Roland Sikinger 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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who played professionally in 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 ...

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

, American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League.

Player

Club career

Sikinger graduated from James Madison High School. He went on to play for the

Milwaukee Bavarians Bavarian United SC is an American soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Bavarian Majors of the Bavarian Soccer Club compete in the United Premier Soccer League. The team plays its home games in the athletic stadium at the Heart ...

. In 1978, he signed with the

Houston Hurricane The Houston Hurricane was a soccer team based out of Houston that played in the NASL. They played from 1978 to 1980. Their home field was the Astrodome. Their colors were orange, white and red. History The team was the last of six expansion te ...

of the North American Soccer League. He spent three seasons with the Hurricane. In the fall of 1978, the

Houston Summit Houston Summit were a professional indoor soccer team that operated from 1978 to 1980. They played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League. In 1980, the franchise was moved to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Blast. Their roster mainly include ...

was established as a charter member of the Major Indoor Soccer League. The Summit drew on the Hurricane for most of their roster. Consequently, Sikinger played the 1978-1979 indoor season with the Summit. In 1979, he moved to the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

for one season. In 1981, he played for the

New York Eagles The New York Eagles were a professional soccer franchise that played in the American Soccer League from 1978 to 1981, with a one-year hiatus in 1980. The franchise played its first season in Mount Vernon, New York, then moved to Albany, New York f ...

of the American Soccer League. The Eagles played in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

and were sometimes referred to as the Albany Eagles. In 1984, he played for the

Houston Dynamos Houston Dynamos was a U.S. soccer team that existed in various forms from 1983 to 1991. In 1991, the team's owners changed the name to Houston International, but the team lasted only through the 1992 season before folding. The Dynamos were foun ...

in the

. Sikinger was inducted into the Wisconsin Soccer Hall of Fame in 2020.

National team

Sikinger played for the national youth team at the

1979 Pan American Games The 1979 Pan American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Panamericanos de 1979''), officially the VIII Pan American Games were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, and were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to July 15 ...

. He was also a member of the 1980 U. S. Olympic soccer team which qualified for the tournament but was unable to compete when President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

decided that the United States would boycott the games due to the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

References

External links

NASL stats
1959 births Living people Soccer players from Milwaukee American soccer coaches American men's soccer players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Houston Dynamos players Houston Hurricane players Houston Summit players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Bavarian United SC players New York Eagles players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players United Soccer League (1984–85) players Wichita Wings (MISL) players Footballers at the 1979 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for the United States United States men's under-20 international soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers {{US-footy-bio-stub