He played indoor soccer in the United States for over a decade, being considered among the best indoor players of all time.[2] During his playing football career, he played for English clubs Everton and Portsmouth, and was an 'MLS original' upon the formation of MLS in 1996, playing for the Kansas City Wizards (now known as Sporting Kansas City) and Miami Fusion. He is the only two-time winner of the MLS MVP award, now known as the Landon Donovan MVP Award, and represented the United States at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He was elected to the American National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010.[3]
Born in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Preki played briefly for Red Star Belgrade in the old Yugoslav First League after coming from FK Čukarički where he played in their youth team.[5] In the summer of 1985, the Tacoma Stars head coach Bob McNab spotted Preki at an indoor tournament in Belgrade and sent him to the United States.[6] He played five seasons for the Stars. During those years, he was a three-time First Team All Star, the 1988 and 1989 All Star Game MVP, led the league in assists in 1988 and scoring in 1989, and was the 1989 MISL MVP. During the summer of 1989, Preki began to consider becoming a U.S. citizen and returning to the outdoor game in order to make himself eligible for the U.S. national team.[7] He played one season for Råslätts SK in Sweden in 1990.[8] The Stars released Preki in July 1990 as part of a salary reduction move.[9] In August, he signed with the St. Louis Storm.[10] He played two seasons in St. Louis before being bought by Everton manager Howard Kendall for a fee of £100,000 in the summer of 1992 following a trial. He made 53 appearances for the Blues, 28 of those as a substitute. In June 1994, Preki signed with the San Jose Grizzlies of the Continental Indoor Soccer League where he rejoined Bob McNab from his Tacoma days.[11] He played eight games, scoring sixteen goals, before returning to England in August 1994 to play for Portsmouth. On July 5, 1995, the Grizzlies purchased Preki's contract from Portsmouth.[12] He was the CISL's second-leading scorer and league MVP.[13]
Major League Soccer
Preki resumed outdoor play beginning with MLS's inaugural season in 1996 when he joined the Kansas City Wiz, renamed the Wizards after the 1996 season. The league allocated him to the Wiz on February 6, 1996.[14] He was named to the MLS All-Star for five straight years between 1996 and 2000, being the MVP of the 1999 match after scoring a first-half brace to lead his side to a 6–4 win.[2][15] In 1997, he won the scoring title with 41 points as well as the league MVP award.[2] On 9 September 1998, Preki scored a hat-trick and made two assists against San Jose Earthquakes, tying a league record with eight points in a single game.[2] In the opening match of the 2000 season, Preki scored his side's fourth goal in a 4–3 win over Chicago Fire, which proved to be crucial as both sides finished the 2000 regular season with a record-breaking 57 points, but the Wizards won the Supporters' Shield due to the goal difference.[16] On 15 October, the 37-year-old Preki started in the 2000 MLS Cup, again against Chicago Fire, which ended in a 1–0 victory, being one of only three players, along with Mo Johnston and Uche Okafor, to have been a member of the inaugural Wizards team.[17] The 2000 season still is the most successful in the club's history.[16] Between 1996 and 2000, Preki scored a total of 50 goals in 145 appearances for Kansas City.[1]
In 2001, Preki joined the Miami Fusion and scored eight goals and 14 assists in 24 games, thus playing a crucial role in the turnaround that saw the Fusion go from worst to first, winning his second Supporters Shield for the best regular season record in MLS.[2] After spending the 2001 campaign with the Miami Fusion, Preki was able to rejoin his former club in the 2002 MLS Dispersal Draft, but only after every other team in the league had passed on selecting him.[1] On 23 March 2002, he became MLS' all-time leading scorer with 223 points (65g, 93a), and finished that season as the team's leading scorer with 24 points (7g, 10a).[2] On 31 May 2003, Preki notched two late goal contributions against New England Revolution to salvage a 2–2 away draw, marking the first time that Kansas City had come away with a road result after trailing by two goals with 20 minutes remaining.[18] In 2003, the 40-year-old Preki played and started 30 games for the Wizards, logging nearly 2,700 minutes. His season total of 12 goals and 17 assists won him the MLS Most Valuable Player award, making him the oldest-ever winner of the award and also the only player to win MLS MVP more than once.[2][18]
On 21 February 2004, Preki suffered a fractured fibula and dislocated left ankle during a preseason exhibition match and missed four months of the season, returning only in a 1–2 loss to Columbus Crew on 18 August.[2] On 10 September, he underwent a arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle that ended his season, so he did not participate in Kansas' triumphant campaign in the 2004 U.S. Open Cup.[2] He retired following the 2005 season, scoring a goal in the last minute of his final game with Kansas City to salvage a 2–2 draw with FC Dallas on 15 October, and in doing so at the age of 42 years and 111 days, he became both the oldest player and the oldest scorer in MLS history, although the appearance record has since been broken by Pat Onstad in 2011.[19] He was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI after his retirement.[2][1]
Preki is the only player to have won the MLS MVP Award and the MLS Scoring Champion Award (now respectively known as the Landon Donovan MVP Award and the MLS Golden Boot) twice, winning in 1997 and 2003, and is also the current all-time league leader in points with 270 (79 goals and 112 assists, plus another 25 points on 10 goals and 5 assists in the playoffs).[20] Preki is still widely regarded as the greatest player in Kansas City's history, as he ranks first on career charts for both goals (79), and assists (112).[1]
International
Originally from Yugoslavia, Preki was living and working in the U.S. in 1985 but when he was offered a spot on the U.S. national team he applied for U.S. citizenship which was granted on October 25, 1996.[2] He made his debut for the United States on November 3, 1996, against Guatemala at the age of 33, making him one of the oldest players to make an international debut[citation needed]. Preki played a total of 28 games for the U.S., scoring four goals, one of them to beat Brazil at the 1998 Gold Cup.[2] He made his last appearance for the national team in a 2–0 loss away to Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying on September 5, 2001.[21]
Upon the appointment of Bob Bradley as the United States national team head coach, Preki was promoted as head coach of Chivas USA for the 2007 Major League Soccer season.[22]
Preki left Chivas "by mutual consent" on November 12, 2009, following Chivas' failure to progress to the latter stages of the MLS playoffs.[23] He became head coach of Toronto FC on November 19, 2009.[24] However, Preki didn't last the 2010 MLS season with Toronto, being fired along with General Manager Mo Johnston on September 14, 2010.[25] Under Preki, Toronto qualified for the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League after winning the 2010 Canadian Championship.
On July 15, 2013, after nearly three years out of coaching, Preki was named head coach of the USL Professional Division (now United Soccer League) expansion Sacramento Republic FC in advance of their inaugural 2014 season.[26] He won the USL Pro Championship game in September 2014 with the club.[27] On July 8, 2015, Preki announced his resignation from his post to take up a coaching role in the United Kingdom.
On October 12, 2016, USL club Saint Louis FC introduced Preki as its coach for the upcoming 2017 season. On November 20, 2017, Saint Louis FC relieved Preki of his coaching duties.[28]
