Sergei Kolomeites Raad (born August 3, 1982) is a Russian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who currently plays for

FC JAX Destroyers FC JAX Destroyers were an American soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States from 2011 to 2012. The organization had men's and women's franchises in the United Soccer Leagues: a men's team in the USL Premier Development League (PDL) ...

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 ...

Career

Youth and College

Raad's birth name is Sergei Kolomeites. He moved to the United States in 1995 after his Russian club team came to

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

to play in a tournament; he was sponsored by a local family and obtained a student visa so he could learn English, and eventually took on the surname of his adoptive family, Raad. He attended

Oviedo High School Oviedo High School is a grade 9–12 public secondary school set on a campus in Oviedo, Florida, a community situated in southeastern Seminole County operated by Seminole County Public Schools. Academics Oviedo High School has been rated an ...

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 Kingd ...

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

from 2000 to 2004, where he appeared in 62 games, notching 20 goals and 29 assists.

Professional

Raad turned professional in 2004 when he joined the now-defunct

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

team, the Calgary Mustangs. With the Mustangs he played in 20 games, scoring 4 goals and contributing 2 assists, before being released at the end of the season when the team folded. He spent the early months of 2005 training with

Zenit St. Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in ...

, but was not offered a contract by the Russian team, and instead returned to the United States, playing for

Central Florida Kraze Orlando City U-23 was an American soccer team based in Lake Mary, Florida, United States. Founded in 1998, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Southeast Division of the ...

in the

. He trained with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

during the second half of 2005, and must have impressed some scouts, as he signed a developmental contract with the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse and ...

on April 1, 2006. He played in one MLS game during the season, before being waived at the end of the 2006 season. During early 2007 Raad was training with the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club w ...

, but eventually returned home to play PDL soccer with the

again in 2007. After a couple of years out of the game in 2008 and 2009 Raad embarked on a third stint with the Kraze in 2010; he scored his first ever goal for the team in their 2010 season opener, a 3–1 win over Fort Lauderdale Schulz Academy. In 2011, Raad signed with the new PDL expansion team, FC Jax Destroyers.

References

External links

Sergei Raad profile at MLSNet

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raad, Sergei 1982 births Living people American men's soccer players Sporting Kansas City players A-League (1995–2004) players Calgary Mustangs (USL) players Orlando City U-23 players Furman University alumni Furman Paladins men's soccer players FC JAX Destroyers players Russian emigrants to the United States Major League Soccer players USL League Two players Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from Orlando, Florida