Zach Thornton

Zach Thornton, born on October 10, 1973, is an American soccer goalkeeper who spent 16 seasons in Major League Soccer and later became a goalkeeping coach. Between 1996 and 2011 he played for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, the Chicago Fire, the Colorado Rapids, the New York Red Bulls and Chivas USA. Chosen by the Chicago Fire in the 1997 expansion draft, he won the starting job and was in goal when the Fire won MLS Cup in 1998, its first season, and he was named the league's Goalkeeper of the Year that year and again in 2009 with Chivas USA. He played soccer and lacrosse at Loyola College in Maryland, earned eight caps for the United States national team and was a reserve goalkeeper at the 1996 Summer Olympics. After his playing career he coached goalkeepers at Loyola, Elizabethtown College, Villanova University, D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo, and he joined Chicago Fire FC as goalkeeping coach in December 2022.