James Riley (born October 27, 1982) is an American soccer player who plays as a defender. Riley previously spent eleven seasons in Major League Soccer (MLS) with the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

(2005–2007), San Jose Earthquakes (2008), Seattle Sounders FC (2009–2011),

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. G ...

(2012),

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

(2013), LA Galaxy (2014), and the

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 ...

(2015). Riley served as the captain of the Cascadia National Team in the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup.

Playing career

College and Amateur

Riley played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

, and in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

with both

Carolina Dynamo North Carolina Fusion U-23, formerly known as Carolina Dynamo, is an American soccer team based in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1993, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. Th ...

and his hometown team,

Colorado Springs Blizzard Colorado Springs Blizzard were an American soccer team, founded in 2004. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2006, when the team left the leagu ...

Professional

drafted Riley in the second round of the

2005 MLS SuperDraft The 2005 MLS SuperDraft, held in Baltimore, Maryland on January 14, 2005, was the sixth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. Expansion club Real Salt Lake had the first pick as the result of a coin toss (fellow newcomers C.D. ...

, and he acquitted himself well in his rookie season, playing various positions and scoring a goal. He continued to keep himself in the mix in defense, starting the majority of the games in 2006 and 2007. Riley was selected by the San Jose Earthquakes in the

2007 MLS Expansion Draft The 2007 MLS Expansion Draft was held on November 21, 2007, and is a special draft for the Major League Soccer expansion team San Jose Earthquakes. They made 10 selections from a pool of players from current MLS clubs. Format * Only one player may ...

and subsequently made 24 appearances for the team before being taken by the Seattle Sounders FC in the

2008 MLS Expansion Draft The 2008 MLS Expansion Draft took place on November 26, 2008, and was a special draft for the Major League Soccer expansion team Seattle Sounders FC. They made 10 selections from a pool of players from the other 14 MLS clubs. FormatSource * Only o ...

. He stayed with Seattle through the 2011 season, helping the club win three consecutive U.S. Open Cup championships. Riley was left exposed by Seattle in the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft and he was selected by expansion side Montreal Impact in the November 23, 2011 draft. He was then immediately traded with allocation money to

for Justin Braun and Gerson Mayen. Riley was traded to

on February 14, 2013 for a 2015 Supplemental Draft pick. The trade was later described as being part of a "systematic expulsion of players" at Chivas USA who did not fit the parent club's Mexican-only policy. Riley won his 5th US Open Cup title in 2013 with D.C. United. In the sixth minute of stoppage time there was on open header in the box from

Álvaro Saborío Álvaro Alberto Saborío Chacón (; born 25 March 1982) is a Costa Rican professional footballer, who plays as a forward and captains Costa Rican club San Carlos from the Primera División de Costa Rica. Saborío originally retired in 2017, b ...

that Riley was able to deflect onto the cross bar to prevent extra time. After his release from D.C. United, Riley trialled with and was eventually signed by LA Galaxy as a free agent. On March 6, 2015, he signed with

. During the 2015 season, Riley made 17 appearances in all competitions, scoring a lone goal on May 8, 2015 against former club San Jose in the third minute of stoppage time to salvage a 1–1 draw. The Rapids declined their option on Riley on December 3, 2015. Riley returned to professional soccer on October 5, 2018, signing with the Tacoma Stars of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

Retirement and beyond

Riley formally announced his retirement as an active player on June 23, 2016. One month prior, he had been appointed MLS's director of player relations, a position that had been vacant since

Ali Curtis Ali Curtis (born December 18, 1978) is a sports executive and former American soccer player. He was the 1999 Hermann Trophy and 2000 MAC Award winner before playing in Major League Soccer from 2001 to 2004. Curtis became the first African Ameri ...

became the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

sporting director in December 2014. In April 2018, it was announced that Riley would take a position on the broadcast team for the Seattle Sounders and their USL affiliate team,

Seattle Sounders FC 2 Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, is an American professional soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington, U.S. that competes in the MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the national soccer pyramid, as the reserve team of Seattle Soun ...

. On May 1, 2018, he was announced as the captain for the Cascadia official soccer team to compete at the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Personal life

Riley was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to an African American father and a Korean mother. His parents divorced a year after he was born. Riley and his sister were raised by his mother in Colorado Springs where he graduated from Harrison High School.

Career statistics

Club

Honors

New England Revolution

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

: 2007 * Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Championship: 2005, 2006, 2007

Seattle Sounders FC

: 2009, 2010, 2011

D.C. United

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

LA Galaxy

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Individual

* Prost Amerika's Sounders FC Player of the Year 2009 * MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Month for October 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, James 1982 births Living people African-American soccer players American soccer players Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer players North Carolina Fusion U23 players Colorado Springs Blizzard players New England Revolution players San Jose Earthquakes players Seattle Sounders FC players Chivas USA players D.C. United players LA Galaxy players Colorado Rapids players American sportspeople of Korean descent Soccer players from Colorado New England Revolution draft picks USL League Two players Major League Soccer players Association football defenders Tacoma Stars (2003–) players Major Arena Soccer League players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people