Thomas Dooley

This article is about the American soccer player. For other people, see Tom Dooley.

Thomas Dooley

Personal information
Full name	Thomas Dennis Dooley
Date of birth	(1961-05-12) May 12, 1961 (age 63)
Place of birth	Bechhofen, West Germany
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
0000–1979	TuS Eintracht 1912 Bechhofen
1979–1981	TuS Landstuhl
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1983	FK Pirmasens	40	(17)
1983–1988	FC Homburg	121	(20)
1988–1993	1. FC Kaiserslautern	128	(14)
1994–1995	Bayer Leverkusen	21	(3)
1995–1997	Schalke 04	28	(3)
1997–2000	Columbus Crew	73	(7)
2000–2001	MetroStars	22	(0)
Total		433	(64)
International career
1992–1999	United States	81	(7)
Managerial career
2002–2003	1. FC Saarbrücken
2011–2014	United States (assistant) [1]
2014–2018	Philippines
2019–2020	Viettel (sporting director)
2021	Sri Pahang
2022	Philippines
2023–2024	The Cong-Viettel FC
Medal record Men's Soccer Representing   United States Runner-up CONCACAF Gold Cup 1993 Runner-up CONCACAF Gold Cup 1998 Representing   Philippines (as manager) Runner-up AFC Challenge Cup 2014 Vietnam 1 league 2020 Vietnam Youth Championship 2023
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Dooley (born May 12, 1961) is a former soccer player and coach. He played as a defender and defensive midfielder and was a long-time member and former captain of the United States national team. Dooley currently is the technical director of The Cong-Viettel FC, playing in V.League 1.

Early life

Dooley was born in Bechhofen, West Germany to a German mother and a father who served in the U.S. Army. ^[2]

Club career

Dooley played as a forward with amateur team FK Pirmasens. He started his professional career in 1984 with third division club FC Homburg. He moved to midfield with Homburg and helped the team move steadily up the German leagues, until they finally reached the Bundesliga. ^[3]

He moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1988 and helped them to the German Cup in 1990 and the Bundesliga title in 1991. He also played as they won the 1991 DFB-Supercup. ^[4] After the 1994 World Cup, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, and to Schalke 04 a year after that, helping them to the 1997 UEFA Cup title.

At the end of the season, he moved to Major League Soccer (MLS), signing with the Columbus Crew. Dooley spent three seasons in Columbus and was named to the MLS Best XI in both 1997 and 1998. In 2000, Thomas was traded to the MetroStars for Mike Duhaney, partially to help support Lothar Matthäus' adjustment to the United States. Dooley played one year for the Metros before retiring from playing soccer.

International career

As U.S. Soccer started to look abroad for players eligible to play for its national team in advance of its hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Dooley was discovered. He made his first international appearance on May 30, 1993, against Ireland. Dooley became a regular for the U.S. almost immediately, being named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1993 and then playing every minute at the 1994 World Cup, including the match against Colombia which the U.S. won 2–1. After John Harkes was dismissed from the U.S. national team, Dooley was named captain for the 1998 World Cup, and started every game for the U.S. ^[5]

On February 21, 1999, Dooley was given a send-off match by the United States in a friendly against Chile. ^[6] He ended his international career with 81 caps and seven goals. ^[2]

International goals

Scores and results list United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dooley goal.

List of international goals scored by Thomas Dooley

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	June 9, 1993	Foxborough, Massachusetts	England	1–0	2–0	Friendly (1993 U.S. Cup)
2	June 13, 1993	Chicago, Illinois	Germany	1–1	3–4	Friendly (1993 U.S. Cup)
3				3–4
4	July 14, 1993	Dallas, Texas	Panama	2–1	2–1	1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup
5	June 18, 1995	Washington, D.C.	Mexico	2–0	4–0	Friendly
6	June 16, 1996	Pasadena, California	Mexico	2–2	2–2	Friendly
7	November 10, 1996	Richmond, Virginia	Trinidad and Tobago	1–0	2–0	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualifying

Coaching career

Saarbrücken

After retiring, Dooley went back to Germany and became the head coach of FC Saarbrücken in 2002, becoming the first American to coach a team in Europe.

United States

Dooley was appointed by U.S. national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann to be an assistant coach in the match against Mexico on August 10, 2011. ^[1]

Philippines

Thomas Dooley (center left) with Philippine national team coach, Dan Palami (center right) along with officials from the Institute of Plant Breeding and Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development

In February 2014, Dooley signed a one-year deal with the Philippine Football Federation to handle the Philippines national team. ^[7] His first match was a friendly against Malaysia which ended 0–0, ^[8] and a few days later, narrowly lost to European side Azerbaijan 1–0. ^[9] Dooley earned his first win for the Philippines after his charges defeated Nepal 3–0 in another friendly match in Qatar. ^[10]

Dooley earned national team coach Dan Palami's praise after his first few matches in charge. Palami commended Dooley's ability to foster a better understanding of the game to his squad and give subs and reserves chances to step up in the absence of star players. "Our players have a better understanding of the role they have to play in their respective positions under Dooley's system that anyone can step up even if we don't have our stars playing," Palami said. ^[11]

The Philippine national team came close to qualifying to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. They failed to qualify after they lost 0–1 to Palestine in the final of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. ^[12] Two months after the tournament, Stephan Schröck and Dennis Cagara resigned from the national team over tensions with Dooley. ^[13] Schröck had disagreement with the setup of the national team under Dooley but has made amends with the coach in 2015 and briefly played once again for the Philippines though undisclosed issues surfaced in 2016. ^[14]

In his first match coaching the Philippines in a World Cup qualifier, Dooley's team defeated Bahrain 2–1. ^[15] After an impressive run in qualifying that included a 3–2 win over North Korea that was considered an upset, Dooley's contract was extended for two years. ^[16]

Dooley failed to get the Philippines past the group stage at the 2016 AFF Championship, which the Philippines co-hosted with Myanmar. He managed to secure qualification for the Philippines for their first Asian Cup stint in the 2019 by winning 2–1 over Tajikistan in March 2018. ^[17] The coach's contract with the Philippines ended on March 31, 2018 ^[18] after the historic match. ^{[19] [13]} Dooley's contract was not renewed and the PFF announced Terry Butcher as his successor in June 2018. ^[20]

Viettel

In 2019, Dooley was appointed as sporting director of V.League 1 club Viettel. ^{[21] [22]} During his tenure, Viettel won the 2020 V.League 1 title.

Sri Pahang

In January 2021, Dooley was appointed as head coach of Malaysia Super League club Sri Pahang, replacing Dollah Salleh. ^[23] Three months after his appointment, Dooley was sacked by Sri Pahang together with his assistant coach, Christophe Gamel and was replaced by former head coach Dollah Salleh. After being sacked, he was immediately appointed as adviser of Sri Pahang U21 team while Gamel was appointed as head coach. ^{[24] [25]}

Return to Philippines

In May 2022, Dooley was reappointed as head coach of the Philippines national team ahead of the third round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, replacing Scott Cooper. ^{[26] [27] [28]} He signed a short-term deal with an option to extend depending on the qualification of the Philippines to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. ^[29]

Coaching statistics

As of match played June 14, 2022

Team	Nat.	From	To	Record
				M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
1. FC Saarbrücken		January 18, 2002	June 30, 2002	15	4	2	9	16	39	−23	026.67
Philippines		February 3, 2014	March 31, 2018	42	18	11	13	63	53	+10	042.86
Sri Pahang		January 3, 2021	March 14, 2021	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	000.00
Philippines		May 25, 2022	June 15, 2022	3	1	1	1	1	4	−3	033.33

Honors

FC Homburg

• Oberliga Südwest: 1984

1. FC Kaiserslautern

• Bundesliga: 1990–91
• DFB-Pokal: 1989–90
• DFL-Supercup: 1991

FC Schalke 04

• UEFA Cup: 1996–97

Individual

• U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 1993 ^[30]
• MLS All-Star, 1998, ^[31] 1999 ^[32]
• MLS Best XI: 1997, 1998
• MLS Fair Play Award: 1998
• National Soccer Hall of Fame: 2010 ^[33]

References

Media related to Thomas Dooley at Wikimedia Commons

1. "Jurgen Klinsmann sets U.S. roster". ESPN FC. ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
2. Brian Sciaretta (February 20, 2014). "Thomas Dooley Takes Over Philippines National Team". American Soccer Now. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
3. "Dooley, USA's German giant". FIFA. Archived from the original on June 13, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
4. "Deutscher Supercup, 1991, Finale". dfb.de. October 16, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
5. Thomas Dooley – FIFA competition record (archived)
6. "Ex-US skipper Dooley is new Azkals coach: report". ABS-CBN News. January 31, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
7. Teng Kiat (February 7, 2014). "Philippines appoint Dooley as new coach". Goal.com. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
8. "Malaysia 0 – 0 Philippines Match report – 3/1/14 Friendlies". Goal.com. March 1, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
9. "First half header lifts Azerbaijan past PHL Azkals". GMA News Online. March 6, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
10. Ceres Lina (April 12, 2014). "Dooley picks up first win as Azkals coach after 3–0 blowout versus Nepal". GMA News Online. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
11. "Palami likes Azkals' chances in AFC Challenge Cup". Rappler. April 22, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
12. Moore, Roy (May 31, 2014). "Azkals forced to settle for second place at 2014 AFC Challenge Cup". GMA News. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
13. Go, Beatrice (March 28, 2018). "No decision yet on Dooley's contract according to Azkals manager Palami". Rappler. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
14. Hammond, Ashley (March 16, 2018). "Axeing Schrock could come back to haunt Dooley". Gulf News International. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
15. "Philippines upset Bahrain in World Cup qualifying". ESPN FC. ESPN. June 11, 2015. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
16. Tupas, Cedelf (April 19, 2016). "Dooley stays Azkals coach for another two years". Inquirer.net. IGC. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
17. Duerden, John (March 28, 2018). "Philippines rally to make history and qualify for first-ever Asian Cup". ESPN 5. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
18. Go, Beatrice (April 3, 2018). "Azkals move forward with possible new recruits, 'bayanihan' initiatives – Palami". Rappler. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
19. Leongson, Randolph (April 3, 2018). "Palami on Dooley's status with Azkals: 'A lot of reasons for him to be extended'". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
20. Saldajeno, Ivan Stewart (June 16, 2018). "Dooley respects PFF decision to replace him with Butcher". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
21. Tâm, Băng (May 26, 2022). "'Người cũ' CLB Viettel làm HLV trưởng Philippines" (in Vietnamese). An ninh Thủ đô. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
22. Pedralvez, Manolo (May 27, 2022). "Ex Azkals coach Thomas Dooley hails Younghusbands — 'Pleasure to work with them'". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
23. "Ex-US captain Dooley replaces Dollah as Pahang coach". New Straits Times. January 3, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
24. Awang, Asrol (April 8, 2021). "Dooley, Gamel tak dipecat" (in Malay). Berita Harian. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
25. Azharie, Farah (April 10, 2021). "Bernhardt joins the ranks of the 'rested'". New Straits Times. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
26. "Thomas Dooley returns as Azkals Head Coach". Philippine Football Federation. May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
27. "Football: Thomas Dooley back as Azkals head coach". ABS-CBN News. May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
28. Micaller, Bea (May 25, 2022). "Thomas Dooley back at the helm of Philippine Azkals". GMA News. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
29. Cabatbat, Erel (May 26, 2022). "The comeback kid". The Manila Standard. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
30. "Athlete of the Year Award". US Soccer. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
31. "1998 MLS All-Star Game". MLSsoccer.com. August 2, 1998. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
32. "1999 MLS All-Star Game". MLSsoccer.com. July 17, 1999. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
33. "Thomas Dooley - 2010 Inductee | National Soccer Hall of Fame". Thomas Dooley - 2010 Inductee | National Soccer Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 18, 2023.

Sporting positions
Preceded by John Harkes	United States captain 1998	Succeeded by Claudio Reyna