Dooley was born in Bechhofen, West Germany to a German mother and a father who served in the U.S. Army.[2]
Club career
Dooley played as a forward with amateur team FK Pirmasens. He started his professional career in 1984 with third division club FC Homburg. He moved to midfield with Homburg and helped the team move steadily up the German leagues, until they finally reached the Bundesliga.[3]
At the end of the season, he moved to Major League Soccer (MLS), signing with the Columbus Crew. Dooley spent three seasons in Columbus and was named to the MLS Best XI in both 1997 and 1998. In 2000, Thomas was traded to the MetroStars for Mike Duhaney, partially to help support Lothar Matthäus' adjustment to the United States. Dooley played one year for the Metros before retiring from playing soccer.
International career
As U.S. Soccer started to look abroad for players eligible to play for its national team in advance of its hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Dooley was discovered. He made his first international appearance on May 30, 1993, against Ireland. Dooley became a regular for the U.S. almost immediately, being named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1993 and then playing every minute at the 1994 World Cup, including the match against Colombia which the U.S. won 2–1. After John Harkes was dismissed from the U.S. national team, Dooley was named captain for the 1998 World Cup, and started every game for the U.S.[5]
On February 21, 1999, Dooley was given a send-off match by the United States in a friendly against Chile.[6] He ended his international career with 81 caps and seven goals.[2]
International goals
Scores and results list United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dooley goal.
List of international goals scored by Thomas Dooley
After retiring, Dooley went back to Germany and became the head coach of FC Saarbrücken in 2002, becoming the first American to coach a team in Europe.
In February 2014, Dooley signed a one-year deal with the Philippine Football Federation to handle the Philippines national team.[7] His first match was a friendly against Malaysia which ended 0–0,[8] and a few days later, narrowly lost to European side Azerbaijan 1–0.[9] Dooley earned his first win for the Philippines after his charges defeated Nepal 3–0 in another friendly match in Qatar.[10]
Dooley earned national team coach Dan Palami's praise after his first few matches in charge. Palami commended Dooley's ability to foster a better understanding of the game to his squad and give subs and reserves chances to step up in the absence of star players. "Our players have a better understanding of the role they have to play in their respective positions under Dooley's system that anyone can step up even if we don't have our stars playing," Palami said.[11]
The Philippine national team came close to qualifying to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. They failed to qualify after they lost 0–1 to Palestine in the final of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup.[12] Two months after the tournament, Stephan Schröck and Dennis Cagara resigned from the national team over tensions with Dooley.[13] Schröck had disagreement with the setup of the national team under Dooley but has made amends with the coach in 2015 and briefly played once again for the Philippines though undisclosed issues surfaced in 2016.[14]
In his first match coaching the Philippines in a World Cup qualifier, Dooley's team defeated Bahrain 2–1.[15] After an impressive run in qualifying that included a 3–2 win over North Korea that was considered an upset, Dooley's contract was extended for two years.[16]
Dooley failed to get the Philippines past the group stage at the 2016 AFF Championship, which the Philippines co-hosted with Myanmar. He managed to secure qualification for the Philippines for their first Asian Cup stint in the 2019 by winning 2–1 over Tajikistan in March 2018.[17] The coach's contract with the Philippines ended on March 31, 2018[18] after the historic match.[19][13] Dooley's contract was not renewed and the PFF announced Terry Butcher as his successor in June 2018.[20]
In January 2021, Dooley was appointed as head coach of Malaysia Super League club Sri Pahang, replacing Dollah Salleh.[23] Three months after his appointment, Dooley was sacked by Sri Pahang together with his assistant coach, Christophe Gamel and was replaced by former head coach Dollah Salleh. After being sacked, he was immediately appointed as adviser of Sri Pahang U21 team while Gamel was appointed as head coach.[24][25]
Return to Philippines
In May 2022, Dooley was reappointed as head coach of the Philippines national team ahead of the third round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, replacing Scott Cooper.[26][27][28] He signed a short-term deal with an option to extend depending on the qualification of the Philippines to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.[29]
