Preki, the former Kansas City Wizards and US national team midfielder and former Chivas USA and Toronto FC coach was introduced Wednesday as the new coach of St. Louis FC of the USL.
Preki, 53, last coached the Sacramento Republic of the USL, whom he led to the league championship in 2014 in their inaugural season. In July of 2015, he resigned as the Republic's coach, reportedly to pursue an opportunity coaching in England, though nothing ever materialized. He left having guided Sacramento to 33 wins, 15 losses and five draws in 53 matches.
As a coach in MLS, Preki began his career in 2007, taking over as boss of Chivas USA after Bob Bradley was hired away as the US national team coach. He earned MLS Coach of the Year honors that year and would leave Chivas USA after three seasons, with a record of 41-36-30. He then coached Toronto FC in 2010, where he won the Canadian Championship and finished with a record of 11-11-10 before being fired in September.
As a player, Preki, who was born in Serbia (his full name is Predrag Radosavljevic) and played in the former Yugoslavia before coming to the United States to play indoors in the old Major Indoor Soccer League. He decided to pursue US citizenship and eventually moved to playing the game outdoors again, playing two seasons with the St. Louis Storm before going to England to play for Everton, then he went back and forth between England and indoor soccer in the US before he joined the Kansas City Wiz (later renamed the Wizards and even later, Sporting Kansas City) for the inaugural season of MLS in 1996.
He played 10 seasons in MLS, nine of them with Kansas City, and scored 79 goals. He was the league scoring leader and league MVP twice, in 1997 and 2003, and played 28 games for the US national team, including the 1998 World Cup in France. He scored four goals for the US.
