Josh Simpson (soccer)

Josh Simpson

Simpson with Canada in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Joshua Christopher Simpson [1]
Date of birth	(1983-05-15) May 15, 1983 (age 40)
Place of birth	Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
1995–2001	LISA
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2001–2003	Portland Pilots
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004	Boulder Rapids Reserve	14	(7)
2004–2006	Millwall	43	(2)
2006–2009	1. FC Kaiserslautern	63	(12)
2009–2012	Manisaspor	78	(18)
2012–2015	Young Boys	11	(0)
2016	Muri-Gümligen
Total		209	(39)
International career
2002–2003	Canada U20	20	(3)
2001–2004	Canada U23	5	(0)
2004–2012	Canada	43	(4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joshua Christopher 'Josh' Simpson (born May 15, 1983) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who is currently the president of Canadian Premier League team Pacific FC. During a career that included stops in England, Germany, Turkey, and Switzerland, he earned 43 caps for Canada before retiring from professional soccer after being unable to recover from a leg injury. ^[2]

Club career

Born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Simpson started his career on a soccer scholarship with the University of Portland. In 2004, Simpson spent time with Boulder Rapids Reserve in the USL Premier Development League where he was named to the PDL all conference team. ^[3] Shortly after, he and fellow Canadian Adrian Serioux signed with Millwall. He made his debut against Plymouth Argyle. On May 23, 2006, he signed a three-year contract with German team 1. FC Kaiserslautern ^[4] and left the club on June 25, 2009 to sign with Turkish club Manisaspor. ^[5] Simpson scored his first hat-trick in a 3–0 home victory on September 26, 2010 vs. Sivasspor. On February 22, 2011, Simpson signed a new three-year contract with Manisa, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2013–14 season. ^[6] Simpson had his best professional season in 2010–11 with Manisapor leading the team with 12 goals and taking his team to tenth place. Simpson was tied for seventh in goals along with Jajá and Olcan Adın in the Süper Lig.

Simpson made his debut for the 2011–12 season as a second half sub for Ariza Makukula against Trabzonspor on September 10, Manisaspor was tailing by a goal until Simpson scored the tying goal in the 88th minute. ^[7] Following his second goal of the season against Fenerbahçe in a 2–1 loss January 16, 2012, it was announced the following day that Simpson had terminated his contract with the team over unpaid wages. ^[8]

On January 19, 2012 Simpson signed for BSC Young Boys on a three-and-a-half year deal. ^[9] Simpson made his Young Boys debut on February 12 as a second half sub for David Degen in a 1–0 victory over FC Sion.

On May 23 the last game of the season against FC Basel, Simpson sustained a broken leg that was initially expected to keep him out for 3 months forcing him to miss the next round of international games for Canada after being called up the previous week. ^[10] However, the injury turned out to be far more serious, which was described by the BSC Young Boys website as a "terrible moment for the audience [in Basel to witness]." He retired in May 2015 after failing to recover. ^[11]

In the spring of 2016 he made his return to soccer at the amateur level in Switzerland, signing with the Swiss 3. Liga's FC Muri-Gümligen in the 7th tier of Swiss football. ^[12]

International career

In 2003, he played for the Canada under-20 team at the World Youth Cup, where he scored the only goal in Canada's 1–0 win over Burkina Faso. He was also a call-up to the 2001 version, but not selected in the starting XI or on the bench. ^[13]

He made his senior debut for Canada in a January 2004 friendly match against Barbados. ^[14] Josh was later chosen in the 23-man roster for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Canada won Group A with seven points before being knocked out by Honduras in the Quarter Finals. Simpson scored his first goal for the senior men's team in a 2–1 win over Honduras on September 7, 2010.

After failing to score in a disappointing 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Simpson scored two goals in Canada's first game of World Cup Qualifying against Saint Lucia on September 2, 2011 at the national stadium BMO Field. ^[15] Two months later Simpson scored his fourth international goal against Saint Kitts and Nevis in an inconsequential world cup qualifying match, the game ended in a 4–0 victory for the Canadians. ^[16] In early December, Simpson was shortlisted for the 2011 Canadian Player of the Year along with Dwayne De Rosario and Simeon Jackson, it was announced on December 14 that he had finished in third losing out to De Rosario. ^[17]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^[18]

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Millwall	2004–05	Championship	30	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	33	1
	2005–06	Championship	13	1	0	0	2	0	—		15	1
	Total		43	2	1	0	2	0	2	0	48	2
1. FC Kaiserslautern	2006–07	2. Bundesliga	21	3	1	0	—		—		22	3
	2007–08	2. Bundesliga	20	6	1	0	—		—		21	6
	2008–09	2. Bundesliga	22	3	0	0	—		—		22	3
	Total		63	12	2	0	—		—		65	12
1. FC Kaiserslautern II	2006–07	Regionalliga Süd	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
	2007–08	Oberliga Südwest	1	2	—		—		—		1	2
	2008–09	Regionalliga West	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
	Total		5	2	—		—		—		5	2
Manisaspor	2009–10	Süper Lig	29	4	0	0	—		—		29	4
	2010–11	Süper Lig	32	12	0	0	—		—		32	12
	2011–12	Süper Lig	17	2	0	0	—		—		17	2
	Total		78	18	0	0	—		—		78	18
Young Boys	2011–12	Swiss Super League	11	0	0	0	—		—		11	0
Career total			200	34	3	0	2	0	2	0	207	34

International goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Simpson goal.

List of international goals scored by Josh Simpson

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	September 7, 2010	Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Honduras	1–0	2–1	Friendly
2	September 2, 2011	BMO Field, Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Saint Lucia	1–0	4–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
3				3–1
4	November 15, 2011	BMO Field, Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Saint Kitts and Nevis	4–0	4–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

References

1. JOSHUA C. SIMPSON - MANISASPOR KULUBU RESMI INTERNET SITESI Archived September 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
2. "Canadian Exports: Complications from injury permanently sideline former Canadian int'l Josh Simpson | MLSsoccer.com". Archived from the original on May 22, 2015.
3. "United Soccer Leagues (USL)". Archived from the original on May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
4. Josh Simpson – Der Betze brennt
5. Simpson verlässt den FCK Archived June 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
6. Simpson 2014'e kadar 'Tarzan' sporx.com (in Turkish), accessed February 22, 2011
7. Manisaspor vs. Trabzonspor – Soccerway
8. Josh Simpson Terminates Contract with Manisaspor Archived January 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine – Canadian Soccer News
9. Canada midfielder Simpson joins Swiss Club Young Boys – TSN
10. Canadian international Josh Simpson suffers broken leg – CBC
11. Simpson works on comeback in soccer after devastating injury
12. "Josh Simpsons neue Prioritäten". Der Bund. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
13. Canada Soccer Profile Archived June 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
14. Appearances for Canada National Team – RSSSF
15. Canada Dominates St. Lucia In Brazil Quest
16. De Rosario, Canada hammer St. Kitts and Nevis
17. "De Rosario is male selection for 2011 BMO Canadian Player of the Year award". Canadian Soccer Association. December 14, 2011. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
18. "Josh Simpson » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved January 9, 2019.

External links

• Josh Simpson at the Canadian Soccer Association
• Josh Simpson at Soccerbase
• Josh Simpson at National-Football-Teams.com