Delvin Christopher "D.J." Countess (born January 9, 1982 in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

) is an American former 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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He graduated from Bella Vista High School in

Fair Oaks, California Fair Oaks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento, California, Sacramento–Arden-Arcade, California, Arden-Arcade–Roseville, Calif ...

Club career

Countess attended

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where he had a 1.02

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on s ...

, good for a second in the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

his freshman season. Upon completing his freshman year, he joined the

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 ...

(MLS)

Project-40 Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S. ...

program. On August 3, 2001, he acquired by the MetroStars through a weighted lottery. During his first year he served as a backup to Tim Howard. Countess was traded to the

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

on March 13, 2002, prior to the start of the 2002 season. However, shortly after an impressive debut match, he suffered a shoulder injury and was forced to miss the remainder of the season. He bounced back in 2003, starting in twenty-four league matches and was named the clubs Defender of the Year after tallying 115 saves. He also tied an MLS record that season by facing a total of ten

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s; and he set the league record by saving four, including two in a single game which was also another league record. In 2004, he was traded to Chicago Fire, where he spent the 2004 season as the primary backup to Henry Ring. Countess made only two first team appearances.

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

, then coached by Countess' youth coach,

John Ellinger John Ellinger (born October 4, 1951) is a former American soccer coach of the Under-17 United States men's national soccer team, and former head coach of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Ellinger played collegiately at Frostburg State Un ...

, took Countess as a second draft pick in the

2004 MLS Expansion Draft The 2004 MLS Expansion Draft was held on November 19, 2004 and consisted of 10 rounds. The two new teams, Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake, drafted players from the other 10 Major League Soccer teams. Existing MLS teams were allowed to protect 12 pl ...

. Countess started in twenty-seven matches for the expansion team but his option was not picked up following the season. Though several MLS clubs expressed interest in acquiring him in early 2006, Countess opted not to return to MLS and to instead pursue a career in Europe. In mid-2006 he had trials with French clubs

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division o ...

and

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 ...

, and Swedish club

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in Association football, football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has ...

. All three teams expressed interest but it was Östers IF who then played in Sweden's top division the

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 ...

that signed Countess to a contract until the end of the 2006 season. Up to October 2006, he had started in three matches for the club. In early 2007, he signed for

Provincial Osorno Provincial Osorno is a football club based in Osorno, Los Lagos Region, Chile. The club is currently playing at the fourth tier of the Chilean football system, the Tercera División. The club were founded on 5 June 1983 and then re-founded on ...

, in the Chilean second division, Liga Chilena de Fútbol: Primera B. After helping them win promotion to the Primera División, in July 2007 he moved to Argentina to play for newly promoted Atlético Tigre in the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

.http://www.futbolpasion.com/transferencias.cfm?campeonato=ap07 Transfers Apertura 2007 Countess sustained a wrist injury early in the 2008 season with Tigre, he underwent surgery in April 2008.

International career

Countess has played at various levels for the United States national team playing a total of seventy-two games for the U-17's, U-20's and U-23's. He was in goal for the U.S. when they finished fourth at the 1999

FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

in New Zealand, and in the 2001 U-20

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

in Argentina. In 2004, he played in the US U-23 Olympic team that failed to qualify for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Dream Keeper Foundation

Countess has been involved in

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

work throughout his career. While playing for

he established the Dream Keeper Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing funding for

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

children in need of medical care.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Countess, D. J. 1982 births Living people American soccer players American expatriate soccer players Soccer players from Sacramento, California Chicago Fire FC players FC Dallas players Real Salt Lake players UCLA Bruins men's soccer players Östers IF players Club Atlético Tigre footballers Provincial Osorno footballers Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Chile American expatriate sportspeople in Argentina American expatriate sportspeople in Chile Major League Soccer players Allsvenskan players Primera B de Chile players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Association football goalkeepers People from Fair Oaks, California