Full name Ian Christopher Bridge Name Ian Bridge Role Coach | Years Team Height 1.85 m 1979–1983 Seattle Sounders | |
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Date of birth (1959-09-18) 18 September 1959 (age 56) 1980–81 Seattle Sounders (indoor) | ||
Ian Christopher Bridge (born 18 September 1959 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a former member of the Canada men's national soccer team and last head coach of the national women's Under-17 national team.
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Club career
Bridge began his pro career in 1977 and played in the NASL with the Seattle Sounders from 1979 to 1983 and with the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1984, and MISL indoor soccer with the Tacoma Stars. Over 6 NASL seasons he played 124 games and scored 13 goals. Following the demise of the NASL Bridge played for Swiss club FC La Chaux-de-Fonds for two seasons when the club was in the Swiss league first division. Later in the Canadian Soccer League, he played for the Victoria Vistas (1990), Kitchener Kickers (1991), and North York Rockets (1991). Ian played his youth soccer with the Lakehill Soccer Association in Victoria BC, and has an annually awarded Youth Player "Inspirational" trophy named in his honour.
International career
A defender, Bridge made his debut for Canada in an October 1981 friendly match against Trinidad & Tobago and earned 34 caps, scoring 5 goals. He has represented Canada in 12 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played all three of Canada's games at the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals, the country's only appearance at a World Cup finals. Bridge also played for Canada at the 1984 Olympics and at the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. He scored a goal in the first two 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifying games that he played in. His final international was a June 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals match against Mexico.
Bridge was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2003.
International goals
Managerial career
Bridge was head coach of the University of Victoria women's soccer team from 1990 to 2000. He became assistant coach of Canada women's national soccer team in 1997, a position he still has. He became U-19 national women's coach and chief national team assistant coach in March 2001. (The national youth women's team has since become U-20.) Bridge is also team chef of the Canada men's national youth soccer teams. On 10 January 2010, Bridge resigned as head coach of the U-17 Canadian women national team and is now coaching the Victoria Highlanders of the USL (United Soccer league) Premier Development League.