Zak Ibsen (also known as Zack^[1]) (born June 2, 1972 in Santa Clara, California) is an American soccer player who last played for San Jose Earthquakes. He earned fifteen caps with the US national team and was a member of the U.S. soccer team at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Recently he has been known for playing for the USA's beach soccer team, scoring twice at the 2007 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

[edit] Youth and college

According to his club biography, Ibsen won a McGuire Cup national title as a youth player with NHB Untouchables. Zak played college soccer at UCLA where he won a National Championship in 1990.^[2] Ibsen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2000.

[edit] Early career

Like many Americans at the time, before the advent of MLS, Zak played professional soccer in Germany for VfL Bochum and Saarbrucken during the 1993-1994 season. However, he never gained a spot on their first teams. He returned to the U.S. in 1994 and signed with the Los Angeles Salsa of the American Professional Soccer League. On October 17, 1995, Ibsen signed with Major League Soccer. As he waited for the first MLS season in 1996, Ibsen signed with the Baltimore Spirit of the National Professional Soccer League for the 1995-1996 season. He played nine games before being traded to the Tampa Bay Terror on January 17, 1996 in exchange for John Garvey.^[1]

[edit] MLS

Zak was the 26th pick in the 1996 MLS Supplemental Draft by the New England Revolution. He played six games, then was traded to the Dallas Burn for John Kerr, Jr. on June 26, 1996. Ibsen played out the year with Dallas before announcing his retirement on February 1, 1997. He spent 1997 on the beach soccer world tour.

He was traded to the Chicago Fire in 1998. Then he would win his first MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup, as the Chicago Fire won both trophies in its inaugural season. He played in 27 regular-season games for the Fire, starting five.

On February 18, 1999, the Fire traded Ibsen to the Los Angeles Galaxy for a second-round choice in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. Zak Ibsen started every game for the Galaxy during the 2000-2001 CONCACAF Champions League, where the LA Galaxy won the title, beating Olympia (Honduras) in the final. The Galaxy traded Ibsen to the San Jose Earthquakes on February 4, 2001. With the Quakes, he would win his second MLS Cup. At the end of the 2002 season, Ibsen was placed on waivers.

[edit] National teams

Ibsen entered the national team program with the United States U-20 men's national soccer team in 1990. That year, the team finished third in regional qualification for the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship. As a result, it did not qualify for the championship. In 1991, Ibsen joined the U-23 national team which qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The U.S. finished 1-1-1 in the first round of the tournament and did not qualify for the second round.

Ibsen earned twelve caps with the US national team. He gained his first cap versus Costa Rica in Costa Rica in 1992. Zak Ibsen earned nine caps with the United States men's national team prior to being selected to the United States Olympic team (Barcelona 1992). Ibsen was recalled to the United States men's national team in 1994-95, playing against Uruguay and starting away versus Belgium.^[3] His final appearance for U.S. men's national team was away versus Peru in October 1996.

In 1995 Ibsen was with the United States national beach soccer team which won the Silver Medal at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Zak Ibsen continues to play for the U.S. Beach Soccer Team, most recently captain of the U.S. during 2009 CONCACAF qualifier in Puerto Vallarta, MX.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• New England Revolution profile

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