Sigi Schmid

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Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (born March 20, 1953 in Tübingen, West Germany) is a soccer coach who currently heads the Columbus Crew.

Schmid moved from Germany to Torrance, California in 1962. He received a B.S. in economics from UCLA in 1976, and an M.A in Business Administration from USC. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

He played (and started) in midfield at UCLA between 1972 and 1975. He was an assistant coach at UCLA in 1977 and 1979, before becoming head of the program in 1980. Schmid's record over 19 seasons at UCLA was 322-63-33, winning three College Cups, in 1985, 1990, and 1997. He was named NSCAA Coach of the Year in 1997. Schmid was an assistant on the US national team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

He coached the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer from 1999 to 2004, where he won MLS Supporters' Shields in 1998 and 2002, an MLS Cup in 2002, the US Open Cup in 2001 and the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2001.

Schmid was fired by the Galaxy on August 16, 2004, despite the team being in first place in the league, and Schmid having coached the Western Conference in the All-Star game that year, due to the Galaxy's lack of an "entertaining style of play." He was replaced by former US national team coach Steve Sampson.

Sigi Schmid was appointed U.S. Under-20 national team coach in January 1998 and at the finals of the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. After leaving the Galaxy, he again coached the U-20s, this time at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. After the 2005 MLS season, he came back to the league, in charge of the Columbus Crew.