Kevin McKenna

Kevin James McKenna (born 21 January 1980) is a Canadian former professional soccer who played as a centre back and current assistant manager of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Occasionally, he also played as a central midfielder or striker.

For other people named Kevin McKenna, see Kevin McKenna (disambiguation).

Kevin McKenna
McKenna with Köln in 2010
Personal information
Full name Kevin James McKenna
Date of birth (1980-01-21) 21 January 1980
Place of birth Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)[1]
Position(s) Centre back
Club information
Current team
 1. FC Kaiserslautern (assistant)
Youth career
1990–1995 Calgary Foothills
1995–1998 Calgary Dinos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2001 Energie Cottbus 5 (0)
2001 → Heart of Midlothian (loan) 8 (0)
2001–2005 Heart of Midlothian 114 (21)
2005–2007 Energie Cottbus 63 (10)
2007–2014 1. FC Köln 141 (11)
Total 331 (42)
National team
2000 Canada U23 5 (0)
2000–2012 Canada 63 (11)
Teams managed
2014–2017 1. FC Köln (U19 assistant)
2017–2018 1. FC Köln (assistant)
2018–2019 1. FC Köln II (assistant)
2019 1. FC Köln II (caretaker)
2019 1. FC Kaiserslautern (assistant)
2019– 1. FC Kaiserslautern (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

McKenna began to play with soccer 1990 in the Academy team of Calgary Foothills and was promoted to the senior team in 1991. He was selected for the Alberta Provincial Under 15 team in 1995 and won the Canadian National Championships with them that year. Owen Hargreaves was also part of that Alberta team.

Energie Cottbus

After playing with Calgary Foothills as an amateur, McKenna played three seasons (the first two in the reserves) with German Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus. On the first game of the 2000–01 season, McKenna and international teammate Paul Stalteri simultaneously became the first Canadian to play in the German Bundesliga in a match between McKenna's newly promoted Cottbus and Stalteri's Werder Bremen.[2]

Hearts

In 2001, McKenna moved to Scottish Premier League team Hearts on loan, playing eight games for the Edinburgh club. After a £300,000 transfer that summer, McKenna was the club's second leading scorer in the 2001–02 season with nine goals in 35 games. As a mostly reserve striker in 2002–03, McKenna scored six in 41. He also scored five goals in 38 games in 2003–04. After falling out of favour at Hearts in 2005, McKenna returned to Energie Cottbus. He was elected as the club's new captain after the departure of former skipper Gregg Berhalter.

1. FC Köln

In the summer of 2007, McKenna signed a four-year contract with 1. FC Köln, dropping down a division to the German Second Division. McKenna made his debut for his new team on 10 August 2007, in a 2–0 away win against FC St. Pauli. Several weeks later, McKenna scored his first goal for the club on 5 October in a 4–1 home victory over Kickers Offenbach. He helped Köln to promotion into the top flight in his first season with the club.

McKenna scored his first goal in the 2010–11 season in a 4–2 away loss to powerhouse Werder Bremen on 28 August, the other goal scored by teammate Lukas Podolski. Weeks later during the month of September, McKenna had surgery done on his knee and was labeled out indefinitely, however he made a faster recovery then originally anticipated and returned to the first team in early December. He did not see any playing time until being subbed on in the 75th minute to Schalke 04 on 19 December, the game ended as a 3–0 loss.

McKenna made his 2011–12 debut as a starter on 13 August against Schalke in the team's second game of the season, it ended as a 5–1 away loss. Two weeks later Mckenna scored his first goal of the season and the winning goal to beat Hamburger SV in a thrilling 4–3 away victory.[3]

International career

McKenna made his debut for Canada in a May 2000 friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago. By November 2009, he has earned a total of 46 caps, scoring nine goals.[4] He has represented Canada in four FIFA World Cup qualification matches.[5] McKenna has been a regular for the Canadian national team since 2002, when he featured in the CONCACAF Gold Cup as a target man for Holger Osieck's side. McKenna scored three goals, including a brace over Haiti in the first round.

McKenna earned his 50th cap for team Canada in a friendly against Ecuador prior to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the game ended in a 2–2 home draw at BMO Field.[6] McKenna was named the captain for Canada during the Gold Cup with Paul Stalteri not in the tournament roster.[7]

Coaching career

After retiring, McKenna started his coaching career as assistant manager for 1. FC Köln's U19 squad.[8] He was then, alongside Markus Daun, assistant coach under head coach Stefan Ruthenbeck on an interim basis 1. FC Köln's Bundesliga team in December 2017,[9] before becoming assistant coach of André Pawlak on the second team of 1. FC Köln in the summer of 2018. After Pawlak was appointed manager for the Bundesliga team in late April 2019, McKenna took over on an interim basis as head coach for the second team in the Regionalliga West.[8] In July 2019, McKenna left the club because he saw no prospect of a position as head coach in the youth area for the foreseeable future.[10]

On 19 September 2019, McKenna was appointed assistant manager of 1. FC Kaiserslautern under the new head coach Boris Schommers.[11]

International goals
Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McKenna goal.[1]
List of international goals scored by Kevin McKenna
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
130 May 2000Winnipeg Soccer Complex, Winnipeg, Canada2 Honduras2–12–1Friendly
218 January 2002Orange Bowl, Miami, United States8 Haiti1–02–02002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
32–02–0
426 January 2002Orange Bowl, Miami, United States10 Martinique1–11–12002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
512 February 200311 June Stadium, Tripoli, Libya14 Libya1–04–2Friendly
61 June 2003Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, Germany16 Germany1–01–4Friendly
713 June 2004Richardson Stadium, Kingston, Canada23 Belize3–04–02006 World Cup qualification
826 March 2005Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, Barcelos, Portugal27 Portugal1–31–4Friendly
925 July 2005Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, Canada28 Honduras1–21–2Friendly
107 September 2010Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Canada48 Honduras2–12–1Friendly
1129 February 2012Tsirio Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus56 Armenia1–01–3Friendly

Honours

International

Individual

References
  1. "Kevin McKenna". canadasoccer.com. Canadian Soccer Association. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  2. "Paul Stalteri profile". paulstalteri.com. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  3. "Cologne clinch seven goal thriller". FIFA.com. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  4. Mamrud, Roberto (29 February 2012). "Canada - Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  5. Kevin McKenna – FIFA competition record
  6. "Canada draws Ecuador". Sportsnet.ca. Rogers Sportsnet. 1 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  7. Bottjer, Steve (12 June 2011). "XI out of 10: CAN v Guadeloupe". RedNationonline.ca. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  8. MCKENNA UND HÖRNIG ÜBERNEHMEN U21, fc.de, 28 April 2019
  9. Ruthenbeck übernimmt vorerst mit seinem Team wird neben den Co-Trainern Kevin McKenna und Markus Daun, bundesliga.com, 3 December 2017
  10. MCKENNA VERLÄSST DEN FC, fc.de, 21 July 2019
  11. BORIS SCHOMMERS IST DER NEUE FCK-TRAINER, fck.de, 19 September 2019
  12. "Kevin McKenna, Randee Hermus headed to Canada Soccer Hall of Fame". CBC. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
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