Robert Findley (born August 4, 1985) is an American former 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 forward. He was capped 11 times by the United States national team, having made his international debut in 2007. Findley played college soccer for the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for ...

and amateur soccer for the

Boulder Rapids Reserve Colorado Rapids U–23 were an American soccer team based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado, United States. Originally founded in 2000 as part of the development system for the Colorado Rapids, the team played in the Premier Develo ...

before turning professional in 2007. He played in

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 ...

for

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began play ...

and

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 ...

, before moving to English club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in January 2011. After a loan at Gillingham, Findley returned to Real Salt Lake before spells with

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 ...

and

Rayo OKC Rayo OKC, also known as Rayo Oklahoma City, was an American professional soccer team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They joined the North American Soccer League (NASL) – the second tier of the American soccer pyramid – beginning w ...

Early and personal life

Born in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, Findley attended

Shadow Mountain High School Shadow Mountain High School is a public high school located in the north valley of Phoenix, Arizona. The school is part of the Paradise Valley Unified School District. The school's athletic teams are known as the Matadors. Shadow Mountain's sch ...

, graduating in 2003. Findley is a cousin of basketball players

Mike Bibby Michael Bibby (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. He played professionally for 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He last served as the head coach for Hillcrest Prep Academy in Phoenix, ...

and

Eddie House Edward Lee House II (born May 14, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. A guard known for his three-point shooting, House played for nine NBA teams in 11 seasons in the league. He was a member of the Boston Celtics team that ...

, and American football wide receiver

Shaun McDonald Shaun Terrance McDonald (born June 30, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arizona State. McDonald has also played fo ...

. He is of Trinidadian descent.

Club career

College and amateur

Findley began his career playing

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 ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

. Later, he spent two seasons with the

of 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 ...

Major League Soccer

Findley was selected by the

in the second round of the 2007 MLS SuperDraft as the sixteenth pick overall. On June 21, 2007, Findley was traded along with midfielder

Nathan Sturgis Nathan Radford Sturgis (born July 6, 1987) is an American former soccer player who last played for Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer. Career Youth and college Sturgis attended Nease High School, played club soccer with the First Coast ...

in exchange for veteran forward Chris Klein. He joined

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

side Brøndby on trial in January 2009. However, he failed to secure a contract with the club and returned to Salt Lake. In the following season, he had three multi-goal matches, including the first hat trick in franchise history. In the 2009 MLS Cup Final, Findley scored in the 64th minute, tying the match at 1–1; Salt Lake later emerged victorious in penalty kicks, claiming the

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 ...

in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the MLS Cup final. Findley's contract with Real Salt Lake expired at the end of the 2010 MLS season, and he announced his intentions to leave MLS and move to Europe. Despite this statement of intent, Findley was selected by

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 the

2010 MLS Expansion Draft The 2010 MLS Expansion Draft took place on November 24, 2010, and was a special draft for the Major League Soccer expansion teams Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Portland Timbers. Format Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in mid-December 2010, Findley was signed as a free agent by English Championship club

on December 23, 2010, subject to receiving a work permit. His work permit was approved at a F.A. hearing in London on January 15, 2011. Findley incurred a thigh injury in training shortly after joining Forest and became unavailable until Spring 2011. After several months on the sidelines, Findley finally made his debut for Forest on April 22, 2011, coming on as a substitute in a 3–2 victory over East Midlands rivals

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. Findley made his full competitive debut for Forest on August 8, 2011, in a home fixture against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

in the first round of the 2011–12 Football League Cup. Findley scored Forest's second goal—his first goal for the club—after having an earlier effort ruled out for offside. He also converted his penalty in the match's penalty shoot-out, which Forest won. Forest manager

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching care ...

said: "He can have a big impact in the Championship. He is as fast as lightning. He is quick, he covers a lot of ground, he works for the team, he defends when he has to and, most importantly, he can get a goal". After struggling for first-team opportunities in 2012, Findley was loaned to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club Gillingham on September 21, 2012, for an initial period of one month. He made his debut for Gillingham in a 2–0 away win at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, and supplied the cross for the first goal. Vale manager

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a ninete ...

stated that "the pace of Findley scared the life out of" his team. After seven appearances for ''the Gills'', Findley returned to Forest. On January 14, 2013, Nottingham Forest announced that Findley's contract had been terminated by mutual consent.

Return to Major League Soccer

Following his release from Forest, Real Salt Lake acquired Findley's MLS rights from Portland in exchange for allocation money and re-signed him on January 16, 2013. On December 1, 2014, it was announced that Salt Lake had declined their option on Findley's contract. Findley entered the

2014 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2014 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 12, 2014 (Stage 1) and December 18, 2014 (Stage 2). All 20 Major League Soccer clubs were eligible to participate. The priority order for the Re-Entry Draft was reverse order of finish ...

on December 12, 2014 and was chosen in the first round of stage one by

. He scored a goal in his first game for Toronto to start the 2015 season. Findley would go on to finish the season scoring 2 goals for Toronto FC. On February 10, 2016, it was reported that Findley was no longer with Toronto FC.

NASL

On February 24, 2016, Findley signed a contract with

of the NASL, the second tier in the American soccer pyramid. On April 22, 2016, Findley scored his first goal for Rayo OKC in a 3-2 victory over

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

. On March 6, 2018, Findley announced his retirement from professional soccer.

International career

Findley made his international debut for the United States national team in October 2007 and made three appearances at the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa, starting at forward for the US against England and Slovenia in the group stage of the tournament, as well as starting in the round of 16 match against Ghana.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Findley, Robbie 1985 births Living people African-American soccer players American soccer players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in England Association football forwards Oregon State Beavers men's soccer players Colorado Rapids U-23 players LA Galaxy players Real Salt Lake players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Toronto FC players Rayo OKC players American sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent United States men's under-23 international soccer players United States men's international soccer players 2010 FIFA World Cup players LA Galaxy draft picks USL League Two players Major League Soccer players English Football League players North American Soccer League players Soccer players from Arizona Expatriate footballers in England 21st-century African-American sportspeople