Jack Brand

Jack Brand

Personal information
Date of birth	(1953-04-04) 4 April 1953
Place of birth	Braunschweig, West Germany
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Hungaria	?	(?)
1974	Toronto Metros	14	(0)
1975	Toronto Metros-Croatia	3	(0)
1976	Toronto Italia	?	(?)
1977	Rochester Lancers	31	(0)
1978	New York Cosmos	22	(0)
1979	Tulsa Roughnecks	9	(0)
1980–1982	Seattle Sounders	55	(0)
1982	Tampa Bay Rowdies	14	(0)
1984	F.C. Seattle
International career
	West Germany U-20	?	(?)
1974	Canada	1	(0)
1975, 1976	Canadian Olympic (senior)	10	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jack Brand (born 4 April 1953) is a former professional soccer goalkeeper. He holds the record for most shutouts in a season in the North American Soccer League with 15 in 1980. He was born in Braunschweig, West Germany. In 2008, Jack was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame

Soccer career

Brand began his senior club career with Hungaria of the National Soccer League. In 1974 he joined Toronto Metros of NASL and played 14 regular season games. In '75, he played 2 regular season and 1 play-off game for the Toronto Metros-Croatia. Brand returned to the NSL for 1976, helping Toronto Italia win the league championship. He returned to the NASL for '77, playing 26 regular season games and 5 play-off games for the Rochester Lancers. With the New York Cosmos in 1978, Brand appeared in 10 regular season and 5 play-off games, and was in goal as the Cosmos won Soccer Bowl '78 3–1 over Tampa Bay. The following season after 7 games changed teams and played 4 regular season and 5 play-off games for the Tulsa Roughnecks.

1980 was Brand's career year, playing with the Seattle Sounders. The Sounders went on to post a 25–7 win-lose record, constituting a NASL record for wins in a season. Brand was voted North American Player of the Year and NASL Second Team All-Star in posting a 0.91 GAA and 15 shutouts, also a league record. The following season though the team sputtered to a losing record. Brand played in 23 games. He concluded his NASL career playing 14 contests for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 1982. In 1984, he played for F.C. Seattle in the F.C. Seattle Challenge Cup. He briefly served as coach of F.C. Seattle before being replaced by Bruce Rioch in February 1985.

Brand was earned his only senior 'A' as a 21-year-old on 28 October 1974 in Budapest in a 1–1 draw. He was Canada's goalkeeper in their home 1976 Summer Olympics. The team was eliminated in the first stage of the tournament, losing 1–2 to the Soviet Union and 1–3 to North Korea. In addition, Brand played 7 'A' internationals in total for the Canadian national soccer team in 1974 and 1975. Canada drew with Hungary in Budapest on 28 October 1974. The following year in 6 pre-Olympic friendlies played in Canada, Brand and the Canucks conceded a whopping 25 goals in 6 losing contests played against the Olympic teams of Poland, Hungary, and East Germany.

Personal

Brand comes from a sports family with his parents involved in track and field. He earned a commerce and finance degree from the University of Rochester.

Sources

• Canadian Soccer Association profile page
• [1] (Inactive as of 15 December 2007)
• 2008 Soccer Hall of Fame Inductees
• NASL stats