Andy Iro (born 26 November 1984) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played primarily as a defender. Iro played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

for the

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team is an NCAA Division I college soccer team composed of student-athletes attending the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Gauchos play their home matches at Harder Stadium. Like most of the ...

team, where he was named the Most Outstanding Player (Defensive) for the

2006 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship The 2006 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was a tournament of 48 teams from NCAA Division I who played for the NCAA Championship in soccer. The College Cup Final Four was held at Hermann Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. All the other games w ...

en route to winning the national championship. He was drafted by

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

with the sixth overall pick in the

2008 MLS SuperDraft The 2008 MLS SuperDraft took place on January 18, 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the ninth annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection was made by the Kansas City Wizards, after acquiring the selection from the expansion San ...

. He spent four seasons in MLS, joining

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

for part of his last season, before playing in England from 2012 to 2013 with

Stevenage F.C. Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the Engli ...

and

Barnet F.C. Barnet Football Club is a professional football club based in Edgware, North London. The team compete in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in Chipping Barnet, then part of Hertfor ...

Early life and education

Iro was born on 26 November 1984 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England. His parents, Paul and Rose, both immigrated from Nigeria, eventually settling in the

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill. The area w ...

area of Liverpool. He played youth football for Kingsley United. He attended St. Edwards, where he competed on the school's soccer, rugby, and track teams. He trialed with Everton, but ultimately proved unsuccessful. At the age of 17, Iro founded and operated a local grocery with a $1,000 initial loan from his mother, Rose. He ran the store until he was 19 years old, doing brisk business, until an attempted robbery resulted in Iro getting shot in the thigh. Iro had a relative run the business while he bounced between jobs and unemployment, eventually connecting with the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

for an athletic scholarship. UCSB men's soccer team at the White House 2007-06-18

Iro was a student-athlete for the

team and started as a freshman as the team went to the championship match of the

2004 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship The 2004 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was a tournament of 48 teams from NCAA Division I. This year's College Cup Final Four was held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. All the other games were played at the home field of t ...

. Iro and UCSB were victorious in the

just two years later with Iro being named the College Cup's Most Outstanding Player (Defensive). For his career, Iro made 86 appearances, all starts, for the Gauchos and added 10 goals and 4 assists. He was a four-time All-

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

First Team selection and was named as back-to-back-to-back Big West Defensive Player of the Year.

Professional playing career

Columbus Crew

Despite being thought of as the possible top pick, Iro was drafted sixth overall in the

after coach

Sigi Schmid Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German-American Association football, soccer Manager (association football), coach who had the most wins in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS). Born in Tübingen, West ...

was convinced Iro would remain in the United States to play. Iro made his professional debut on 28 March 2008, coming on as an 89th-minute substitute in the Crew's first game of the

2008 Major League Soccer season The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in the history of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Changes from the 2007 s ...

against

. He would score his first MLS goal on 6 September 2008 against

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

, heading in a

Guillermo Barros Schelotto Guillermo Barros Schelotto (; born 4 May 1973) is an Argentine football manager and former forward who currently manages the Paraguay national team. Barros Schelotto played 16 years of his professional career in the Argentine Primera Divis ...

free kick. Iro and the Crew would win both the 2008

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

and

MLS Cup 2008 MLS Cup 2008 was the 13th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS). The soccer match took place on November 23, 2008, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, near Los Angeles. It was contested between ...

. In the

2009 Major League Soccer season The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with MLS Cup 2009 on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle. Expansion team Seattle Sounders FC debuted as the league's 15th ...

, Iro and the crew again dominated the competition, resulting in their second consecutive

. As a result of their accomplishments from the previous year, Iro also saw his first continental action in the

2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League The 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League was the second edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current format, and overall the 45th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of ...

. Iro began to take more of a leadership role in the Crew's

2010 Major League Soccer 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 Major League Soccer, MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seatt ...

and

2011 Major League Soccer season Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

, which saw the club compete in the

with Iro wearing the captain's armband on occasion. During his time with the club, Iro made 58 league appearances and scored five goals, but had grown disgruntled during the 2011 preseason and his contract was expiring at the conclusion of the season.

Toronto FC

With Iro's inexplicably falling out of favor in addition to his looming contract situation, Columbus Crew traded him along with teammate

Léandre Griffit Léandre Griffit (born 21 May 1984) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger and is currently a free agent. Career Europe Griffit was born in Maubeuge. He began his career in his native France with Amiens SC, before moving to ...

in July 2011 to

for

Tony Tchani Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

. He made his debut on 20 July 2011 against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

. He would appear for Toronto in 13 league games in addition to work in the

2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League The 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League is the 4th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current format, and overall the 47th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North ...

. At the end of the season, Iro and Toronto could not agree on a new contract and he left the club.

England

Following his departure from Toronto, Iro signed with

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

in September 2012. The move meant Iro would be playing under Gary Smith, a former Major League Soccer manager for

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

, who he had known during his time playing in the United States. In November 2012, having failed to make a first-team appearances for Stevenage, Iro joined

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on loan until January 2013. The loan at Barnet was extended until 9 February. Iro made 9 league appearances for Barnet, scoring once, before returning to Stevenage. Iro returned to Stevenage in February 2013, but did appear in any first team games for the club. He made no senior appearances for the club.

Personal life

Following his professional soccer career, Iro worked in operations for

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

. He also trained youth soccer players in the local area and ran Next Step Academy, which placed a focus on academics.

Honours

;UC Santa Barbara *

NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate College soccer, soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the NCAA Division I, ...

(1):

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

;Columbus Crew *

MLS Cup (1):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Supporter's Shield (2):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

;Individual *2006 First Team All-American (College Soccer News) *2006 College Cup Most Outstanding Defensive Player *2006

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

Defensive Player of the Year *2004

Defensive Player of the Year *2004 Freshman All-American (Soccer America) *2004 First Team All-American (College Soccer News) *2004 College Cup All-Tournament *2004

Freshman of the Year

Career statistics

''Sources:''

References

External links

*
UC Santa Barbara player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iro, Andy Living people 1984 births English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Columbus Crew players Toronto FC players Stevenage F.C. players Barnet F.C. players English expatriates in the United States English footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Men's association football defenders Columbus Crew draft picks UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer players Footballers from Liverpool Major League Soccer players English Football League players English expatriate sportspeople in Canada English expatriate footballers NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament Most Outstanding Player winners