Zak Ibsen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zak Ibsen (born June 6, 1972 in Santa Clara, California) is an American soccer player who last played for San Jose Earthquakes.

Zak had a long and storied career earning many championships along the way. Ibsen played his college soccer at UCLA where he won a National Championship in 1990. Like few americans at the time, before the advent of MLS, Zak played professional soccer in Germany for VfL Bochum and Saarbrucken. In 1994, he played for the Los Angeles Salsa of the APSL.

Zak was the 26th pick in the 1996 MLS Supplemental Draft by the New England Revolution but was traded to the Dallas Burn for John Kerr, Jr. in the middle of the season. Ibsen played out the year with Dallas, and spent 1997 on the beach soccer circuit. He was traded to the Chicago Fire in 1998. Then he would win his first MLS Cup where he would play in 27 regular-season games for the Fire, starting five.

At the start of the next season, Zak was traded to the Los Angeles Galaxy for a second-round choice in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. He was traded again at the start of the 2001 season to the San Jose Earthquakes. With the Quakes, he would win his second MLS Cup. At the end of the 2002 season, Ibsen was placed on waivers.

Besides making 14 appearances for the US national team, Zak also represented the USA in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and won the 1995 Silver Medal with World Beach Soccer team.