Ian Christopher Bridge (born 18 September 1959) is a football coach and former professional who played as a defender. A former player for the Canada national team, he has coached the Canada women's national team among other teams.

Club career

Bridge was born in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

. He began his pro career in 1977 and played in the NASL with the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

from 1979 to 1983 and with 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 1984, and MISL indoor soccer with the Tacoma Stars. Over six NASL seasons he played 124 games and scored 13 goals. Following the demise of the NASL Bridge played for Swiss club

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds FC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss football club based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It was founded in 1894 and used to play at the Stade Charrière. History F.C. La Chaux-de-Fonds was founded on July 4, 1894, and won the Swiss first division in the ...

for two seasons when the club was in the Swiss league first division. Later in the Canadian Soccer League, he played for the Victoria Vistas (1990), Kitchener Kickers (1991), and North York Rockets (1991). Ian played his youth soccer with th
Lakehill Soccer Association
in Victoria BC, and has an annually awarded Youth Player "Inspirational" trophy named in his honour.

International career

A defender, Bridge made his debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in an October 1981 friendly match against

Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of Gr ...

and earned 34 caps, scoring 5 goals. He has represented Canada in 12 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played all three of Canada's games at the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals, the country's only appearance at a World Cup finals. Bridge also played for Canada at the 1984 Olympics and at the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. He scored a goal in the first two 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifying games that he played in. His final international was a June 1991

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

Finals match against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Bridge was inducted into the

Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Ha ...

in 2003.

Managerial career

Bridge was head coach of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

women's soccer team from 1990 to 2000. He became assistant coach of Canada women's national soccer team in 1997, a position he still has. He became U-19 national women's coach and chief national team assistant coach in March 2001. (The national youth women's team has since become U-20.) Bridge is also team chef of the

Canada men's national youth soccer teams The Canada U-17 men's national soccer team (also known as Canada Under-17s or Canada U-17s ) represents Canada in international soccer at this age level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Ca ...

. On 10 January 2010, Bridge resigned as head coach of the U-17 Canadian women national team and is now coaching the Victoria Highlanders of the USL (United Soccer league) Premier Development League.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bridge goal.''

References

External links

* / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame inductee page for Bridge

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge, Ian 1959 births Living people Soccer players from Victoria, British Columbia Canadian people of British descent Association football defenders Canadian soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Championship-winning players Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players Tacoma Stars players FC La Chaux-de-Fonds players Victoria Vistas players North York Rockets players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Swiss Super League players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate soccer players in the United States Canadian soccer coaches Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees Olympic soccer players of Canada FC La Chaux-de-Fonds managers Canada men's youth international soccer players Kitchener Spirit players