Colin Burns (born June 30, 1982, in Newark, Delaware) is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper who last played for Sandefjord Fotball.

Club career

Early career

Colin grew up in Newark, Delaware and played his youth soccer with the Kirkwood Soccer Club. Burns also played in the Delaware Olympic Development Program (ODP) from 1994 to 2001. While playing for Delaware ODP, he was selected to the Region one team from 2000 to 2001 traveling with them to tournaments in France, the Netherlands and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Burns played college soccer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He began his professional career with a training stint with

Motherwell FC Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Motherwell have not dropped out of the top-flight of Scottish football since 1985, and have lif ...

in July 2005. He then trained for five months with Scottish club,

Partick Thistle FC Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...

, from July to November 2005. He had trouble obtaining a work permit in Scotland so he left in November 2005 and returned to the U.S. Later on, he also had a training stint with French club Troyes AC.

Olimpia Bălţi

Burns returned to Europe in August 2006 to sign a one-year contract with

FC Olimpia Bălţi FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

in the Divizia Naţională, the top league in Moldova. He was named the first choice goalkeeper shortly after arriving in Balti. Colin made his professional debut against FC Dacia Chişinău in Stadionul Republican on September 9, 2006. Olimpia lost 1–0 in his debut but Burns was named man of the match for his efforts in the game. Burns played for eight matches for Olimpia before canceling his contract during the winter break due to the financial crisis of the club. Much of the football media regarded Burns as one of the top goalkeepers in the league during his short stay in Moldova.

Sepsi-78

From Moldova, Burns joined Sepsi-78 in the Kakkonen in

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...

, Finland. He would appear for Sepsi in 18 matches from April to August 2007. Burns picked up eight

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s and three Man of the Match honors while playing for Sepsi. He also helped Sepsi to a 1–0 win over local city rival

TP-Seinäjoki TP-Seinäjoki is a football club based in Seinäjoki, Finland. It was established in 1955 as Törnävän Pallo-55 (TP-55). The name was changed in 1994.Kokkolan Palloveikot (KPV) in the ykkonen in August 2007.

Kokkolan Palloveikot

Burns agreed to a short-term contract with Kokkolan Palloveikot that would keep him there till the end of the season. He played in eight matches for KPV picking up one clean sheet and named Man of the Match once, ultimately helping them avoid a late season relegation from the ykkonen. Burns gained his Man of the Match honors against

Tampereen Pallo-Veikot Tampereen Pallo-Veikot (TPV) is a Finnish football club, based in Tampere. The club plays in the Kakkonen, the third highest level of football in Finland. It is the second largest football club in the Pirkanmaa region in terms of active members, ...

(TPV), in only his fourth match with KPV, in a 1–0 win. After the match, TPV head coach, Mikko Purola, was quoted in a local Tampere newspaper as saying, "This game showed that Burns is the best goalkeeper in the league."

Ljungskile SK

Burns signed a two-year contract with

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

side

Ljungskile SK Ljungskile SK is a Swedish football club located in Ljungskile, a town within Uddevalla Municipality. They currently play in the Swedish third tier, Division 1. History Ljungskile SK, formed in 1926, is famous for their promotions between 19 ...

(LSK) in February 2008. His transfer was about to collapse because of a dispute with the Swedish Football Association over his registration. This is due to Burns having played for two clubs in the period from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008, under previous

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

guidelines, he was not eligible to play for a third club during that period. FIFA changed their rules in December 2007 so that the period from July 1 to June 30 was no longer relevant. Under new regulations, the period is defined as the first game of the season to the last game of the season making Burns eligible to play for LSK. The Swedish Football Association had not adopted the new FIFA regulations and so they initially blocked his transfer. Legal action and pressure from the Swedish media, encouraged the Swedish FA to change their rules to comply with FIFA. This rule change has come to be known as the 'Burns Rule' by Swedish media. Burns made his

debut on April 21, 2008, in a 2–1 win over Trelleborgs FF. He came on in the 90th minute for red-carded goalkeeper Michal Slawuta. He went on to play the final seven minutes in added time, making one save, and gaining his first league shutout. Burns made his starting debut in the next match against 2007 Allsvenskan Champions, IFK Gothenburg on April 25. Ljungskile went on to win the match 2–1 in front of a record home crowd of 7,100 people thereby ending Gothenburg's stretch of nineteen unbeaten games started in the 2007 season. Burns was voted as one of the top three players of the match for his efforts in the game. Burns took over the starting goalkeeping duties for the remainder of the season on August 17, playing away to

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional football coach and former player, formerly an assistant manager of Barcelona. Playing as a striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Hels ...

and Helsingborgs IF. Ljungskile won the match 1–0, giving Helsingborgs their only home loss of the season. Colin was named as one of the men of match and also was named best goalkeeper of the week in the

on the weekly highlight show " Fotbollsmåndag" – Football Monday. Burns went on to appear seventeen times for LSK gaining four man of the match honors, two top three players in the match and six shutouts in his first season in the

Sarpsborg 08 FF

Burns signed a two-year contract with Sarpsborg 08 FF in October 2009.

Sandefjord Fotball

Burns signed a one-year contract with Sandefjord Fotball in January 2011.“SF fikk keeperdrømmen oppfylt”
SB.no January 26, 2011 (in Norwegian)

References

External links

Youtube videosSvenskaFans.com interview and highlights
(Europe only) {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Colin 1982 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Finland American expatriate sportspeople in Moldova American expatriate sportspeople in Norway American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Allsvenskan players Albany BWP Highlanders players Delaware Dynasty players CSF Bălți players Ljungskile SK players Sarpsborg 08 FF players Sepsi-78 players University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni UMass Minutemen soccer players Soccer players from Delaware People from Newark, Delaware Sportspeople from New Castle County, Delaware USL League Two players American men's soccer players