Alex Zotincă

Alexandru Florin Zotincă (born 22 January 1977 in Sibiu) is a Romanian-American former football defender and current youth coach. His older brother, Dorin was also a footballer.[2][3]

Alex Zotincă
Personal information
Full name Alexandru Florin Zotincă[1]
Date of birth (1977-01-22) 22 January 1977
Place of birth Sibiu, Romania
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1998 Inter Sibiu 51 (4)
1998–1999 Steaua București 8 (0)
1999–2000 Gaz Metan Mediaș 12 (1)
2000–2003 Kansas City Comets (indoor) 118 (65)
2003–2006 Kansas City Wizards 85 (3)
2007–2008 Chivas USA 26 (0)
2010 Chivas USA 1 (0)
Total 301 (73)
Teams managed
2010–2011 Chivas Jr. (U-14 Head coach)
2011– United FC
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Zotinca began his career with FC Inter Sibiu, where he played from 1995 to 1998. In 1998, he moved to Steaua București, where he would play from 1998 to 2000, and with whom he would appear in the UEFA Cup.

In 2000, Zotinca won a United States Green Card in an immigration lottery, and left Romania for America. He played for four years for the Kansas City Comets of the MISL, being named to the All-Rookie team in 2000–01, and the All-Star team in 2002–03. Near the beginning of the 2003 MLS season, Zotinca was signed by the Wizards. He did well in his first year, starting 14 games and playing 1239 minutes in a variety of positions for the Wizards. In 2004, Zotinca firmly established himself at the right back position, and played most of the team's minutes there, appearing in 25 games and playing 1779 minutes. He played a similarly important role during the next two seasons, but failed to sign a new contract with the team for the 2007 season and was traded to Chivas USA. Zotinca started 20 games for the club during 2007, but played a diminished role in the next season, starting only 4 games, and was waived by Chivas USA on 28 November 2008.

After a two-year layoff from professional football, Zotincă was re-signed by Chivas USA on 4 June 2010 to strengthen their defensive unit.[4]

After the 2010 MLS season Chivas USA declined Zotincă's contract option and Zotincă elected to participate in the 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft. Zotincă became a free agent in Major League Soccer when he was not selected in the Re-Entry draft.

Coaching career

After the end of his career was part of the Chivas USA Youth team coaching staff.[5] Since 14 December 2011 worked as Head coach by United Futebol Club in San Juan Capistrano.[6]

Honours

Club
Steaua Bucharest
Gaz Metan Mediaș
Sporting Kansas City
Individual

References
  1. Alex Zotincă at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian) and StatisticsFootball.com
  2. "Alex Zotinca e dorit in nationala americana" [Alex Zotinca is wanted in the American national team] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 25 September 2004. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  3. "Zotinca joaca marea finala in America" [Zotinca plays the great final in America] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 13 November 2004. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  4. "Chivas USA sign Romanian defender Zotinca". Archived from the original on 13 June 2010.
  5. "Academy Staff Bios". Chivas USA. Archived from the original on 17 May 2012.
  6. "Boys Program – United Futbol Club". Archived from the original on 11 May 2012.
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