Dieter Ficken (born June 14, 1944) was a German-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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and coach who spent his club career in the U.S. third division

German American Soccer League The Cosmopolitan Soccer League is a regional soccer league consisting of semi-pro and amateur teams based in and around New York City. Established in 1923, it is one of the oldest soccer leagues in the United States and has contributed greatly ...

. He earned one cap with the U.S. national team. He coached collegiate soccer from 1974 to 2008.

Player

Youth

Born in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany, Ficken grew up in Park Slope neighborhood of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. His family had traveled to the U.S. when he was nine for a visit, but ended up staying in the U.S. where he lived with an auntSPORTS OF THE TIMES; DIETER FICKEN'S DECISION
/ref> Ficken graduated from John Jay High School then attended

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

where he played on the men’s soccer team from 1962 to 1965. He graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in business management. He returned to LIU to gain a

master’s degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in finance in 1970. Following graduation, Ficken worked as an investment banker and in real estate before turning to coaching 1974.

Club

Ficken played for

S.C. Eintracht S.C. Eintracht is an amateur American soccer team founded in 1933 which plays in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League. Founded by German immigrants in Astoria, Queens, and known at times as New York Eintracht, the team entered the German American Soccer ...

of the

from 1970 until 1974.

National team

Ficken played for the U.S. team at the

1967 Pan American Games The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967. Winnipeg was chosen as host of the Pan American Games on its second try. It first bid for the 1963 Games at the 1959 PASO meeting in Chicago ...

. The U.S. went 1–2 in the group stage and did not qualify for the second round. Ficken earned one cap with the U.S. national team in a 2–1 World Cup qualification loss to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on September 10, 1972 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

.
/sup>

Coach

In 1974, Ficken entered the coaching ranks as an assistant with

. He became head coach of LIU in 1976. Before leaving the school in 1979, he led the team to a 39–9–7 record. Columbia University hired Ficken as its men’s soccer coach in 1979. During his twenty-seven seasons, he led the team to a 252–139–53 record and the 1983 NCAA championship game where it lost to the University of Indiana. That year, he was named the NCAA Coach of the Year.
/sup> He announced his retirement from Columbia on January 13, 2006. On March 6, 2007, Ficken returned to

to become the men’s soccer coach. Now Ficken coaches the u16 New York Cosmos East academy club
/sup>

References

External links

Profile of Ficken’s coaching career
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ficken, Dieter 1944 births Living people Footballers from Bremen (city) People from Park Slope Soccer players from Brooklyn American soccer coaches American men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Emigrants from West Germany to the United States Men's association football forwards Columbia Lions men's soccer coaches Footballers at the 1967 Pan American Games Cosmopolitan Soccer League players LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's soccer coaches LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's soccer players Pan American Games competitors for the United States LIU Post Pioneers men's soccer coaches