Cle Kooiman

College

Cle Kooiman was born in Ontario, California, and attended San Diego State University. In 1982, he was named to the All Far West team.

MISL

In 1982, Kooiman began his professional career playing for the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He would remain with the Lazers until 1987.

WSL/APSL

In 1989, he began his outdoor professional career with the California Kickers of the Western Soccer League (WSL). That year, he was named as a league First Team All Star. He moved to the San Diego Nomads for the 1990 season. However, by that time, the WSL had merged with the American Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League.

Mexico

At the end of the 1990, Kooiman moved to Mexico. He began with Cobras de Ciudad Juarez, of the Mexican Premier Division before moving to Cruz Azul in Mexican Premier League. While with Cruz Azul, he became the first U.S. citizen to captain a Mexican soccer team. In 1994, he moved to Atlético Morelia.

MLS

In 1996, the newly established Major League Soccer (MLS) distributed "marque" players throughout the league's teams. Kooiman was allocated to the Tampa Bay Mutiny. He would play two seasons with the Mutiny, but at the end of the 1997 season, the Mutiny left him exposed in the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft. The Miami Fusion selected Kooiman in the first round (14th overall) and he would play a single season for that team.

Kooiman was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer in February 2018.