David Regis (born December 2, 1968) is a retired professional

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 ...

player and coach who played as a defender. He was most recently the assistant coach of US Mondorf-les-Bains. Born in Martinique, an Overseas Department of France, he played for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at 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 ...

and 2002 World Cups.

Club career

Regis was born in

La Trinité, Martinique La Trinité (; Martinican Creole: ) is a town and commune in the French overseas region and department of Martinique. Geography Climate La Trinité has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification ''Af''). The average annual t ...

, and began his pro career in 1988 with

Valenciennes FC Valenciennes Football Club (; commonly known as Valenciennes or USVA) is a French association football club based in Valenciennes. The club was founded in 1913 and currently play in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Valenciennes play ...

and played there until 1993. He was transferred to

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

in 1993 where he won the

1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the first edition of the tournament administered by the UEFA. It saw Strasbourg and Bordeaux win their semi-finals to advance to the UEFA Cup, the latter eventually finishing runners-up. It also saw English repre ...

. He then moved to

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

in 1996, and

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

in 1997. He transferred to

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league sys ...

, leaving after the 2002 FIFA World Cup, spent four years there, and spent a season at

Troyes AC Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a French association football club, based in Troyes, who play in Ligue 1, the highest level of France's football league system, and plays its home matches at the ...

. From the 2004–05 season, Regis played at the lower levels of the Belgian Leagues with FC Bleid respectively and retired in the summer of 2008.

International career

Since Regis's wife was an American citizen, an option to play for the United States appeared.

Steve Sampson Mark Stephen Sampson (born January 19, 1957) is an American soccer coach. He is also the former head coach of both the United States men's national team and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. Collegiate career Sampson attended UCLA ...

, the U.S. national coach, jumped at the chance of having an experienced left back on the World Cup squad (though Regis's preferred position was always center back – where he was most successful in his club career), and promised Regis a starting position on the team if he became a U.S. citizen. Regis was

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

on May 20, 1998 and received his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

just three days later. Regis received the starting spot from Sampson, in front of long-time starter

Jeff Agoos Jeffrey Alan Agoos (born May 2, 1968) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defender. He is one of the all-time appearance leaders for the United States national team. Agoos served as the Sporting Director for the N ...

. Regis played all three matches in the World Cup, and despite being one of the more effective players for the US, the Americans lost all three of their group matches. Regis made the U.S. roster for the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

as well, but did not play at the tournament. He retired with 27 caps.

Coaching career

After his retirement from playing, he worked as head coach in

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

with Royal Racing Athlétic Florenvillois and Royale Espérance Rossignol. In January 2017, he took over as sporting director of the Martinique national team.

References

External links

* 1968 births Living people People from La Trinité, Martinique American soccer players United States men's international soccer players French footballers Martiniquais footballers American people of Martiniquais descent RC Strasbourg Alsace players RC Lens players Karlsruher SC players FC Metz players ES Troyes AC players Valenciennes FC players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Germany 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players French emigrants to the United States Association football defenders {{US-footy-defender-stub