Cory Gibbs
Encyclopedia
Cory Gibbs is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 soccer player who currently plays for Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

.

College and amateur

Gibbs played college soccer
College soccer
College soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...

 at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, joining the team in 1997. During his career, Brown won three Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 Championships and participated in the NCAA Tournament all four years. In 2000, Gibbs led Brown to an Ivy League championship and the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He was named Ivy League Player of the Year, and a First-Team All-American
Division I First-Team All-American (soccer)
The Division I First-Team All-Americans are the best eleven U.S. college soccer players as selected by the NCAA.-1970–1983:From 1970 to 1983 the NCAA only named defenders and forwards in addition to one goalkeeper.-1983–present:...

. In 2000, he spent the collegiate off season with the Palm Beach Pumas
Palm Beach Pumas
Palm Beach Pumas was an American soccer team based in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. Founded in 2000, the team played in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2008, when the franchise folded and the team left the league.The team played...

 of the Premier Development League. He was also one of three Brown soccer players, including Matthew Cross
Matthew Cross
Matt Cross is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Manly Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League. He previously played for the Penrith Panthers & Gold Coast Titans. He plays as a prop or in the second-row. He is the brother of Ben Cross.Cross spent the 2009 NRL season with...

 (Kansas City Wizards
Kansas City Wizards
Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in Kansas City, Kansas that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada...

) and Scott Powers (Columbus Crew
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...

), to be drafted in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft
2001 MLS SuperDraft
-Round 1:-Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6:-External links:*...

.

Professional

After graduating from Brown in 2001, Gibbs decided not to play in MLS and joined FC St. Pauli
FC St. Pauli
Fußball-Club St. Pauli is a German sports club based in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg. The football section is part of a larger club that also has Rugby Fußball-Club St. Pauli is a German sports club based in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg. The football section is part of a larger club that...

 of the Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

. He played 25 games for St. Pauli that season, becoming the youngest American to score a goal in the Bundesliga with a goal against FC Cologne
1. FC Köln
1. FC Köln is a German association football club based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and SpVgg Sülz 07....

. St. Pauli was relegated to the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga
2. Fußball-Bundesliga
- Changes in division set-up :* Number of clubs: currently 18. From 1974 to 1981 there were two conferences, each of 20 teams. In 1981–91 it had 20...

 after the 2001–02 season, and Gibbs played an equally important role with the team in his second season as in his first. St. Pauli, however, was relegated again after the 2002–03 season, this time to the Regionalliga Nord
Regionalliga Nord
The Regionalliga Nord is currently the fourth tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008 it was the third tier. It currently is the highest regional league for the northern and eastern part of Germany. It covers ten of the sixteen states of Germany...

, the German third division. Gibbs remained with the team, being moved from central defense to defensive midfielder.

Gibbs decided to leave St. Pauli during 2003 due to the low level of play and lack of exposure needed to secure a spot on the United States national team
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...

. After a move to Jahn Regensburg
Jahn Regensburg
SSV Jahn Regensburg is a German association football club based in Regensburg, Bavaria. The team was part of a larger sports club founded in 1889 as Turnerbund Jahn Regensburg which took its name from Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, whose ideas of gymnastics greatly influenced German sport in the 19th...

 of the 2. Bundesliga fell through, Gibbs decided to return to the United States and play in Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

, where he would be easily visible and available for international matches. Although the Columbus Crew initially tried to acquire Gibbs, he eventually ended up with FC Dallas
FC Dallas
FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada...

, then known as the Dallas Burn.

Gibbs was a starter in every game for which he was available during his stint with Dallas. He made a total of 21 appearances before leaving for Feyenoord
Feyenoord Rotterdam
Feyenoord is a Dutch professional football club located in Rotterdam. Along with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord is one of the "big three" clubs in the Netherlands. These three clubs and Utrecht and Roda JC are the only clubs never to have been relegated from the Dutch first division...

.

On January 20, 2005, the Dutch club Feyenoord agreed on a transfer
Transfer (football)
In professional association football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between professional clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one professional association football club to another. In general, the players can only be...

 with MLS, and Gibbs signed a four and a half year contract with the club. In his first season, he made 15 appearances and scored one goal.

After injuring his knee in a U.S. national team friendly
Exhibition game
An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...

 against England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 on May 28, 2005, Gibbs rehabbed, under the direction of Dr. Daniel Kalbac in Miami, Florida, and came back from his injury on January 19, 2006. On January 24, 2006, Feyenoord loaned
Loan (football)
In sports, a loan involves a particular player being allowed to temporarily play for a club other than the one he is currently contracted to. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to all season-long....

 Gibbs to ADO Den Haag
ADO Den Haag
Alles Door Oefening Den Haag , commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag , is a Dutch football club from the city of The Hague. The club was for a time known as FC Den Haag , with ADO representing the amateur branch of the club...

 for the remainder of the season.

Gibbs signed a pre-contract agreement with English Premier League club Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

 in May 2006 just before Alan Curbishley
Alan Curbishley
Llewellyn Charles "Alan" Curbishley is an English football manager and former professional player....

's departure. After a short stay at Charlton it was announced that he would leave June 30, 2008 at the end of his contract. He never played a match for Charlton due to injuries.

Following his departure from Charlton, Gibbs moved to MLS. It was expected that he'd be selected by the Galaxy, who had first option to pick up his contract in the allocation listings, but he was eventually selected by Colorado
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...

 after the Galaxy passed on Gibbs in order to be able to pick Eddie Lewis. Gibbs was transferred to New England Revolution
New England Revolution
The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...

 on January 21, 2010 in a trade that involved four players, MLS SuperDraft
MLS SuperDraft
The MLS SuperDraft is an annual event, taking place in January of each year, in which the Major League Soccer teams select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the league...

 picks and allocation money.

Gibbs was selected by the Chicago Fire with the seventh pick of the MLS Re-Entry Draft on December 15, 2010. He agreed terms with the club the same day.

International

Gibbs's return to the U.S. helped his national team career, as he received frequent callups for 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Gibbs solidified his position as one of USA's top central defenders. Since making his first full international appearance June 8, 2003, in a friendly against New Zealand
New Zealand national soccer team
The New Zealand national football team, nicknamed the All Whites, is the national association football team of New Zealand and is governed by New Zealand Football . The team plays in an all-white strip rather than the traditional New Zealand sporting black due to a former FIFA regulation that...

, Gibbs has received 19 caps.

Gibbs was initially a part of the United States' 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

 team, but he reinjured his right knee in a friendly with Morocco
Morocco national football team
The Morocco national football team , nicknamed أسود الأطلس , is the national team of Morocco and is managed by Eric Gerets. Winners of the African Nations Cup in 1976, they were the first African team to win a group at the World Cup, which they did in 1986, finishing ahead of Portugal, Poland, and...

 on May 23, 2006 and was replaced by Gregg Berhalter
Gregg Berhalter
Gregg Berhalter is a retired American soccer player who currently is an assistant coach for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer.-Youth and College:...

. Gibbs played only 45 minutes all season for Charlton's reserves following surgery to repair cartilage in his knee. Gibbs returned to international football when he was selected by Bob Bradley
Bob Bradley
Robert "Bob" Bradley is an American soccer coach and the current manager of the Egypt national football team, taking over in September 2011. He previously managed the United States men's national soccer team...

 for the United States' March 26 match against Poland
Poland national football team
The Poland national football team represents Poland in association football and is controlled by the Polish Football Association, the governing body for football in Poland...

.

Personal

Cory is married to BBC Radio 1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a digital radio station in the United Kingdom from the BBC specialising in new black music, sometimes referred to as urban music. Launched at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been codenamed Network X during the consulation period and is the sister station to BBC Radio 1...

 radio presenter and former Mis-Teeq
Mis-Teeq
Mis-Teeq are a British R&B girl group, comprising singers Alesha Dixon, Su-Elise Nash and Sabrina Washington. Originally a quartet which included Zena McNally, the group was formed in 1999 and released three major studio albums and seven consecutive UK top ten singles, including international hits...

 singer Zena McNally
Zena McNally
Zena McNally was a co-presenter of the breakfast show on the BBC Radio 1Xtra alongside Trevor Nelson. She is a former member of the band Mis-Teeq, and also a solo singer...

. They were married on July 4, 2008, in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

.

Gibbs also runs a soccer camp 'Cory Gibbs StarSoccer', which takes place every summer in the United States.

External links

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