Kristina Kiss (born February 13, 1981) is a female

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 ...

midfielder, who twice won a medal with the Canada national team at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

: 2003 and 2007.

Career

On March 12, 2000 at the Algarve Cup, 19 year old Kristina made her debut for Canada's Senior Women's Team vs powerhouse China. This is where she began her National Team journey under newly appointed coach Even Pellerud. Always playing the ball with precision Kristina scored in her fifth game with Canada on May 31, 2000 in a 2:1 win over New Zealand helping the team finish fourth at the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Later the team and Kristina would have continued success by finishing; 2nd at both the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2nd at the XIV Pan American Games (2003) in Santo Domingo where Kristina scored Canada's tying goal in a 2-1 loss to Brazil in the final. She also finished; 4th with Canada at the FIFA Women's World Cup USA in 2003, 2nd with Canada at the 2006 CONCACAF Gold Cup - lost 2:1 to the United States in the final, 3rd at the XV Pan American Games (2007) in Rio, represented Canada at the FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007, 2nd at the 2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualification Tournament, quarter-finalist at the 2008 Women's Olympic Football Tournament. She was also a National Club Champion with the Nepean United Spirit in 1998. Kristina was named the top Ottawa soccer player for the 2008 season. Recognized at the annual Ottawa Sports Awards, claiming the Athlete of the Year. She was later invited to join the U20 Women's National Team as a guest coach in July 2009. She was inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. She now dedicates her time to becoming a professional coach successfully completed her CSA National A Licence, Youth Licence and Children's Licence. She understands her position as a role model to the female players in the Ottawa community and is committed to developing elite players who may one day follow in her footsteps on the Canada National Team. Kiss was the captain of Team Canada's 2003 Pan American Games team and scored three goals in the tournament. She returned to the national team in 2006 after a two-year absence,.

Personal

She won the Canadian National Junior Judo Championship in 1995 in the under 44 kg category. Kiss studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and psychology at the Carleton University.

Coaching career

After retiring, she became the technical director of

West Ottawa Soccer Club West Ottawa Soccer Club was a Canadian women's semi-professional soccer club based in Kanata, Ontario, just west of Ottawa that competed in the women's division League1 Ontario. The club continues to operate as a youth club. History The club ...

in 2012. In 2021, she served as a guest coach with the Canadian national women's team ahead of their gold medal performance at the Olympics. In 2022, she joined Ottawa City SC as technical female manager.

References

External links

Canada Olympic CommitteeWest Ottawa Soccer Club

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiss, Kristina 1981 births Living people Canadian women's soccer players Canada women's international soccer players Women's association football midfielders Soccer players from Ottawa Carleton University alumni 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Toppserien players IF Fløya players Amazon Grimstad players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Ottawa Fury (women) players USL W-League (1995–2015) players