James Smith (born 20 November 1980 in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

) is a Scottish retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and currently Executive Director at Tennessee United Soccer Club. Prior to this, Smith served as Academy Director for Nashville SC. Smith spent the majority of his playing career in his native country with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in the Scottish Premier League. He was also capped twice by

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Playing career

Early career

Born in

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter to ...

, Smith started his career with

; a graduate of the club's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

, he played 66 games and scored six goals in all competitions across his five years as a senior player. Smith won three major honours (two league titles and the League Cup in 2001) and was an unused substitute in the

2003 UEFA Cup Final The 2003 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 2003 between Celtic of Scotland and Porto of Portugal. Porto won the match 3–2 in extra time thanks to a goal from Derlei. This was also the first game to use the silver goal rule, although it did ...

, but limited first team opportunities saw him join Dutch club ADO Den Haag in July 2004, spending one season there.

Aberdeen

He returned to Scotland in season 2005–06 with

. In August 2005, Smith struck a late winner as the ''Dons'' defeated

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

Rangers in a league match for the first time since April 1998, wowing the Aberdeen support in only his third competitive game for the club. He was involved in a car crash along with teammate Michael Hart in July 2007, while on a pre-season tour of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. Smith was treated for concussion, while Hart was unhurt. In December 2007, Smith played a key role in Aberdeen's victory over Danish team

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

in the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008 between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit Saint ...

, scoring two goals in the 4–0 victory that saw Aberdeen through to the last 32 of the competition. Smith's contract at Aberdeen ended at the end of the 2008–09 season and he expressed concern that he had not been offered a contract extension, stating that he may need to look for a new club in summer.

Colorado Rapids

In May 2009, he was given permission to discuss a contract with Major League Soccer side

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 ...

. However, Toronto passed on the signing of Smith and he later signed with

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

in July 2009. In his first season with the Rapids he played only four games before suffering a season-ending knee injury. On 28 August 2010, Smith scored his first MLS goal two minutes into a match against

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

in which he was named man of the match. Smith remained with Colorado through the 2012 season. After the conclusion of the 2012 season, Colorado declined the 2013 option on Smith's contract and he entered the

2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 7, 2012 (Stage 1) and December 14, 2012 (Stage 2). All 19 Major League Soccer clubs were eligible to participate. The Stage 1 and Stage 2 Drafts were conducted in the same order as the t ...

. Smith became a free agent after he went undrafted in both rounds of the draft. Smith was re-signed by Colorado on 8 February 2013. On 10 January 2014, Smith announced his retirement from playing and joined

academy coaching staff.

International

Smith made two appearances for

in 2003, in friendly matches against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He later played twice for Scotland B.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, he joined the coaching staff of

as U23 mananger in 2014. He had a spell as Academy manager of Continental FC before being appointed to the same role at

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

in 2019.

Personal life

His brother-in-law, Allan Sieczkowski, is the lead singer of the Scottish rock band Little Eye.

used their song ''Burgundy Sky'' as their official anthem to reflect on their famous burgundy kits.

Honours

; Celtic * Scottish Premier League: 2002, 2004 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2001 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: Runner-up 2002–03 ; Colorado Rapids * Major League Soccer ** Eastern Conference Championship: 2010 ** MLS Cup: 2010

References

External links

* * *
Profile and stats
at ''AFC Heritage Trust''
Player profile
at ''The Celtic Wiki'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jamie 1980 births Living people Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Scotland B international footballers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Eredivisie players Major League Soccer players Celtic F.C. players Livingston F.C. players ADO Den Haag players Aberdeen F.C. players Colorado Rapids players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Scottish expatriate footballers People from Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire Colorado Rapids non-playing staff Nashville SC non-playing staff Association football wingers Footballers from West Dunbartonshire