Leo Kulinczenko is an American/Ukrainian

association football 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 professionally in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the US Open Cup. He played in the American Soccer League,

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

, National Soccer League (Chicago) and the

Greater Los Angeles Soccer League The Los Angeles Soccer League was a regional association football, soccer league consisting of clubs based in and around Los Angeles. Established as the California Football Association, the league was founded in 1902 and it is one of the oldest s ...

Youth career

Kulinczenko who is of Ukrainian descent started his playing career in the youth system of the

Ukrainian Lions The Ukrainian Lions was a soccer club that was operated by the Ukrainian American Sports Club. The club was based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1949 by Ukrainians that had settled in the Chicago area after the Second World War. They comp ...

Professional career

In 1974 he began his career with the first team of the

. In 1976 he was invited to the Chicago Sting of the

training squad but then was released after three months. He played for five-time US Open Cup winners

Maccabee Los Angeles Maccabee Athletic Club ( he, מכבי לוס אנג'לס, MAH-KAH-Bee) was an American athletic club based in Los Angeles, California. The primary activity of the club was Maccabee Los Angeles Soccer Club, a team which competed professionally in t ...

in 1977 and 1978 winning the US Open Cup. In 1979 he played for the Los Angeles Skyhawks of the American Soccer League. His first game with the Skyhawks was a friendly against the 1980 US Olympic team the game was played in Los Angeles. In 1980 he returned to play with the

until 1983. In 1984 he played for US Open Cup finalist

Chicago Croatian Chicago Croatian was an American Soccer Club based in Chicago, Illinois. The club competed professionally in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (National Challenge Cup), the CONCACAF Champions League (CONCACAF Champions Cup) and the National Soccer Lea ...

in the

1985 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 1985 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 21st. edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's cl ...

against Honduras champion Club Deportivo Olimpia. He retired after the 1985 season.

Coaching career

He held a full-time position with the highly competitive Chicago Sockers as a staff coach for 16 years. The Chicago Sockers is a nationally recognized youth soccer program it is the only program in Illinois to provide the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league features youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

for the boys and girls the highest competition platforms in the U.S. In 2007 and 2008 he was director for the twelve to fourteen year-old age group at

Chicago Eclipse Select The Eclipse Select Soccer Club or just Eclipse, is an American soccer club for boys and girls in the Chicago metropolitan area. Founded in 1996, Eclipse has teams in local, regional, and national competitions, including the Elite Clubs National Leag ...

which was part of the Elite Clubs National League. 1998-2000 he coached the boys varsity team at Saint Viator High School. 2001 he was assistant men's coach at North Central College.

References

External files

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulinczenko, Leo Living people 1954 births Soccer players from Chicago American men's soccer players Los Angeles Skyhawks players Ukrainian Lions players National Soccer League (Chicago) players American people of Ukrainian descent Men's association football defenders American Soccer League (1933–1983) players American soccer coaches College men's soccer coaches in the United States North Central Cardinals men's soccer coaches CONCACAF Champions Cup U.S. Open Cup