Dallas, Texas - FC Dallas President and General Manager Greg Elliott announced today that the club has won the MLS lottery for the rights to defender Alex Yi.
"Alex is a young player with a lot of potential and we are very excited to have him on our team," said FC Dallas Head Coach Colin Clarke. "It didn't work out for him in Europe, but he went there and got some real good experience over there in Belgium.
"We're looking forward to having him come in here and compete with everybody else."
Yi, 22, played two years with Royal Antwerp in Belgium before coming to Dallas. A veteran of the U-23 and U-20 U.S. National Teams, Yi has six career caps with the U-23 team and 12 career caps with the U-20 team. In 2001 with the U-20 team, he played in all three matches during the FIFA World Youth Championships held in Argentina.
The 6-2, 175-pound defender played two seasons at UCLA before heading over to Belgium. In 2001, Yi was a nominee for both the Hermann Trophy and M.A.C. Player of the Year Award and was a second-team All-Pac-10 selection. The Easton, Maryland native was also a third-team All-American. In 2000, he was honored as the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and earned second-team All-Pac-10 acclaim. Soccer America also selected Yi to its All-Freshman Team.
"I am very excited right now and look forward to heading to Dallas for preseason and the season opener in the new stadium in Frisco," said Yi. "I am very anxious to get down there and start my career with FC Dallas."
With the ability to speak Korean, Yi's father played for the Korean Youth National Team. Yi is scheduled to report to spring training with FC Dallas on January 31.
