Rimantas Klivečka known as Ray Klivecka in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

is a Lithuanian-American former soccer player and coach. He is best known for managing the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independ ...

College career

Klivecka played for Long Island University from 1961 to 1963. He was a two-time All-American and ended his college career as LIU's all-time leading goal scorer with 55 goals. His 23 goals in the 1963 season led LIU to its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. He was inducted to the LIU Hall of Fame in 2000.

Coaching career

After serving as a United States youth team coach, Klivecka spent the 1978 and 1979 seasons with the New York Cosmos as an assistant coach under head coach

Eddie Firmani Edwin Ronald "Eddie" Firmani (; born 7 August 1933) is a former professional football player and manager. A former forward, he spent most of his career in Italy and England. Born in South Africa, he represented the Italy national team internat ...

. When Firmani was fired in 1979, Klivecka took over for the remainder of the Cosmos' North American Soccer League campaign. The Cosmos finished in first place with a 24-6 record, but Klivecka was dismissed at the end of the season after suffering a loss to the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...

in the semifinals. 1979-80 he was a co-owner of the then Major Indoor Soccer League expansion franchise St. Louis Steamers. In 1980 he also was head coach and general manager for seven matches of the NASL-Franchise Rochester Lancers which quit after that season. Klivecka took over as head coach of the

Buffalo Stallions The Buffalo Stallions were a soccer team based out of Buffalo, New York, that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1979 to 1984. Their home arena was Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. It was the last professional club for which the Portugues ...

of Major Indoor Soccer League for the 1980 and 1981 seasons, compiling a 39-30 record and leading the club to the playoffs in both seasons. Due in part to his success with Buffalo, in the early days of December 1984 Klivecka was re-hired as head coach of the New York Cosmos, now playing indoor soccer in the MISL, for the 1984 season, where he stayed until the bitter end in mid 1985. Later he ended up suing the cosmos for $ 100,000. In 1986 he was shortlived coach of the indoor expansion franchise

New York Express The New York Express was a soccer team based out of Uniondale, New York that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played only part of the 1986–87 MISL season before folding during the league's midseason All-Star Break. Their home are ...

. President and ex-Cosmos goalkeeper

Shep Messing Shep Norman Messing (born October 9, 1949) is a retired American soccer goalkeeper and current broadcaster who works as the lead analyst for New York Red Bulls matches on the MSG Network. In 2021 he took the position of chairman of the Major Arena ...

fired him after a 0-10 season start record.

References

Ray Klivecka
on Just Sports Stats {{DEFAULTSORT:Klivecka, Ray 1941 births Footballers from Vilnius Association football forwards Living people Lithuanian footballers Lithuanian expatriate footballers Lithuanian football managers Lithuanian expatriate football managers Lithuanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer managers in the United States American soccer coaches Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) commentators Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches