Tony DiCicco is the current Head Coach of the Boston
Breakers of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) and
the CEO and Founder of SoccerPlus Goalkeeper School and
SoccerPlus FieldPlayer Academy. He is the former Head
Coach of the US Women's National and Olympic Soccer
Teams and the Head Coach of the US U20 Women's National
Team. In 2008, in his return to international soccer, he
coached the US to the FIFA U20 World Cup Championship in
Chile. He had previously lead the Full National Team to
the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Championship, the
largest women's sporting event in history. And in 1996,
he coached the US Women's Olympic Team to the first ever
Gold Medal in Women's Soccer.
Tony was raised in Wethersfield, Connecticut and
attended Springfield College in Massachusetts, where he
became an All-American Goalkeeper. After college, he had
a distinguished professional career throughout the 1970s
in the American Soccer League (ASL) with the Connecticut
Wildcats and Rhode Island Oceaneers, while
simultaneously teaching Physical Education in Bellows
Falls, Vermont. In 1973, he played for the US National
Team.
He also earned a Masters from Central Connecticut State
University, as well as his United States Soccer
Federation "A" License and the Advanced National Diploma
from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
In 1982, DiCicco founded SoccerPlus Goalkeeper School
and ran the first camp, a weekend goalkeeper clinic in
Uncasville, Connecticut. Throughout the 1980s,
SoccerPlus Goalkeeper School and SoccerPlus Specialty
Store, a retail store with two locations in Central
Connecticut flourished.
In 1991, then-Head Coach of the US National Team, Anson
Dorrance brought Tony in as a Goalkeeper/Assistant
Coach. He traveled with that team to the first Women's
World Championship in China. Two years later, he was
brought in as an Assistant Coach for the US U20 Men's
World Cup Team who competed in Australia in 1993.
When Dorrance stepped down as Coach of the US Women's
National Team, Tony was appointed as the Head Coach and
remained in that position through three World
Championship events, the 1995 Women's World Cup, the
1996 Olympics and the 1999 Women's World Cup. After
winning the Bronze medal in Sweden in 1995, the US Women
won the next two events, both on US soil.
The 1999 Women's World Cup was the largest women's
sporting event in history, with the final drawing 90,185
people to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and an estimated 40
million television viewers.
Following the World Cup in 1999, DiCicco resigned with
an overall record of 103-8-8 (103
Wins by the Numbers), at the time the highest
winning percentage in US Soccer History. He remains to
this day, the coach with the most victories all-time.
During his tenure, the US Women's National Team won 5
Consecutive US Cup Championships and the 1998 Pan Am
Games.
Following his retirement from US Soccer, Tony became the
founding Commissioner of the Women's United Soccer
Association (WUSA) from 2000-2003. Following the WUSA's
suspension of operations, DiCicco remained an outspoken
and strong advocate for the need of a women's
professional league in the United States.
He has worked as a TV Analyst and color commentator for
NBC during the 2000 Olympics and ESPN during the 2003
and 2007 Women's World Cups, as well as other various
events.
In 2003, he founded a youth club in Connecticut,
SoccerPlus Connecticut (formerly FSASoccerPlus) where he has served as both the Technical
Director and a coach for various age groups. To
supplement the on-the-field training for SoccerPlus CT
and other local student-athletes, DiCicco founded the
SoccerPlus Education Center, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit
organization who's mission is to "enrich lives through
soccer."
In 2006 he became the Technical Director for the adidas
ESP Program and the Director of the Goalkeeper Institute
for the NSCAA where he also serves as a Senior
National Staff Coach. In addition, he has at various
times served on the USYS Region I Staff for both boys
and girls.
To create a top of the pyramid for SoccerPlus CT, in
2007, he became the owner and Head Coach of the
SoccerPlus Connecticut Reds of the WPSL and in their
inaugural season, the team won the US Women's Open Cup
competition.
In 2008, in his return to international coaching, he
coached the US U20 Women's National Team to the FIFA
World Cup Championship in Chile. The USA's first
championship in the event since 2002.
Aside from coaching the Boston Breakers, he also serves
on a Technical Advisory board for US Soccer along with
former National Team coaches Anson Dorrance, April
Heinriches and former National Team player Carin Gabarra.
He resides in Wethersfield, Connecticut with his wife
Diane. The couple has four boys, Anthony, Andrew, Alex
and Nicholas. In his spare time, he enjoys the outdoors,
golf, skiing, reading and spending time with his family. |
