Matthew Taylor (born October 17, 1981) is an American soccer coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for

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 2 ...

in Major League Soccer.

College career

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Taylor grew up in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

and played

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 K ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

from 2000 to 2003. Taylor was mostly a substitute his first year, but earned a larger role as a sophomore, finishing the season with seven goals and two assists. As a junior, he bettered that, registering 12 goals and eight assists, while being an important part of a UCLA team that won the

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 ...

. Taylor's senior season was his best, as he scored 14 goals and had 8 assists, was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year, and was a Hermann Trophy finalist. Taylor was the nation's leading scorer in the NCAA tournament during UCLA's championship run in 2002 and was named to the all tournament team at the college cup. Taylor is also the all-time leading scorer for UCLA in post season tournament play. During his college years he played several games alongside former German National Team player

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

with

Orange County Blue Star Orange County Blue Star was an American soccer team based in Irvine, California. Founded in 1997, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Southwest Division of the Wester ...

in the

USL Premier Development League 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 syst ...

Professional career

An excellent MLS Combine saw the Kansas City Wizards trade up to draft him 4th overall in the

2004 MLS SuperDraft The 2004 MLS SuperDraft, held in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 16, 2004, was the fifth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The draft was most notable at the time for the selection of one of the youngest athletes in Am ...

. Although stuck behind Davy Arnaud and

Josh Wolff Josh Wolff (born February 25, 1977) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Austin FC in Major League Soccer. Playing career College Born in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Wolff played three years of colle ...

and receiving little playing time in 2003, Taylor showed his scoring acumen registering three goals and an assist in only 524 minutes from a substitute's role. After his first season, Taylor was left unprotected for the 2004 MLS Expansion Draft, and was selected 8th overall by

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. G ...

. He became one of the few non-

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

s on the squad. Taylor was Chivas USA's first ever player to be named MLS player of the week. Taylor's first four years in MLS were hampered by injuries including a broken tibia, and double hernia surgery. Taylor became a first eleven player for Chivas USA coach Hans Westerhof and responded by leading all offensive categories in a starter's role. Taylor just started to regain the speed and quickness to match his work rate when he decided to leave Chivas USA over a contract dispute with then coach Preki. On July 25, 2007, Taylor signed for Portland Timbers. He had a short stint at the amateur side

Hollywood United Hollywood United is an American amateur soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1988, the team plays in Region IV of the United States Adult Soccer Association, a network of amateur leagues at the fifth tier of th ...

in the Los Angeles-based

USASA The United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) is a national organization for amateur soccer in the United States. It consists of 55 state organizations as well as national, regional and state leagues. The National Premier Soccer League, NI ...

-affiliated Coast Soccer League, where he scored two goals on penalty kicks against his former club the Portland Timbers in the first round of the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, helping Hollywood to a shocking 3-2 win over the USL side. On August 14, 2008, Taylor moved to

TuS Koblenz TuS Koblenz is a German association football club, located in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Fussball Club Deutschland Neuendorf, which was formed in 1911, is viewed as the foundation of the modern club. History Nazi era (1933–1945) The or ...

, then playing in Germany's second tier

2. Fußball-Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball- Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

just three days before their season started and scored in his first game for the team. On October 5, 2008, he scored a hat trick for Koblenz in a 5-0 win over Kaiserslautern. On May 27, 2009 Taylor signed a two-year contract with FSV Frankfurt, but left for

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

club

Rot Weiss Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegate ...

after playing only on year for FSV. Taylor moved to Preußen Münster for the 2012/13 3. Liga season after playing the 2011/12 season with

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

in the 2. Bundesliga. Two years later he signed for

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. FC Saarbrücken (german: 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken e. V.) is a football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. The club began its existence as the football de ...

Coaching career

After retiring in 2017, Taylor returned to his alma mater to become an assistant coach at

. In 2021, he became an assistant coach for Major League Soccer club

References

External links

Matthew Taylor
at Kicker {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Matt 1981 births Living people American expatriate soccer players American expatriate soccer players in Germany American soccer players Hollywood United players Orange County Blue Star players Chivas USA players Sporting Kansas City players Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio UCLA Bruins men's soccer players Portland Timbers (2001–2010) players Major League Soccer players USL First Division players TuS Koblenz players FSV Frankfurt players Rot Weiss Ahlen players SC Paderborn 07 players SC Preußen Münster players 1. FC Saarbrücken players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Soccer players from Columbus, Ohio USL League Two players Sporting Kansas City draft picks Men's association football forwards Real Salt Lake non-playing staff UCLA Bruins men's soccer coaches Sportspeople from Irvine, California Soccer players from California