Leonid "Leo" Krupnik (, , ; born July 15, 1979 in

Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi ( uk, Хмельни́цький, Khmelnytskyi, ), until 1954 Proskuriv ( uk, Проску́рів, links=no ), is a city in western Ukraine, the administrative center for Khmelnytskyi Oblast (region) and Khmelnytskyi Raion (dist ...

) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i former

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 and current soccer coach. He played college soccer at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He played soccer professionally for the

Des Moines Menace Des Moines Menace is an American soccer team based in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The Menace have had sustained success in USL League Two duri ...

, MetroStars,

Wilmington Hammerheads Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017. History ...

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי נתניה, ''Football Club Maccabi Netanya'') is an Israeli football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. Afte ...

Maccabi Herzliya Maccabi Herzliya F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי הרצליה, ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Herzliya'') is an Israeli football club based in Herzliya. The club is currently in and plays at the Herzliya Municipal Stadium. History A ...

Bnei Sakhnin Bnei Sakhnin F.C. ( ar, اتحاد أبناء سخنين, he, איחוד בני סכנין, ''Ihud Bnei Sakhnin''; ''Ittihad Abna Sakhnin'', ) is an Israeli football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful clu ...

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

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 ...

Hapoel Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, הפועל פתח תקווה) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva, currently playing in the Liga Leumit. Its most successful period was throughout the 1950s and 1960s, in which the club won ...

, Maccabi Umm al-Fahm, Maccabi Kabilio Jaffa, and Sektzia Nes Tziona. He won a silver medal at the

2005 Maccabiah Games The 17th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-17 ישראל תשס"ה), held in Israel, were an incarnation of the 'Jewish Olympics.' They attracted the largest attendance of any Maccabiah Games, including more than 900 representatives from the Un ...

in Israel with Team USA.

Career

Youth and college

Krupnik was born in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, and is Jewish. He moved with his parents, Mark and Rita, and brother Vladimir, from his native

, Ukraine, to the United States in the 1990s, settling in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Initially a promising gymnast, Krupnik was spotted playing football with some friends by the manager of the San Francisco Vikings youth team, and the youngster quickly changed sports. Krupnik attended and was the team soccer captain of George Washington High School, graduating in 1997. He played four years of

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 Kingd ...

at the

('01), majoring in social welfare. Krupnik was All-Pac-10 honorable mention in 2000 and 2001, Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention in 2000 and first team in 2001. Krupnik was also strong academically, and was on the Dean's Honor List in Fall of 2000.

Professional

Krupnik was drafted with the 69th pick of the

2002 MLS SuperDraft The 2002 Major League Soccer SuperDraft was held on February 10, 2002 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. One month earlier, MLS had contracted two clubs: Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion. In conjunction with the contraction, the league conducted bot ...

by the MetroStars, but did not make the squad, and instead spent the 2002 season with the

of the

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

. He was signed by the MetroStars late in the season, again without seeing any first-team action, and was then released on free transfer to the

. After winning the 2003 championship with Wilmington, Krupnik was signed by

. During his time in Israel in 2005 with the US

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

team, Krupnik caught the eye of a scout from

. Manager

Reuven Atar Reuven Atar ( he, ראובן עטר; born January 3, 1969) is a retired Israeli football player who was mostly known for his career in Maccabi Haifa and now he works as the manager of Bnei Lod. As a manager, he is mostly known for his work with ...

asked Krupnik if he could join the team for training but Krupnik had a contract in the US. It was his sister, Svetlana, who kept in touch with Reuven Atar and immediately after finishing his contract, Krupnik immigrated to Israel. Krupnik was attractive to Israeli club teams because he was eligible to receive Israeli citizenship and not count as a foreigner. During the 2005–06 season he got into a contract dispute with the management. After the conclusion of the season, ownership of the club changed hands, and the

i manager, Reuven Atar, who brought Krupnik to the club, was fired. Krupnik was expected to return to the United States. Talks ensued between him and

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

but nothing became final. On July 20, 2006 Reuven Atar was appointed as manager of newly promoted

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

club,

. His first action was to sign Krupnik to a contract with the club. Krupnik stayed with the club until the winter recess when he decided not to continue after Maccabi Herzliya would not agree to a new contract. After leaving Maccabi Herzliya, Krupnik joined

for the second half of the 2006–07 season and helped the club gain promotion to the

. The following season Krupnik helped the newly promoted side to a fourth-place finish and qualification to the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

. On June 17, 2008, Krupnik signed a contract with

for 3 years worth $360,000. During his first season with the club Krupnik was a fixture in central defense appearing in 30 league matches, and helped Maccabi Haifa clinch their 11th

title. Krupnik returned the

, known as the MetroStars during his first stint with the club, in July 2009. Krupnik made his MLS debut in a 4–0 loss to

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, la ...

on July 25, 2009, and played in three games for the team before returning to Israel in November, when he was signed for a second stint with

. Since 2015 Krupnik has been the soccer coach at

Menlo-Atherton High School Menlo-Atherton High School (known as M-A to locals) is a four-year public charter secondary school located in Atherton, California. Menlo-Atherton is part of the Sequoia Union High School District.

in California.

International

In 2005, coach

Lev Kirshner Lev Kirshner (born June 17, 1969) is the former head coach for the men's soccer team San Diego State University, who coached the team for two decades. As a player, he competed at the 1993 Maccabiah Games (winning a bronze medal) and the 1997 Ma ...

picked Krupnik for the United States squad for the

, an international Jewish athletic event similar to the Olympics held in Israel every four years. Kirshner brought a talented squad with the most professional experience ever. The American team, which also had

Jonathan Bornstein Jonathan Rey Bornstein (born November 7, 1984) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a left-back. He has captained and made 38 appearances for the United States national team. In addition to also playing for Chivas USA in Major ...

and

Benny Feilhaber Benny Feilhaber (; born January 19, 1985) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is currently head coach of MLS Next Pro side Sporting Kansas City II, an affiliate of Sporting Kansas City. A midfielder, Feilhaber played fo ...

playing for it, reached the final but lost to the host

i team, which was composed of Israel's Under-21 national team players.

Statistics

Honours

(1): ** 2008–09

References

External links

*
Maccabi Haifa profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krupnik, Leonard 1979 births Living people American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Israel American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American soccer players Association football defenders Ukrainian Jews Sportspeople from Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine American soccer coaches Soccer players from San Francisco Ukrainian emigrants to the United States Ukrainian expatriate footballers Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Jewish footballers Jewish American sportspeople Jewish Ukrainian sportspeople California Golden Bears men's soccer players Des Moines Menace players Ukrainian footballers USL League Two players Wilmington Hammerheads FC players USL Second Division players Charleston Battery players USL First Division players Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players Maccabiah Games medalists in football Maccabiah Games silver medalists for the United States Competitors at the 2005 Maccabiah Games New York Red Bulls players Maccabi Jaffa F.C. players Maccabi Umm al-Fahm F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Maccabi Herzliya F.C. players Bnei Sakhnin F.C. players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Major League Soccer players New York Red Bulls draft picks