Lovel Palmer (born 30 August 1984 in Mandeville) is a Jamaican

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who currently plays as a defender and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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 ...

in 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 ...

Career

Youth

Palmer began his career with the

St. Elizabeth Technical High School St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) is a Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school in Santa Cruz, Jamaica, Santa Cruz, Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica. This year 2021 marks 25 years of STETHS Alumni ...

football team in his native Jamaica, and in 1995 joined Essex Valley FC. In 1998, with Essex Valley, Palmer participated in an international youth tournament in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

He also played in several youth teams for Essex Valley before joining the youth system of Harbour View in January 1999.

Club

Palmer won Premier League and Caribbean Club Championship titles in 1995 and 2004 with Harbour View, before joining

TT Pro League The TT Pro League (formerly known as the Professional Football League) is the Trinidad and Tobago professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division in the Trinidad ...

team

W Connection W Connection Football Club is a football club from Trinidad and Tobago, which currently plays in the TT Pro League. The club plays its home games at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella. The club's offices are based at the Point Lisas Industria ...

on loan. While at Harbour View, Palmer also had an unsuccessful trial with

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start, translates to The sports club Start ) is a Norwegian football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The clu ...

in Norway in February 2009. During the 2004 season he appeared in eleven games and scored two goals for

before returning to Harbour View in December 2004. Palmer soon became the leader and captain of Harbour View, and he led the team to victory in the Jamaica National Premier League in 2007/2008. On 19 March 2010, Palmer and Harbour View completed a deal that sent Palmer to

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

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 ...

. The terms of the transfer were undisclosed. On 21 July 2011, Palmer was traded to

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

along with

Mike Chabala Michael Shaun Chabala (born May 24, 1984) is an American former soccer player. Career Chabala played college soccer at the University of Washington, and also played with in the USL Premier Development League with both Yakima Reds and his homet ...

and an international roster spot in exchange for

Adam Moffat Adam John William Moffat (born 15 May 1986) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and spent the majority of his career playing in the various professional leagues in the United States. After beginning his caree ...

and allocation money. Palmer's option was declined by Portland on 3 December 2012. He elected to enter the

2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 7, 2012 (Stage 1) and December 14, 2012 (Stage 2). All 19 Major League Soccer clubs were eligible to participate. The Stage 1 and Stage 2 Drafts were conducted in the same order as the t ...

and was selected by

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

in stage two of the draft on 14 December 2012. He missed a penalty in a shootout during the

2013 MLS Cup MLS Cup 2013, the 18th edition of Major League Soccer's championship match, was a soccer match which took place on Saturday, December 7, 2013 between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. ...

that gave

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

the league title. Six days later he was traded by RSL to Chicago Fire in exchange for allocation money. After two years in Chicago, Palmer signed with

Indy Eleven Indy Eleven is an American professional soccer team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2013, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2014, before moving to the United Soccer League in 2018. The franchise plays it ...

of the

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 ...

on 12 January 2016. Palmer signed with NASL side

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

on 14 August 2017 following his release from Indy Eleven. Palmer signed with USL PDL side

in June 2018 following his departure from Miami FC. He left the club at the end of the season. In June of 2021, Palmer returned to professional football in the Jamaican Premier League with Harbour View.

International

Palmer played for the Jamaican U-17, U-20 and U-23 national teams, and has been a member of the

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF ...

since 2005.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 12 December 2012''

Personal

Palmer holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honors

Club

;Harbour View * Jamaica National Premier League (3): 2000, 2007, 2010 *

JFF Champions Cup The JFF Champions Cup, known since 2009 as the Flow Champions Cup, is an annual knockout tournament in Jamaican football. The modern tournament was established during the 1990–91 season and is contended between the 12 Red Stripe Premier League ...

(2): 2001, 2002 *

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

(2): 2004, 2007 ;Real Salt Lake *

Western Conference Championship (1):

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 fact ...

;Indy Eleven *

Spring Season (1):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

; Des Moines Menace *

USL League Two 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 syste ...

Regular Season Championship (1):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

International

;Jamaica *

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was the championship tournament for national association football teams that are members of the Caribbean Football Union. The first competition, established by Shell and run by former England Cricket fast bowler Fred Rumsey, wa ...

(1):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Lovel 1984 births Living people People from Mandeville, Jamaica Jamaican footballers Jamaica international footballers Jamaican expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Trinidad and Tobago Expatriate soccer players in the United States Harbour View F.C. players W Connection F.C. players Houston Dynamo FC players Portland Timbers players Real Salt Lake players Chicago Fire FC players Indy Eleven players Miami FC players Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Trinidad and Tobago Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players TT Pro League players Major League Soccer players North American Soccer League players Association football defenders Association football midfielders