Lyle Yorks (born January 30, 1970) is a retired American

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 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 ...

who played professionally in the Major Indoor Soccer League,

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

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 ...

. He was the 1987

Gatorade National Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' a ...

and was a member of the U.S. soccer teams at both the

1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship The 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the first edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Dalian in People's Republic of China from July 31, 1985, to August 11, 1985. Players born after August 1, 1968, ...

and

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta'if. Qualification ...

. He is the managing director of James Grant Sports.

Youth

Club

Yorks attended

E. O. Smith High School E. O. Smith High School, (or E.O. Smith) named after a member of Connecticut's legislature and former University of Connecticut president Edwin O. Smith, is a High school, secondary school located in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. E.O. Smith ...

where he was part of a two time state championship soccer team. Yorks was a two time

Parade Magazine ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a readership of 5 ...

and

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...

High School All American and in 1987, he was the

. In 1988, he entered the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

where he played on the 1989 and 1991

NCAA Championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

soccer team. He captained the team in 1991 as the Cavaliers tied with the

Santa Clara Broncos The Santa Clara Broncos are athletic teams that represent Santa Clara University. The school colors are red and white. The nicknames for teams is The Broncos and the student fans are referred to as the "Ruff Riders". The Broncos compete in the NC ...

for the

NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate College soccer, soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the NCAA Division I, ...

. He graduated with a

bachelor degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

in sociology from Virginia and later earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in sports management from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

National teams

In 1985, Yorks was a member of the U.S. U-16 national team which went 1–2 in the

. Yorks played all three games. In 1989, he played two games for the U.S. U-20 national team which took fourth place at the

Professional

On November 21, 1992, Yorks signed with the

Milwaukee Wave The Milwaukee Wave is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1984, they have been the oldest continuously operating professional soccer team in the United States and are seven-time league champions, m ...

of the National Professional Soccer League. He played only five games before being waived on January 7, 1993, in order to free up a roster spot for Paul Wright. Yorks then moved to Denmark where he signed with

Næstved BK Næstved () is a town in the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five elementary schools - and has at least one of each type of the four ...

for the 1993–1994

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

season. In 1995, he played for the New York Fever of the

. In December 1995, he signed with

as the league prepared for its first season in 1996. However, he was not selected in the January 1996 MLS drafts. In February 1998, Yorks was invited to the

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 ...

training camp. On March 10, 1998, United signed Yorks. He played one game, then was waived on May 11, 1998. A month later, he played an exhibition game with the

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

. The team hoped to sign him for the remainder of the regular season, but Yorks retired from playing professionally.

Coach

Following his playing career, Lyle was an assistant coach at the

University of California at 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 univ ...

from 1995 to 1997 as well as one season at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. He was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame in 2008.

Soccer Agent

Lyle is currently the Global Head of Sport for James Grant Sports Management Ltd.Proactive Management Team
/ref> As USSF registered FIFA agent, Lyle has brokered some of the biggest deals for US players both in MLS and Europe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yorks, Lyle 1982 births Living people American soccer coaches American expatriate soccer players Soccer players from Connecticut California Golden Bears men's soccer coaches D.C. United players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Milwaukee Wave players Major League Soccer players Næstved Boldklub players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players New York Fever players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' soccer) Stanford Cardinal men's soccer coaches USISL players American soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players Virginia Cavaliers men's soccer players Association football midfielders American expatriate sportspeople in Denmark American sports agents University of San Francisco alumni