Fadi Afash (born 4 January 1974 in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player, most notably with the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

. Afash is best known among Timbers fans for scoring the "Sunshine Goal", a goal that not only carried a strong emotional connection for many fans but also won the Timbers the 2004 regular-season championship of the USL First Division. On January 22, 2010 he was ranked 15th in the

USL Second Division The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer ...

Top 15 of the Decade, which announced a list of the best and most influential players of the previous decade.

Playing career

Afash joined the Timbers in 2002 and played through 2005. For much of this time he was the team's leading striker, scoring 27 goals in 53 appearances. He also had spells with the

Stanislaus County Cruisers California Gold was an American soccer team which began playing under the Gold moniker in 2002. The club was founded in 1997 as the Stanislaus County Cruisers. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL), ...

and the Utah Blitzz, where he was named the 2001 USL D3 Pro League MVP.

Arrest and conviction

In January 2007, Afash was sentenced to 17 months in prison for identity theft and other charges related to the theft of an estimated $138,000 from an elderly Washington couple.

References

1974 births Living people Syrian men's footballers Syrian expatriate men's footballers Portland Timbers (2001–2010) players California Gold players Utah Blitzz players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Stanislaus County Cruisers players Footballers from Aleppo Men's association football forwards {{Syria-footy-bio-stub