Frank Klopas
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fotios Klopas | ||
| Date of birth | September 1, 1966 | ||
| Place of birth | Prosymna, Greece | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1988 | Chicago Sting (indoor) | 140 | (62) |
| 1988–1994 | AEK Athens FC | 49 | (6) |
| 1994–1996 | Apollon Athens | 10 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Kansas City Wizards | 54 | (7) |
| 1998–1999 | Chicago Fire | 45 | (6) |
| Total | 298 | (81) | |
| National team | |||
| 1987–1995 | United States | 39 | (12) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2004–2006 | Chicago Storm | ||
| 2011–2013 | Chicago Fire | ||
| 2013–2015 | Montreal Impact | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Fotios "Frank" Klopas (Greek: Φώτιος «Φρανκ» Κλόπας; born September 1, 1966) is a retired American soccer forward. Following his retirement, he served as a color commentator for the Chicago Fire before later working as a front office executive and manager for both the Fire and Montreal Impact.
Klopas emigrated to the United States from Prosymna Greece when he was eight years old and received U.S. citizenship on his 18th birthday. He and his family settled in Chicago, where he attended and played boys soccer, at Mather High School, which he led to the Chicago Public League championship his senior year.
In 1983, he signed with the Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League straight out of high school, but an injury led to him missing the team's final outdoor season. Klopas would play for the indoor Sting in the MISL for four seasons. He earned second team All Star honors during the 1986-1987 season. In 1988, Klopas moved to Greece to play with AEK Athens FC. He played four seasons with the team. However, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in 1991. That injury and a subsequent infection hindered his playing for nearly two years. In 1992, Klopas signed a contract with the U.S. Soccer Federation to play full-time for the United States men's national soccer team. After the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Klopas returned to Greece and signed with Apollon Athens in 1994 for the remainder of the 1994-1995 season, as well as the 1995-1996 season. He debuted with Apollon against his former Greek club, AEK Athens FC. In 1996, Major League Soccer began developing teams for its inaugural season. In order to ensure an equitable distribution of talent to each team, MLS allocated known players to each team. MLS allocated Klopas to the Kansas City Wizards where he would spend two years. After being sent to the Columbus Crew just before the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft, he was traded in February 1998 to the Chicago Fire for Jason Farrell, who had been selected from the Crew. Klopas would play two years for Chicago before retiring, helping them to the MLS Cup in 1998 and the U.S. Open Cup to complete "The Double." In four years in MLS, Klopas scored 13 goals and added 16 assists. He had six goals and five assists in 40 games—24 starts—for the Fire, including both goals in a 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Mutiny in the Fire's first ever game at Soldier Field on April 4, 1998. Klopas' most notable goal for the Fire came in Golden Goal overtime of a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew in the 1998 U.S. Open Cup Final at Soldier Field.
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