Mark Litton

Mark Litton will be working as a Goalkeeper Coach for the new Professional Futsal League (PFL), scheduled to start league play in November 2016. Mark's first duties include being named the Goalkeeper Coach for PFL Team USA when it takes on world power FC Barcelona and PFL Team Mexico in the PFL International Challenge, taking place in Frisco, TX March 13–15, 2015. He will also be the Goalkeeper Coach for PFL Team USA in August 2015 at the PFL SuperCopa event in Orlando, FL. Brazil’s legendary São Paulo Futebol Clube, and Brazilian star Falcão with his team, Futsal Brasil Kirin, will headline the PFL SuperCopa 2015. Litton was also named the National Technical Director of Goalkeeping for the U.S. Youth Futsal program in late 2013. Additional responsibilities with U.S. Youth Futsal includes being part of the Coaching Education and Certification program. Mark is one of two coaching education instructors, conducting USYF Level 3 and Level 4 Coaching Certification Courses nationwide.

Mark was the goalkeeper coach for the 6 time MISL Champion Milwaukee Wave from 2005 to 2014. He helped them win championships in 2005, 2011, and 2012.^[1] Aside from working with the goalkeepers at the Milwaukee Wave, Mark was also the Head Coach of the Wave reserve team, the Milwaukee Wave United. Prior to joining the Wave 10 seasons ago, Mark was the goalkeeper coach for the University of Wisconsin–Parkside (1998–2001).

In 2007, Mark spent time working with the US National Futsal team goalkeepers as they prepared for the 2007 Pan Am Games.

In May 2008, he was hired by the US National Futsal team as their first ever goalkeeper coach. He accompanied the team on trips to Miami, Florida, and Fortaleza, Brazil, as they began preparing for the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Following the Brazil trip, Mark accompanied the team to Guatemala City, Guatemala as they competed in the CONCACAF regional qualifiers. The US team finished in 3rd place, which qualified them for the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup, which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 30 through October 19, 2008, with the US grouped with Thailand, Italy, Portugal, and Paraguay. He also helped the US team prepare for the 2012 CONCACAF regional qualifying tournament, which was held in Guatemala City in early July 2012. The US team did not qualify for the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup that was held in Thailand in November 2012. In June 2013, Mark accompanied the US team to Newcastle, England, as they won the Four Nations Cup, beating England, Malaysia, and Poland. Litton returned with the team to the Four Nations Cup in June 2014 where they beat Qatar, Cyprus and tied England, before returning to Milwaukee Wisconsin to play two games against France, losing the first game but winning the second game. Later in 2014, Mark accompanied the US Futsal National Team on a trip to Argentina, where they played 5th ranked team in the world, Argentina in 4 games.

Mark is a former goalkeeper with the Milwaukee Wave, having been with the team from 1989 through 1994. Mark was also the starting goalkeeper at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside from 1986-88. He was an NAIA All-American goalkeeper in 1988.^[2] His goals against average at UW–Parkside in his All-American season was 0.683. He ranks seventh on the all-time UW–Parkside list for career minutes played with 3,863. He posted 21 career shutouts and logged a 1.23 career goals against average. Mark played at St. Catherine’s High School as a defender prior to playing goalkeeper at Wisconsin–Parkside. His senior year at St Catherine's high school (Racine, WI) he was the team captain, MVP, and 2nd team all Racine County, and 2nd team All Conference. Mark's senior season at St Catherine's high school in fall of 1981 was the school's very first soccer season as a varsity sport. Mark was inducted into the St Catherine's high school Alumni Hall of Fame in September 2014.

From 2009 to 2011, Mark returned to his Alma Mater, UW–Parkside, as the men's soccer team goalkeeper coach. In October 2010, Mark was inducted into the UW-Parkside Athletic Hall of Fame. In the fall of 2011, he became the goalkeeper coach for the men's soccer team at NCAA Division I UW-Milwaukee, helping the team win the Horizon League championship in the fall of 2013, gaining them a birth in the 2013 NCAA Div I National Tournament. In June 2011, Mark received his USSF B coaching license, and his NSCAA National Goalkeeping Level III coaching diploma. In January 2012, Mark coached the U19 US National Team at the Mercedes Benz Junior Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, playing against the U20 teams from professional clubs Lechia Danzig (Poland), VfB Stuttgart (Germany), FSV Mainz 05 (Germany), Lazio (Italy), and Celtic (Scotland). In February 2013 he received his USSF National Goalkeeping Coaching license. In May 2015, Mark was inducted into the Wisconsin Soccer Association (WSA) Hall of Fame.

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