Jimmy Douglas (Canadian soccer)

Jimmy Douglas (born October 6, 1948 in Falkirk, Scotland) is a former Scottish-Canadian soccer midfielder and head coach. He played professionally in the North American Soccer League and earned fourteen caps for the Canadian national soccer team.

Club career

Born in Scotland, Douglas moved to Canada in 1964 when he was sixteen. He almost immediately began playing for St. Catharines Heidelberg in the National Soccer League and by 1970 was in the first team. In 1974, he played in the North American Soccer League with the Toronto Metros before returning to St. Catharines Heidelberg for one season and Hamilton Croatia also for one season. He also played for St. Catharines Roma. He later became coach of St. Catharines Roma Wolves, serving as general manager in at least 2002 and 2003.

National team

Douglas was one of Canada’s most talented midfield players. He played 14 'A' internationals including with the World Cup teams of 1972 and 1976 which failed to qualify for their respective finals. Douglas played another ten games with the Canadian Olympic soccer team. He was captain of the Canadian team during the final rounds of the Olympics of 1976, attracting international attention when he scored Canada’s goal in the dying minutes of the game against the Soviet Union. He also scored the first goal of a 1-3 loss to North Korea, which eliminated the Canadians.

In April 2001 Douglas was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.

External links

• Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame inductee page
• Toronto Metros stats
• Jimmy Douglas at National-Football-Teams.com
• CanadaSoccer.com: Jimmy Douglas
• FIFA: James Douglas

Canada squad – 1976 Summer Olympics
1 Brand 2 Bolitho 3 Telford 4 Grant 5 Lawrence 6 Douglas 7 McGrane 8 Megraw 9 Rose 10 Roe 11 Connor 12 McLenaghen 13 Lettieri 14 McLeod 15 Ayre 16 McLoughlin 17 Whitehead Coach: Morris