Robert Italo Lenarduzzi, OBC (born May 1, 1955) is a former

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

player, Canadian international, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of the Canadian national and Olympic soccer teams. He is currently club liaison for

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Club career

Lenarduzzi began his professional playing career as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and defender at age 15 with

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in the English Football League and went on to play 67 first-team games and score two goals with the club. Lenarduzzi then also joined the NASL

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...

in 1974 in the team's first season. Until 1976, he divided his time between Vancouver in the summer and Reading in the winter. He played 11 seasons for Vancouver until the Whitecaps' last season in 1984, when the league folded. Lenarduzzi holds the record for most games played in the league, with 312. Lenarduzzi played all eleven positions during his tenure with the team, including 45 minutes as goalkeeper. He was also voted NASL North American player of the year in 1978. The Whitecaps won the NASL Soccer Bowl championship in 1979. In 1984, Lenarduzzi joined the Tacoma Stars of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). He spent two seasons with them before in 1986 becoming executive director of the

Vancouver 86ers Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

of the Canadian Soccer League. In 1987, he returned to the field as a player and a coach with the 86ers.

Indoor career

Lenarduzzi and two Vancouver teammates spent the 1979–80 NASL Indoor season on loan to the

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tourn ...

, as the Whitecaps themselves did not field an indoor team for that year. Vancouver did participate in three subsequent indoor seasons, and Lenarduzzi featured in all three for the Whitecaps.

National team playing career

Lenarduzzi earned 48 caps playing for Canada. He played all the country's matches both as the squad progressed to the quarterfinals of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

and as it participated in the first round of the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

finals.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Coaching career

Lenarduzzi resumed his pro career in 1987 as a player–coach with the newly formed

of the newly founded Canadian Soccer League. After retiring permanently from playing in September 1988, he continued to coach the 86ers for the next five seasons. He led the franchise to four consecutive CSL titles from 1988 to 1991. His team set a record for professional North American sports teams by going 46 games unbeaten between June 6, 1988, and August 8, 1989.

Canada national team

Lenarduzzi was the head coach for the Canadian men's national team briefly in 1989 and for a longer term that started in 1992. In his first of two bids to see Canada back through to a World Cup finals, his squad twice came close but failed to progress to the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

finals. First they lost at home to

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despite scoring the game's first goal in a game with which Canada could have gone through to the finals with a win. (See

1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF) Listed below are the dates and results for the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the North, Central American and Caribbean zone ( CONCACAF). A total of 24 CONCACAF teams entered the competition. The North, Central American and Caribb ...

.) As

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...

qualifying winners-up, Canada then lost the away leg to Australia in a match decided by penalty kicks that saw the winner of the home-and-away series go on to play

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in a home-and-away series for a finals spot (won by Argentina). In qualifying for the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

finals, Canada failed to finish in the top three of a six-nation CONCACAF final qualifying round league tournament and progress. (See

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF) The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, CONCACAF zone ran from March 1996 to November 1997 in order to determine the three CONCACAF representatives at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. For an overview of the qualification rounds, see 1998 FIFA World Cup ...

.) Lenarduzzi subsequently resigned his post in 1997.

Administrative career

Lenarduzzi served as 86ers general manager from 1988 to 1993. He resumed the post in 1998 and was named the A-League's executive of the year for 2000. In 2001, he also assumed the position of the Whitecaps Head of Soccer Operations. (The 86ers changed their name to Whitecaps in 2001.) During the 2008 MLS season, Lenarduzzi served as colour commentator during CBC Television's

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 BM ...

broadcasts before Jason DeVos arrived to fill the position on a more permanent basis. Lenarduzzi was the president of

from the time it entered Major League Soccer until August 15, 2019, when the role was eliminated in favour of the role of sporting director. He then became club liaison.

Honours

In 2001, Lenarduzzi was inducted as a player into the

Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Ha ...

. In 2005, he was awarded the

Order of British Columbia The Order of British Columbia (french: Ordre de la Colombie-Britannique) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier ...

. In 2003, he was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame. Lenarduzzi was voted one of the Top 30 Players of the Century in the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (

) region.

References

External links

* / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum (in the U.S.) with its 2003 induction page on Lenarduzzi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenarduzzi, Bob 1955 births Living people 1986 FIFA World Cup players Association football commentators Association football defenders Association football utility players Businesspeople from Vancouver Canada men's international soccer players Canada men's national soccer team managers Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian soccer chairmen and investors Canadian soccer coaches Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Canadian soccer players CONCACAF Championship-winning players English Football League players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate soccer players in the United States Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Los Angeles Aztecs players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Members of the Order of British Columbia North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players National Soccer Hall of Fame members North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Olympic soccer players of Canada Outfield association footballers who played in goal Reading F.C. players Soccer players from Vancouver Tacoma Stars players USL First Division coaches Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) coaches Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Vancouver Columbus players People of Friulian descent