Salvatore "Sal" Zizzo Jr. (born April 3, 1987) is an American retired professional

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 ...

player who played as a winger or full-back.

Career

Youth and amateur

Zizzo attended Patrick Henry High School, where he played

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. As a baseball center fielder, he was a four-year letterman and voted first-team All-CIF his junior year. He also excelled in soccer, he was voted All-

CIF Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries. Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...

honors four years straight (2002–05). He played club soccer for Hotspurs USA (El Cajon, CA), and was a member of his region's Olympic Development Program (ODP) team. Zizzo then went on to play two 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 Kingd ...

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 St ...

. At UCLA he was an NCSAA/adidas

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n as a freshman in 2005. Zizzo was also selected as Pac10 Freshman Player of the Year the same year. In 2006, UCLA reached the College Cup vs. Santa Barbara in St. Louis. He finished his career at UCLA with 43 appearances, eight goals, and 14 assists. During his college years he also played two seasons with senior amateur team

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 Weste ...

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 syste ...

Professional

Zizzo left college early and turned professional in July 2007 after a successful U20 World Cup in Canada for the United States. He signed to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club Hannover 96, for a three-year contract. Zizzo made his Bundesliga debut for Hannover on May 10, 2008 in a match against

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

. In October 2009, Zizzo suffered an

ACL injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

and missed the entire 2009–10 season. During his stay at the club he was a regular starter for the reserve side, Hannover 96 II, appearing in 45 league matches and scoring 8 goals. On July 21, 2010,

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. Guada ...

acquired Zizzo through a weighted lottery conducted by MLS. Zizzo played in ten games (making one start) over the second half of the season, totaling 254 minutes and one assist. On February 15, 2011, Zizzo was traded by Chivas USA to MLS expansion side

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

in exchange for allocation money. Zizzo scored his first MLS goal on August 15, 2012 in a 2–2 draw at

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

. On August 31, 2013, Zizzo scored his second career league goal in a 4–2 loss to

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 20 ...

. In three seasons with Portland Zizzo appeared in 60 league matches and scored two goals and assisted on seven. On December 13, 2013, Zizzo was traded to

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

in exchange for allocation money. On September 23, 2014 Zizzo helped Sporting to a 3–0 victory over

Real Estelí Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

in a

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

match, scoring the third goal of the match. On December 10, 2014, Zizzo was the ninth pick of

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 ...

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 MLS ...

. The following day he was traded to local rivals

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

in a deal agreed prior to the draft, with Red Bulls goalkeeper

Ryan Meara Ryan Meara (born November 15, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. Career College and amateur Meara was raised in Yonkers, New York and attended Fordham P ...

going the other way on a one-year loan. Zizzo made his debut for New York on March 8, 2015 coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 draw at former club

. On March 22, 2015 Zizzo started his first match for New York in a 2–0 victory over rival

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 Suppo ...

at Red Bull Arena. On July 1, 2015 Zizzo scored his first goal for New York, helping the Red Bulls to a 4–1 victory in the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

over local rival

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 Independe ...

. Zizzo ended the season as the club's starting right back and helped New York in capturing the 2015

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 1 ...

. On August 15, 2017, Zizzo helped New York to a 3–2 come from behind victory over

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

, providing the game winning assist on

Bradley Wright-Phillips Bradley Edward Wright-Phillips (born 12 March 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career with Manchester City in the Premier League, before spending the remainder of his time in England in ...

's goal in the 101st minute which sent New York to their first Open Cup final since

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. In January 2018, Zizzo signed as a free agent with

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

. Zizzo announced his retirement from playing professional soccer on May 21, 2019. Just over six months following his announced retirement, Zizzo returned to professional soccer when he was announced as the first ever signing for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

side

San Diego Loyal San Diego Loyal Soccer Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in San Diego, California. The team was founded by Warren Smith and Landon Donovan. San Diego Loyal made its debut in 2020 as an expansion team in the ...

ahead of their inaugural season in 2020. Following the 2021 season, Zizzo again announced his retirement.

International

Zizzo represented the U.S. at the U18 and U20 levels. He participated in the Lisbon International Tournament and the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland with the U18s in 2005. Zizzo suited up for the United States. U20 National Team in the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup, starting all five of the team's matches in the tournament and helping the team reach the quarterfinals. He made his senior national team debut on August 22, 2007, in a friendly against Sweden.

Personal life

Zizzo holds both American and Italian citizenship, as both his parents were born in

Palermo, Sicily Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its hi ...

. This helped with negotiating a contract in Europe with

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

.German club Hannover signs U.S. U-20 Zizzo – Soccer America
In November 2013 Zizzo married Destiny Moniz. They have three daughters and one son, Capri Kalei born April 27, 2015, Aeri Elalia born on January 6, 2017, Zuri Meadow born June 29, 2018, and Massi Kailo born June 19 2021.

Career statistics

Honors

New York Red Bulls *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Atlanta United FC *

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 Conference ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zizzo, Sal 1987 births Living people American soccer players American people of Italian descent American expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany UCLA Bruins men's soccer players Orange County Blue Star players Hannover 96 players Hannover 96 II players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Chivas USA players Portland Timbers players Sporting Kansas City players New York Red Bulls players Atlanta United FC players Atlanta United 2 players San Diego Loyal SC players University of California, Los Angeles alumni Soccer players from California USL League Two players Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players United States men's international soccer players Association football fullbacks Association football wingers American expatriate soccer players