Alexandru Florin Zotincă (born 22 January 1977 in

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

) is a Romanian-American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender and current youth coach. His older brother, Dorin was also a footballer.

Career

Zotinca began his career with

FC Inter Sibiu Fotbal Club Inter Stars 2020 Sibiu , commonly known as FC Inter Sibiu or Inter Sibiu (), is a Romanian amateur football team based in the city of Sibiu, Sibiu County, which competes in the Liga IV, the fourth tier of the Romanian league system. ...

, 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 A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. 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 The Misls (derived from an Arabic word wikt:مثل#Etymology_3, مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian ...

, 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. After the

2010 MLS season The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seattle's Qwest Field with ...

Chivas USA declined Zotincă's contract option and Zotincă elected to participate in the

2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 8, 2010 and December 15, 2010. The Stage 1 Draft of the Re-Entry Process took place on Wednesday, December 8, at 2 p.m. ET via teleconference. The Stage 2 Draft took place on Wednesday, D ...

. 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 Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

Youth team coaching staff. Since 14 December 2011 worked as Head coach by United Futebol Club in

San Juan Capistrano San Juan Capistrano (Spanish for "St. John of Capistrano") is a city in Orange County, California, located along the Orange Coast. The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census. San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when St. ...

Honours

Club

; Steaua Bucharest *

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

: 1998–99 ; Gaz Metan Mediaș *

Liga II The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

: 1999–00 ; Sporting Kansas City *

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* MLS (Western Conference Championship):

;Individual * MISL All-Rookie team: 2001 * MISL Al-Star: 2003

References

External links

* *
Alex Zotincă
at JustSportsStats.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zotinca, Alexandru 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Sibiu Romanian footballers Liga I players Liga II players FC Inter Sibiu players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players FC Steaua București players Romanian emigrants to the United States Romanian expatriate footballers Sporting Kansas City players Chivas USA players Major League Soccer players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) players Kansas City Comets (2001–2005 MISL) players Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Men's association football defenders