Ned Grabavoy (born July 1, 1983) is a retired American professional soccer player who played as a

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 ...

. He is the technical director and lead soccer operations director for the Portland Timbers.

Career

Youth and College

Grabavoy played his youth soccer with the Chicago Magic Soccer Club under coach Mike Matkovich from U12 through U19. Grabavoy's U16 Chicago Magic team was credited with winning the Chicago Magic Soccer Clubs first National Youth Soccer Club Association Championship in 1999. Grabavoy attended

Lincoln-Way Central High School Lincoln-Way Central High School, LWC, or Central is a public four-year high school about 3.5 miles south of Interstate 80 near the intersection of Schoolhouse Road and Lincoln Highway in New Lenox, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illi ...

where Grabavoy received in 1998 and 1999 an All-American Award by the National Soccer Coaches Association and led the Knights to two straight Illinois State Class AA Championship games. Grabavoy was the recipient of the Gatorade 2000-01 National High School Player of the Year Awarded and named the NHSCA National Senior Athlete of the Year award. Grabavoy played three 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 K ...

for Indiana University Hoosiers men's soccer under legendary coach Jerry Yeagley. Grabavoy was a unanimous All Big-10 and US All-American selection as a sophomore and was voted an NCAA First Team All-American as a junior. Grabavoy led Indiana University to a 2003 Men's NCAA Championship title his third year.

Professional

Grabavoy played for coach Mike Matkovich with the

Chicago Fire Reserves Chicago Fire U-23 was an American soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 2001, the team last played in the PDL, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They last played in 2016, choosing to leave the PDL. The ...

in the Premier Development League and signed a Project-40 contract with MLS, and was subsequently selected 14th 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 ...

by the

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

and Coach

Sigi Schmid Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German-American soccer coach who had the most wins in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS). Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his fam ...

. In his first year with the Galaxy, Grabavoy played 928 minutes, registering a goal and three assists. He added three assists in his second season, while fighting for playing time as LA won the 2005

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

and U.S. Open Cup. In May 2006, Grabavoy was traded to the Crew in a four-player deal where he was reunited with Coach Sigi Schmidt. Grabavoy was selected by the San Jose Earthquakes in the

2007 MLS Expansion Draft The 2007 MLS Expansion Draft was held on November 21, 2007, and is a special draft for the Major League Soccer expansion team San Jose Earthquakes. They made 10 selections from a pool of players from current MLS clubs. Format * Only one player may ...

. He was waived by the club on March 3, 2009, but was picked up 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 2 ...

in the Waiver Draft later that same day. Grabavoy scored the winning penalty kick on November 14, 2009 at Chicago Fire to give Real Salt Lake their first conference championship and first trip to the MLS Cup final. In 2009, Real Salt Lake beat

in the final for its first Major League Soccer championship. He scored his first Real Salt Lake goal on May 29, 2010 against the Kansas City Wizards at Rio Tinto Stadium, the fourth goal in a 4-1 RSL victory. In January 2012, RSL signed Grabavoy to a contract extension through the 2013 season. The following month the contract was extended an additional year through 2014. On December 10, 2014, Grabavoy was selected second overall by

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

in the

2014 MLS Expansion Draft The 2014 MLS Expansion Draft was a draft for the Major League Soccer expansion teams New York City FC and Orlando City SC that took place between November 19 and December 10, 2014. The first two rounds of the draft (which were known as the 2014 M ...

. In 2015, Grabavoy played for New York City FC rejoining Coach Jason Kreis whom he had played for at Real Salt Lake from 2009 though 2013. In 2016, Grabavoy was part of the first Major League Soccer "free agent class." Grabavoy signed with Portland Timbers on January 12, 2016. On October 18, 2016, Grabavoy announced his retirement effective at the end of the 2016 season. He was named as director of scouting and recruitment for the Portland Timbers (Major League Soccer) in December 2016.

International

Grabavoy has also had a significant role with

United States national Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

youth teams from U14 through U18, including the U-20 team, which he played for in the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

in the United Arab Emirates and more recently the U-23 team. Grabavoy had offers to live and train in Holland at 13 years of age, Germany (Stuttgart) at 16 and AC Monaco at 19.

Front office career

Grabavoy currently works in the Portland Timbers front office as the club's General Manager having previously served as the club's technical director. On October 5, 2022, upon the firing of

Gavin Wilkinson Gavin Wilkinson (born 5 November 1973) is a former New Zealand footballer who served as general manager and President of Soccer for the Portland Timbers from 2009 to 2022. Prior to this position, Wilkinson was manager of Portland Timbers in th ...

from the team as a result of the fallout from the

2021 NWSL abuse scandal Throughout the 2021 National Women's Soccer League season, allegations of abuse surfaced in multiple teams across the National Women's Soccer League in the United States. As a result, five out of the 10 teams then in the league had head coaches ...

, Grabavoy was tabbed to direct soccer operations.

Honors

Los Angeles Galaxy

* Major League Soccer MLS Cup (1): 2005

Real Salt Lake

* Major League Soccer MLS Cup (1): 2009 * Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Championship (1): 2009 * Major League Soccer 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 fa ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabavoy, Ned 1983 births Living people American soccer players Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Chicago Fire U-23 players LA Galaxy players Columbus Crew players San Jose Earthquakes players Real Salt Lake players New York City FC players Portland Timbers players Sportspeople from Joliet, Illinois Soccer players from Illinois USL League Two players Major League Soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players LA Galaxy draft picks Association football midfielders All-American men's college soccer players