John Terrence Catliff (born 8 January 1965) is a Canadian 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 ...

player, who played as a striker. He retired ranked second all-time on the Canadian national team with 18 international "A" goals between 1984 and 1994. In 2012 as part of the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ( ...

's centennial celebration, he was named to the all-time Canada XI men's team.

Club career

Catliff was selected to the All-Ivy League First team as a forward in 1983, 1984, and 1986 while playing for the

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...

. He was also named to the All-American First Team in 1986. Catliff ended his college career with the Crimson with a total of 34 goals and 15 assists. Catliff was a

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

star, scoring the second most goals of anyone in the League's six-year history with 69 goals in total. He was a league season scoring champion in 1988 with 22 goals and in 1990 with 19 goals. He began his CSL career in 1987 playing for the League's inaugural champions, the

Calgary Kickers The Calgary Strikers (formerly the Calgary Kickers) were a Canadian soccer team in Calgary, Alberta that competed in the Canadian Soccer League from 1987 to 1989. They were founded as the Calgary Kickers for the 1987 and 1988 seasons, winning the ...

. He then spent the next six seasons with the

Vancouver 86ers Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

, who became the CSL champions in four consecutive seasons from 1988 through 1991. Ligament injuries to both knees forced him to retire from professional play in 1994 after two years on the 86ers in the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

International career

Catliff was a member of the quarter-finalist Canadian national team at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

while still playing at Harvard. He was just 19 years old when he made his international "A" debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in a July 1984 friendly match against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. He made 60 international appearances across 11 years from 1984 to 1994 with Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team, including 45 international "A" appearances and 18 international "A" goals. He represented Canada in 12

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches. He suffered a serious knee injury in a 1986 World Cup qualifying match away to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. His replacement,

George Pakos George "Teddy" Pakos (born August 14, 1952 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a former Canada men's national soccer team, Canadian international soccer player. His goals were crucial in Canada qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, FIFA World Cup f ...

, scored the only goal in a crucial 1–0 victory. Recovering from injury, he was not named to Canada's roster for the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, Canada's only appearance until the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

. His final international game came in June 1994 in a friendly match against

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

International "A" goals

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Additional international goals

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Catliff recently worked as global Vice President of Sales with

Helly Hansen Helly Hansen (HH) is a Norwegian manufacturer and retailer of clothing and sports equipment and a subsidiary of the Canadian retail chain Canadian Tire. Currently headquartered in Oslo, it was previously headquartered in Moss, Norway from its fou ...

outdoor apparel company but now works with Firstar Sports.Business no sweat for ex-soccer pro Catliff – Business Edge
/ref> He lives with his wife Sarah and his three soccer loving sons, Brendan (born 1994), and Jamie (born 1998), and Andrew Catliff (born 1996) John was the team Coach of the Vancouver Football Club Under 14 boys, where his son Jamie played. Catliff is an Honoured member of The Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.This Week in Canadian Soccer
/ref>

Honours

: 5 :: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 * Canadian Soccer League Top Goalscorer: 2 :: 1988, 1990

External links

* /

Canada Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Hal ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catliff, John 1965 births Living people Soccer players from Vancouver All-American college men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for Canada 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Championship-winning players Harvard Crimson men's soccer players Calgary Kickers players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players American Professional Soccer League players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees