Colin Burns
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| Colin Burns | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Colin William Burns | |
| Date of birth | June 30, 1982 | |
| Place of birth | Newark, DE, United States | |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | |
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Ljungskile SK | |
| Number | 1 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 2000-2004 | UMass | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2006 2006 2007 2007 2008- |
Delaware Dynasty FC Olimpia Bălţi Sepsi-78 Kokkolan Palloveikot Ljungskile SK |
10 (0) 8 (0) 18 (0) 8 (0) 3 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Colin Burns (born June 30, 1982 in Newark, Delaware) is an American soccer goalkeeper who currently plays for Ljungskile SK in the Allsvenskan.
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[edit] Early years
Colin grew up in Newark, Delaware, and played high school soccer for the Newark High School Yellow Jackets. He played his youth soccer with the Kirkwood Soccer Club. Burns also played in the Delaware Olympic Development Program (ODP) from 1994-2001. While playing for Delaware ODP, he was selected to the Region 1 team from 2000-2001 traveling with them to tournaments in France, Holland and Switzerland.
[edit] Playing career
[edit] College
Burns played college soccer at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He was named team captain in his red-shirt senior year in 2004. Burns was part of the first UMass Men's soccer team to play in the Division 1 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship in 2001. He graduated from UMass in May 05' with a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science.[1]
[edit] Professional
Burns began his professional career with a 5 month training stint with Partick Thistle FC of the Scottish Football League Second Division from July to November 2005. He had trouble obtaining a work permit in Scotland so he left in November of 2005 and returned to the US.[2] Burns joined hometown club Delaware Dynasty of the PDL in February 2006 and played with them until July.[3]
[edit] Moldova
Burns returned to Europe in August 2006 to sign a one year contract with FC Olimpia Bălţi in the Divizia Naţională, the top league in Moldova. He was named the first choice goalkeeper shortly after arriving in Balti. Colin made his professional debut against FC Dacia Chişinău in Stadionul Republican on September 9, 2006. Olimpia lost 1-0 in his debut but Burns was named man of the match for his efforts in the game.[4]
Burns played in 8 matches for Olimpia before cancelling his contract during the winter break due to the financial crisis of the club. Much of the football media regarded Burns as one of the top goalkeepers in the league during his short stay in Moldova.
[edit] Finland
From Moldova, Burns joined Sepsi-78 in the Kakkonen in Seinäjoki, Finland.[5] He would appear for Sepsi in 18 matches from April to August 2007. Burns picked up 8 clean sheets and 3 man of the match honors while playing for Sepsi. He also helped Sepsi to a 1-0 win over local city rival TP-Seinäjoki. This was the first time Sepsi had beaten TP in 13 years.
Because of Colin's form, Sepsi was getting interest from many clubs around Finland wanting to buy him for the remainder of the season. Burns was sold to Kokkolan Palloveikot (KPV) in the ykkonen in August 2007. Burns agreed to a short term contract that would keep him there till the end of the season. Colin played in 8 matches for KPV picking up 1 clean sheet and named man of the match once, ultimately helping them avoid a late season relegation from the ykkonen.[6] In only his fourth match with KPV, Burns gained man of the match honors against Tampereen Pallo-Veikot (TPV) in a 1-0 win. After the match, TPV head coach, Mikko Purola, was quoted in a local Tampere newspaper as saying, 'This game showed that Burns is the best goalkeeper in the league.'
[edit] Sweden
Burns signed a two year contract with Allsvenskan side Ljungskile SK (LSK) in February 2008.[7]
His transfer was about to collapse because of a dispute with the Swedish Football Association over his registration. Because Burns had played for two clubs in the period from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, under previous FIFA guidelines, he was not eligible to play for a third club during that period. FIFA changed their rules in December 2007 so that the period from July 1 to June 30 was no longer relevant. Under new regulations, the period is defined as the first game of the season to the last game of the season making Burns eligible to play for LSK. The Swedish Football Association had not adopted the new FIFA regulations and so they initially blocked his transfer.[8] Legal action and pressure from the Swedish media, encouraged the Swedish FA to change their rules to comply with FIFA. This rule change has come to be known as the 'Burns Rule' by Swedish media.[9][10]
[edit] Trivia
- Colin trained with Motherwell FC, a Scottish Premier League club, in July 2005
- Burns trained with then French Ligue 1 club Troyes AC in late 2005.
- In 2007, Colin was teamates with Edward Anyamkyegh, who was one of the subjects in the book, How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer.[11]
[edit] See also
- List of current American soccer players by US state
- List of people from Delaware
- List of Swedish football transfers 2007-08
[edit] References
- ^ UMass player profile.
- ^ Newark native nets his goal.
- ^ Delaware Dynasty PDL 2006 statistics.
- ^ Stop in Sweden.
- ^ Sepsi-78 #30 Colin Burns (Finnish).
- ^ Ykkonen KPV Statistics (Finnish).
- ^ Ljungskile SK player profile #1 Colin Burns (Swedish).
- ^ Burns Wins LSK Eligibility Fight.
- ^ European History - Boston Globe.
- ^ Burns Rule ("Дело Бернса") - moldfootball.com (Russian).
- ^ 2007 Sepsi-78 Roster.
