

MLS also has four berths in SuperLiga, a competition jointly organized by MLS and Mexico's national football governing body, the FMF. The top four overall teams from the 2008 season, excluding those participating in the Champions League, qualify for SuperLiga 2009. This includes the Chicago Fire, the New England Revolution, the Kansas City Wizards, and Chivas USA.

In 1996, Major League Soccer's original ten teams, the Columbus Crew, D.C. United, the New England Revolution, the NY/NJ MetroStars, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, the Colorado Rapids, the Dallas Burn, the Kansas City Wiz, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Clash, began play. The early years of the league gave rise to the Bruce Arena-led dynasty of D.C. United, which won MLS Cups in three of the league's first four seasons. It took the expansion Chicago Fire in 1998 to end United's stranglehold on MLS Cup. Also joining the league in 1998 was the Miami Fusion.

After its first season, MLS suffered from a decline in attendance. The league's quality was cast into doubt when the U.S. men's national team, made up largely of MLS players, was eliminated in the first round of the 1998 World Cup and finished in last place.

The league began to market itself on the talents of American players, both experienced veterans and fresh talents. Breakout stars like DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan began making names for themselves in MLS before breaking into and starring for the U.S. national team, while established players such as Brian McBride and Clint Mathis continued to prove their value to both their MLS clubs and the U.S. national team.

The league's ongoing financial problems led to the departure of Commissioner Doug Logan after the end of the 1998 season. Don Garber, a former NFL International chief, was hired in his place and his leadership became instrumental to shoring up the league's future. Construction of "soccer-specific" stadiums for the league's teams, largely funded by financiers such as Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz, became a point of emphasis to bring fiscal health and ensure the league's survival. Hunt's Columbus Crew Stadium, built in 1999, is often cited as a league model.

On the field, the early wave of international players who had joined MLS at its inception drifted into retirement or moved on to clubs elsewhere in the world. The run-up to the 2002 World Cup saw a gradual shift in the league's philosophy toward the development of American talent, a move that would eventually lead to success for U.S. Soccer.

Despite this movement, declining attendances forced MLS to stop the bleeding by contracting the two Florida franchises, the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion, just a few years after their establishment. This left the league with 10 teams, the same number as when the league began.

The 2002 World Cup, in which the United States unexpectedly made the quarterfinals through wins against Portugal and Mexico, triggered a resurgence in American soccer and MLS. At MLS Cup 2002, held four months after the 2002 World Cup final, set an attendance record as a sellout crowd at Gillette Stadium saw the Los Angeles Galaxy win their first title.

MLS drew international attention in 2004 with the debut of 14-year-old Freddy Adu for D.C. United, who entered the league with much fanfare and was heralded as one of the top prospects in American soccer history.

MLS underwent a significant transition in the years leading up to the 2006 World Cup. After marketing itself on the talents of American players, the league saw some of its homegrown stars depart for more prominent leagues in Europe. Tim Howard, goalkeeper for the MetroStars, was sold to Manchester United in one of the most lucrative contract deals in league history. DaMarcus Beasley of the Chicago Fire left for PSV, while Landon Donovan, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, was recalled back to Germany. Donovan's stint in Germany was brief; before the start of the 2005 MLS season he was sold back to MLS to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Many more American players, though they factored little in the U.S. national team picture, did make an impact in MLS. In 2005, Jason Kreis of expansion club Real Salt Lake became the first player to score at least 100 career MLS goals. In 2005, the now defunct MLS Reserve Division was created, with each reserve squad playing 12 games, providing valuable playing time to develop non-starters on team rosters.

It was also in this era that MLS expanded for the first time since the contraction of 2001. Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA began play in 2004, with Chivas USA becoming the second club in Los Angeles, sharing The Home Depot Center with the Galaxy. Chivas USA also became the first team in MLS to be directly connected to a foreign club, as they are the sister club of Guadalajara. A year later the San Jose Earthquakes were moved to Texas, becoming the Houston Dynamo, after funding for a soccer-specific stadium could not be found in San Jose. The Dynamo were treated as an expansion franchise, leaving their history behind for the new ownership group that would materialize a few years after the move, in 2008.

Since 2006, Major League Soccer's leadership has taken steps to "internationalize" the league in an effort to raise the level of play. Among the first moves in this regard was the Designated Player Rule, which helped MLS bring international stars into the league, despite the relatively meager MLS salary cap, and the creation of the SuperLiga, which pits the best of MLS against top Mexican clubs in an effort to provide more meaningful competition for both leagues. MLS changed the rules regarding foreign players in the league to allow more of them. However, despite the increasing number of foreign players in MLS, the Houston Dynamo were able to establish a domestic dynasty, winning both the 2006 and 2007 titles with mostly American and Canadian talent.

The 2006 season confirmed Major League Soccer as a stable entity within both American and international soccer. Bob Bradley, whose reputation was scarred by disappointing results when coaching the MetroStars, turned around second-year Chivas USA, who in their inaugural season had finished last among all teams in the league.

The 2007 season saw the MLS debut of David Beckham, whose signing has been seen as a coup for American soccer. Beckham's signing by the Los Angeles Galaxy was made possible by the Designated Player Rule. Marcelo Gallardo of Paris Saint-Germain transferred to D.C. United, Cuauhtémoc Blanco of Club América signed for the Chicago Fire, and Juan Pablo Ángel, who moved from Aston Villa to the New York Red Bulls, are just some of the Designated Players who have made major contributions to their clubs.

The departures of Clint Dempsey to Fulham and Jozy Altidore to Villarreal, coupled with the return of former U.S. national team stars Claudio Reyna and Brian McBride to New York and Chicago, respectively, highlight the exchange of top prospects to Europe for experienced veterans for MLS. Several other well-known foreign players have followed Beckham and Blanco to MLS, including Guillermo Barros Schelotto to Columbus and Freddie Ljungberg to Seattle.

Toronto FC, who joined the league for the 2007 season, were the league's first entrant from Canada.

In the inaugural 2007 SuperLiga, which was the product of the league's marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing, the Los Angeles Galaxy lost on penalty kicks to Pachuca, as the league attempted to translate the traditional rivalry between the U.S. and Mexican national teams to the club level. Though it has only two seasons of existence, the tournament has been declared a success for both leagues.

Recently "expansion," "contraction," and "rebranding" have become buzzwords for the league and its fans. The league has renewed its emphasis on improving the quality of play by its teams via initiatives such as the Designated Player Rule and the creation of a league-wide youth development system.

The 2006-2007 MLS offseason has been considered by some to be the most productive in the history of the league, and there were a number of changes made to the league, which have brought about an increase in the league's ability to compete financially as well as on the field. The league announced a youth development initiative, which will require youth development programs for all of the league's teams. The hope is that by being able to sign up to two of its own youth players to the senior team each year that the league's teams will have an incentive to improve the quality of the league's talent in an organic way that will also benefit the league through transfer fees for outgoing players. Perhaps the first example of a success in "home-grown" talent development was New York's Jozy Altidore, who rose to prominence as one of the league's most skilled young strikers before fetching the league's record transfer fee in his move to Villarreal in 2008.

Furthering the development of the league was the decision to create the Designated Player Rule, which allows for clubs to pay up to two players a salary beyond that covered in the salary cap at their own expense. A host of veteran players including Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Juan Pablo Ángel, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, and David Beckham joined MLS and improved the league's level of play and the game's overall profile in the U.S. and the league's profile abroad.

The league also announced "Game First", a series of initiatives aimed at improving the league in several ways. One of the most immediate changes is that U.S. Soccer hired the first full-time professional referees in league history. Another part of "Game First" was the creation of an official league anthem similar to other competitions from around the world. There are two versions of the MLS Anthem, an orchestral version that is performed before every regular season game and an orchestral chorus version with a chorus that is played before the MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup.

Since 1999, the league has overseen the construction and completion of seven venues specifically designed for soccer. Lamar Hunt broke new ground in this endeavor by financing the construction of Columbus Crew Stadium. The Los Angeles Galaxy followed four years later with the opening of The Home Depot Center in 2003. Chivas USA has shared this venue with the Galaxy since their expansion season in 2004. It also played host to two consecutive MLS Cups, until FC Dallas opened Pizza Hut Park in 2005 and hosted the next two championships. The Chicago Fire began playing their home games in Toyota Park in 2006. 2007 saw the opening of Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the Colorado Rapids and BMO Field for the expansion Toronto FC. Near the end of the 2008 season, Rio Tinto Stadium became the new home of Real Salt Lake.

Other stadiums are currently under construction. Red Bull Arena, the new home of Red Bull New York, began construction in December 2007 with the goal of beginning play there at some point in 2009. D.C. United, the Kansas City Wizards, the Houston Dynamo, the New England Revolution, and the San Jose Earthquakes are actively searching for ways to finance and build their respective stadiums.

Seattle Sounders will play at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, but the owners have pledged that only the lower portion of the stadium will be used in order to create a better atmosphere for soccer. The Philadelphia franchise plans to play in the new Chester Stadium when they enter the league in 2010.

The move to soccer-specific stadiums has been seen by many as essential to building up attendance and fan support for MLS. So far, every club that has built its own stadium has not only seen its game attendance rise, but also has helped MLS achieve profitability. Thanks to their new stadium, the Los Angeles Galaxy became the first club to make a profit, followed in 2006 by FC Dallas.

At the outset, MLS signed deals for coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, while Univision, Galavision, and Telemundo broadcasted matches in Spanish. The original Univision deal lapsed after a few years, leaving only the ABC/ESPN family of networks as the league's national broadcasters. Fox Sports World (later rebranded as Fox Soccer Channel in 2005), Fox Sports en Español and HDNet began airing matches in 2003. The 2007 MLS season was the first season, however, for which television rights were sold to networks at a profit. Previously, MLS paid networks to broadcast its games. It is estimated MLS will receive about $30 million from TV revenue alone within the next eight years.

With the addition of Toronto FC, coverage of MLS expanded into Canada in 2007. The CBC, The Score and Rogers Sportsnet all broadcast Toronto matches nationwide.

The league's MLS Direct Kick package, which broadcasts out-of-market matches, has been expanded to ensure that every league match is broadcast. Univision and its family of networks resumed MLS broadcasts in 2007 as well, with most matches airing on TeleFutura and Galavision on Sunday afternoons and evenings.

The 2007 season was the first in the league's history in which every regular season match was telecast live, and many games were shown on national television. MLS Primetime Thursday on ESPN networks featured a live match for the first time on Thursdays each week, and Fox Soccer Channel's MLS Saturday expanded to a 3-hour format, with both a pregame and postgame show wrapped around the featured match each week. Additionally, Fox Soccer Channel produces their own news on MLS and special original programs on players, such as Beckham Unwrapped, a biographical update for summer 2007 on the Galaxy's David Beckham.

Major League Soccer also offers streaming live video of some matches via its website.

Sports Business Journal reported on December 23, 2008 that MLS and Soccer United Marketing had signed an international television broadcast contract with sports media company MP & Silva through 2013. The figure is reportedly an "eight-figure deal" that covers the "rights to all MLS games, tournaments and events, including MLS regular season, MLS Cup Playoffs, MLS Cup, and the international competitions SuperLiga, InterLiga, and Pan-Pacific Championship." InterLiga is the only non-MLS competition included in the deal. MP & Silva CEO Carlo Pozzali acknowledged that high profile, international players who were lured to MLS by the designated player rule have raised the international awareness and potential for popularity of MLS in international markets.

In 2009 Seattle Sounders FC will become the first MLS team to broadcast all their games locally on over the air television and radio.

Major League Soccer has lost more than $350 million since its founding, according to a report by BusinessWeek in 2004. However, there are positive signs for profitability in the near future. As soccer-specific stadiums are built, ownership expands and television coverage increases, MLS has managed to see their revenues increase while costs are kept to a minimum. The 2003 season saw the Los Angeles Galaxy make a profit in their first season at The Home Depot Center, while FC Dallas turned a profit in similar fashion after moving into Pizza Hut Park in 2005.

Television coverage has consistently expanded throughout the league's history, as MLS brokered a deal with ESPN in 2006 for rights fees and a greater presence across its networks. The 2007 season saw the return of MLS to Univision and its Spanish-language networks. They joined Fox Soccer Channel and HDNet as the U.S. national outlets, and the league has mandated that every league game receive television coverage either nationally or locally in one or both teams' cities for broadcast on its Direct Kick package.

In 2007, MLS teams started selling ad space on the front of jerseys to go along with the league-wide sponsorship partners who had already been advertising on the back of club jerseys, following the practice of international sport, specifically soccer. The league has established a floor of $500,000 per shirt sponsorship, with the league receiving a flat fee of $200,000 per deal. Online gambling and hard liquor sponsorships are prohibited. As of January 2009, eleven of the league's fifteen teams have signed sponsorship deals to have company logos placed on the front of their team jerseys.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber said on May 11, 2006 that he expects the league's clubs to be profitable by 2010 overall. He reported that FC Dallas and the L.A. Galaxy are already profitable, with several other clubs nearing profitability. A year later, he revealed that the Chicago Fire, the Colorado Rapids, and Toronto FC were on track for profitability by 2008.. However in 2008 there were only three profitable MLS franchises; LA Galaxy, Toronto FC and FC Dallas .

MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which teams are centrally controlled by the league. In order to keep costs under control, revenues are shared throughout the league, player contracts are negotiated by the league, and ultimately players are contracted not with individual teams but with the league itself. The league fought a bitter legal battle with its players over its economic system, but this was eventually resolved with the players gaining some improved benefits in return for accepting the single entity structure. A court had also ruled that even absent their collective bargaining agreement, players could opt to play in other leagues if they were unsatisfied.

Commissioner Garber has stated that having multiple clubs owned by a single owner was a necessity in the first 10 years of MLS, but now that the league appears to be on the brink of overall profitability and has significant expansion plans, he wants each club to have a distinct owner. In order to help bring this about, the league is now giving more incentive to be an individual club owner, with all owners now having the rights to a certain number of players they develop through their club's academy system each year, sharing the profits of Soccer United Marketing, and being able to sell individual club jersey sponsorships.

At one time AEG owned six teams in MLS, and have since sold the Colorado Rapids, the MetroStars, D.C. United and the Chicago Fire to new owners. AEG's remaining teams are the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo. The other major owner-investor in MLS has been Hunt Sports, which owns the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas, having sold the Kansas City Wizards in to a local ownership group in 2006. The league now has 14 owners for their 16 clubs (including the 2010 Philadelphia club).

MLS experimented with deviations from IFAB rules and standards in its early years, some of which had been used in the NASL and continue to be used in college soccer and many high school associations.

Among them was the use of a countdown clock, rather than a standard progressive clock, with time paused for dead ball situations at a referee's discretion. Halves ended when the clock reached 0:00, rather than at the whistle of the referee as was customary elsewhere.

Also implemented was the use of shootouts to resolve tie games. These best-of-five contests placed a player 35 yards from goal with five seconds to put the ball past the opposing goalkeeper; if needed the shootout progressed into extra frames. A winning team received one standings point (as opposed to three for the regulation win).

While IFAB rules allow teams to substitute three players during games, MLS allowed a fourth, goalkeeper-only substitute. MLS discarded the rule after 2003 and adopted the IFAB standard, prompted in part by a match in which then MetroStars coach and current U.S. national team manager Bob Bradley used a loophole to insert an outfield player as a fourth substitute.

MLS eventually conceded that the rules changes, particularly the shootout, had alienated some traditional soccer fans while failing to draw new American sports fans as hoped. The shootout and countdown clock were eliminated after the 1999 season.

MLS continued to experiment with the settling of tie games in regular season play. In 2000, a 10-minute golden goal period replaced the shootout for tied games. It was abandoned after 2003. The golden-goal overtime remained through 2004 for playoff matches, where it had been used since the league's inception.

In 2005 the league adopted a playoff extra time structure that followed new IFAB standards for such situations: two full 15-minute periods, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule is not used in any playoff round.

There are 15 MLS teams divided between the Eastern and Western Conferences. Each club is allowed 20 players on their senior roster plus 4 developmental players.

Before its maiden season and inaugural draft, MLS allocated four marquee players across the initial ten teams. These inaugural allocations consisted of key U.S. national team and international players such as Eric Wynalda and Hugo Sánchez.

The league added its first two expansion teams for the 1998 season: the Miami Fusion and the Chicago Fire. However, following the 2001 season, Miami and the Tampa Bay Mutiny were disbanded and MLS returned to ten teams. Since the 2004 season, the league has expanded with four new clubs: Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA in 2005, the Houston Dynamo in 2006, and Toronto FC in 2007. After relocating as an expansion team to Houston in 2006, the San Jose Earthquakes returned from hiatus in 2008. For the 2009 season, Seattle Sounders FC join MLS with an as yet unnamed team from Philadelphia starting play in 2010.

As of 2009, MLS has had seventeen different clubs over the years, but only seven have won MLS Cup.

MLS plans on expanding to 18 teams by 2011 — a Philadelphia club in 2010 followed by two undetermined teams joining the following season. The Philadelphia club will play in a 20,000-seat stadium to be built just west of the Commodore Barry Bridge in Chester, Pennsylvania. No name for the team has been announced.

While the cities for the 17th and 18th franchises have not been announced, those officially in the running for the next two franchises are Miami, Ottawa, Portland, St. Louis, and Vancouver. An announcement regarding the success of these applications will be made in early 2009.

Originally, in the style of other U.S. sports, teams were given nicknames at their creation such as the Columbus Crew, San Jose Clash, or Tampa Bay Mutiny. D.C. United and Miami Fusion F.C. were the two exceptions that adopted more traditional names. However, new teams such as Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC have adopted names similar to European clubs, and FC Dallas changed its name from the Dallas Burn. Some of club names have their origins in defunct American professional soccer leagues like the NASL, such as the original San Jose Earthquakes and the Seattle Sounders.

Chivas USA is the only MLS team whose name does not specify a specific city, state or region. The club is named after the Mexican side Guadalajara, who are often known by their nickname "Chivas," which translates to "Goats". The Mexican club (based in Guadalajara, Mexico) and Chivas USA share the same ownership. Though Real Salt Lake was not originally affiliated with Real Madrid, in 2006 the two clubs signed an agreement to play friendly matches every two years, and to co-sponsor a soccer academy and training facility in Utah. The beverage company Red Bull owns Red Bull New York, the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, and the lower-level Brazilian club Red Bull Brasil.

There are 10 awards given out by the Major League Soccer each year.

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2004 Major League Soccer season

This is a summary of the 2004 Major League Soccer season, which culminated with D.C. United winning its fourth MLS Cup championship.

The biggest news in the beginning of the season was the signing of 14-year-old prodigy Freddy Adu, who made his debut as a substitute in United's season opener and scored his first goal several games later against the rival MetroStars. Adu contributed as a substitute on DC's championship team, scoring five goals as the youngest player in North American sports history.

The season saw the emergence of forwards Brian Ching (San Jose) and Eddie Johnson (Dallas) as formidable forwards, not only for their MLS teams, but for the United States national team as well. The two shared Golden Boot honors.

The Columbus Crew emerged as a dominant team in the second half of the regular season, running off an MLS-record 18-game unbeaten streak en route to the Supporters' Shield title, won after finishing level on points with Kansas City.

In the playoffs, however, the Crew were taken down by the New England Revolution, who ended the Crew's streak in the opening leg, and goalkeeper Matt Reis, who saved two penalty kicks in the second leg. United cruised past the rival MetroStars (and league MVP Amado Guevara) 4-0 on aggregate in the other Eastern Conference semifinal.

In the Western Conference, Kansas City rallied from a 2-0 first-leg deficit for a dramatic 3-0 win in stoppage time over the defending MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes in their conference semifinal. The Los Angeles Galaxy used a 2-0 home victory in the second leg to overcome the Colorado Rapids and goalie Joe Cannon, who had led the Rapids to a 1-0 victory in the opener.

In the conference finals, Kansas City used two goals from unsung forward Davy Arnaud, who enjoyed a breakout season, to beat the Galaxy and return to the final for the first time since 2000. DC United and New England hooked up in the Eastern Conference final in one of the best games in MLS playoff history. Playing at home, D.C. United took three different leads, only to see New England recover each time to tie the match 3-3 in a game full of highlight-reel goals. The match was finally decided by the first conventional shootout in MLS history, with Nick Rimando saving the first 'sudden death' penalty from Rookie of the Year Clint Dempsey to send DC to the championship.

In the second consecutive final held at the Home Depot Center, DC rebounded from an early Jose Burciaga goal by scoring three goals in eight minutes, including two from Alecko Eskandarian to take a 3-1 lead. In the second half, Dema Kovalenko became the first player to be sent off in an MLS Cup final after knocking a shot off the goal line with his hand. Although Josh Wolff converted the penalty kick, DC United held on with only 10 men to win its fourth championship in the nine-year history of MLS.

New England advance 2-1 on aggregate.

DC United advance 4-0 on aggregate.

Kansas City advance 3-2 on aggregate.

Los Angeles advance 2-1 on aggregate.

DC United advance 4-3 on penalties (3-3 after extra time).

D.C. United wins the MLS Cup while both Kansas City and D.C. United earn MLS berths to CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2005.

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2005 Major League Soccer season

The 2005 Major League Soccer season was the tenth season of MLS, which began on April 2, 2005, and concluded on November 13, 2005 with a second MLS Cup victory for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

The New England Revolution and FC Dallas began the year as the league's dominant teams, especially when Dallas acquired Carlos Ruiz in a trade after Landon Donovan returned from a disappointing stint with Bayer Leverkusen and wanted to play with his hometown Los Angeles Galaxy. Injuries and inconsistent play slowed FC Dallas down as the season wore on, and the 2001 and 2003 MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes eventually won the regular-season Supporters' Shield with the third-best record in the league's 10-year history. FC Dallas opened its new stadium, Pizza Hut Park, in August, although it did not operate at full capacity until November. As he did at the Home Depot Center, Ruiz scored the first two goals in the new stadium in a 2-2 tie against the MetroStars.

Expansion franchises Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA struggled in their first season, making playoff qualification a routine matter for the other four Western Conference teams. Chivas USA proved a disappointment in terms of consistent attendance, but its derbies against Los Angeles added excitement and intensity to the calendar, even though the Galaxy won all five (four regular season and one U.S. Open Cup) meetings. Real Salt Lake finished second in the league in attendance.

The MetroStars fired head coach Bob Bradley late in the season and qualified for the playoffs with a 2-0 win over Chivas USA on the final day of the season. Their campaign was boosted by former French international Youri Djorkaeff, who proved one of the league's most successful international signings and took over as MetroStars captain.

In the playoffs, Western Conference No. 4 seed Los Angeles knocked off rival San Jose behind inspired play from former Earthquake Donovan. Colorado edged Dallas on penalty kicks after a classic overtime that saw each team score in overtime and Ruiz hit the post with a penalty kick. In the Eastern Conference, New England rallied from a 2-0 aggregate deficit with three goals in the game's final 25 minutes to beat the MetroStars in snowy Gillette Stadium. Defending champion D.C. United crashed out after a 4-0 home loss to the Chicago Fire.

In the conference finals, Donovan scored twice to lead the Galaxy past Colorado, and an early Clint Dempsey goal carried New England into the final. Fire players thought they had tied the game in stoppage time, but a linesman's controversial offside call (proven correct by video replay) denied them the equalizer.

For the second time in four years, Los Angeles beat New England 1-0 in overtime to win MLS Cup. Maligned Guatemalan forward Pando Ramirez, whose only goal on the season came on a penalty kick that hit the post and went in off Joe Cannon's back, scored the game's only goal before a sellout crowd at Pizza Hut Park.

New England advance 3-2 on aggregate.

Chicago advance 4-0 on aggregate.

Los Angeles advance 4-2 on aggregate.

Colorado advance 5-4 on penalties (2-2 aggregate after extra time).

Conference champions New England and Los Angeles earn MLS berths to CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2006.

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Furman University

Furman University is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Furman is the oldest, largest and most selective private institution in South Carolina and is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. Founded in 1826, Furman enrolls approximately 2,550 undergraduate and 525 graduate students on its 750 acre (3 km²) campus. Its current president is David Shi, who graduated from Furman in 1973.

Furman is best known for its chemistry, history, music, religion, political science, and psychology departments. The psychology, computer science, and chemistry departments have earned high marks among professional organizations spanning the sciences (social, applied, and basic), notable for a liberal arts institution of Furman's size.

Furman University students have an unusually high acceptance rate into graduate schools. Approximately two-thirds of Furman students will earn graduate degrees. More of Furman University’s graduates have gone on to earn Ph.D. degrees in recent years than any other private liberal arts college in the South, according to a survey conducted by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center.

Furman University emphasizes "engaged" learning in which professors encourage undergraduate students to author articles, participate in internships, and volunteer in their respective fields of study. The Furman Advantage program funds research projects between professors and students. Furman receives funds annually from The Duke Endowment for general operating support and for special projects and programs. The center of engaged learning is the Max and Trude Heller Service Corps, formerly CESC, one of the nation's largest collegiate service-learning organization.

Furman was ranked no. 15 in the Washington Monthly's Top US Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings based on its production of research valuable to society and its commitment to national service. Furman has been ranked no.4 in U.S. News Best Undergraduate Research Programs along with MIT, Stanford and Michigan. The university's engaged learning academic program, which promotes problem-solving, project-oriented, experience-based education, has received high praise from The Princeton Review, Peterson's Competitive Colleges , The Fiske Guide to Colleges and The College Board College Handbook . In terms of input, meaning the quality of the students the institution attracts, Furman was ranked no. 30 in the SSRN's U.S Colleges and Universities Preference Rankings (based on the choice to enroll of high-achieving students in US) The Chronicle of Higher Education also ranked Furman no. 32 in the nation for the percentage of National Merit Scholars in its 2005-2006 freshman class.

According to a report from the American Institute of Physics, Furman is one of 35 schools whose physics departments offer a bachelor’s as their highest degree to average 10 or more undergraduate degrees for the classes of 2003, 2004 and 2005.

The Princeton Review's survey of 120,000 college students for the "Best 368 Colleges: 2009 Edition" ranked Furman University as number 9 in their top 10 most socially conservative schools.

A 40-acre (0.1-km²) lake is at the center of the 750 acre (3-km²), wooded campus. Many academic buildings and student residences stand around the lake, including the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower figures highly in school insignias and is a replica (within 1/16th of an inch) of the tower that once existed on the men's campus in downtown Greenville. Today, the campus is anchored by its newly expanded 128,000 square foot (12,000 m²) James B. Duke Library. Informally known as "The Country Club of the South," Furman was named one of the 362 most beautiful places in America by the American Society of Landscape Architects. The fall 1997 issue of Planning for Higher Education names Furman as a benchmark campus for its landscaping as well. To add to the campus's extensive merit for aesthetic beauty, the 1996 Fisk Guide to Colleges referred to Furman's campus as a "shining jewel." Also, the 1997 Princeton Review ranked Furman fifth in its list of beautiful campuses, this based on student ratings of campus beauty. Students are required to live on campus all four years. However, during a student's senior year, s/he may be eligible to live off campus through a lottery. There are two residence complexes (called Lakeside and South Housing), as well as four housing cabins which make up Bell Tower Housing. Most juniors and all seniors live in North Village Apartments, located near the Bell Tower.

Furman University Student Government (known as AFS or Association of Furman Students) works under a semi-Presidential system. AFS is made up of the executive council, and president, secretary, and two senators for each class. The class officers are assigned within one of six committees to specialize in a particular area of student needs.

Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics as the Paladins. The university is a member of the Southern Conference. In 1988 Furman won the NCAA I-AA National Football Championship. Furman also appeared in the 1985 and 2001 NCAA I-AA National Football Championship game, but lost (to Georgia Southern and Montana, respectively). Furman, Colgate, Lehigh and Richmond remain the only private universities that have appeared in the I-AA Football Championship game, and Furman was the first private school to win it, with Richmond becoming the second 20 years later. Over the past few years, Furman's football team has been consistently ranked in the top 3 spots in the NCAA I-AA polls, and recently climbed to no. 1 in the nation in the latest Sports Network polls . The Paladins have also claimed 12 Southern Conference football titles, more than any school in league history.

The men's soccer team has been ranked as high as no. 3 in the nation and has produced a share of professional players. Former star Clint Dempsey was the only American player to score a goal at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Few collegiate woman golf programs have produced more outstanding professionals than Furman, which boasts 11 former Lady Paladins on the LPGA tour, including two Hall of Fame inductees (Betsy King and Beth Daniel). Furman men's tennis coach Paul Scarpa is only the fourth college tennis head coach in history to reach 700 wins. He is currently the winningest active coach in the NCAA's and has coached 108 All-Southern Conference players.

Furman's Rugby Club team won the East Coast Collegiate Division III Championship three years in a row from 2003-2005. Started in 1998 by John Roberts, the club excels in a weak Division III rugby union. Despite finishing in first or second place in each of the last six national Division III competitions, Furman consistently refuses promotion, electing to remain in Division III, where the weak competition assures them a spot in the playoffs. This is particularly odd because Furman competes at the Division I level in NCAA sports. This decision has been met with criticism as in the past few years, Furman has vastly outplayed their Division III counterparts. Furman is the only liberal arts college to be ranked in Sports Illustrated Top 100 America's Best Sports Colleges and has 32 former student-athletes competing at the professional level- the most of any Southern Conference member school.

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