Dwayne De Rosario

San Jose Earthquakes

The next season, when Canadian Frank Yallop was named head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes, De Rosario was one of his first acquisitions. De Rosario proved Yallop's judgment right, scoring five goals and four assists in only 1,072 minutes for the Earthquakes in 2001, playing an important role as the team went on to win the MLS Cup; he scored the golden goal in the final and was named MLS Cup MVP. De Rosario had similar success in 2002, registering four goals and eight assists in 1,637 minutes, though the Quakes fell short of a repeat. In 2003, a torn ACL hobbled De Rosario for much of the season but he still managed to make a late surge, registering four goals and three assists in only 686 minutes and helping lead the team to a second MLS Cup championship. De Rosario played 1,211 minutes in 2004, scoring five goals, including the 2004 MLS Goal of the Year, and three assists. In December 2004 De Rosario had a trial with Nottingham Forest, but he was not offered a contract by the team. In 2005, following Landon Donovan's departure, De Rosario moved to midfield and promptly led MLS in assists with 13, while scoring nine goals, including the 2005 MLS Goal of the Year – the only player ever to receive that honour in two consecutive years – for a powerful bending free kick in the last regular season game against the Los Angeles Galaxy. He was named to the MLS Best XI six times (2005–07, 2009–11).

Houston Dynamo

Due to San Jose's failure…

De Rosario represented the Canadian U-20 team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, and the Canadian U-23 team at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. He received his first senior cap for Canada on May 18, 1998, against Macedonia at the age of 20. He won the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup with Canada and represented them as well at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup. In 2007, De Rosario won the male Canadian Player of the Year award making it three consecutive years receiving the honour. In 2007, he scored five goals in eight games, the most in a year for the CMNT since John Catliff in 1993. De Rosario was picked for his first CONCACAF Gold Cup in four years, after being selected by coach Stephen Hart in late May 2011 for the 23-man tournament roster. After a disappointing, 2–0 defeat to United States in the opening game of the group, Canada failed to exit the group with a 1–1–1 record; they only managed to score two goals both from De Rosario at the penalty spot. De Rosario continued his goal scoring for with two goals in the opening stage of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, one came against Saint Lucia in early September and the other against Saint Kitts and Nevis in mid November. His goal against Saint Kitts, was his 19th international goal which tied him as Canadian all-time top goal scorer with Dale Mitchell. On December 14, De Rosario was awarded 2011 Canadian Player of the Year receiving 47.7% of the vote, Simeon Jackson in second and Josh Simpson finishing in third.…

Born in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, De Rosario is the son of Guyanese immigrants to Canada. He began playing soccer at age three with Scarborough Blizzard SC, later playing with the Malvern Majors. As a 14-year-old, De Rosario rejected an offer from A.C. Milan after a successful trial because he was not ready to commit to living in Italy. De Rosario went to Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute in Scarborough. De Rosario began his professional career in 1997 at the age of 18, signing with the Toronto Lynx of the A-League. Halfway through the season, however, De Rosario signed with German side FSV Zwickau. After two seasons with Zwickau, De Rosario returned to North America, signing with the Richmond Kickers in 1999. After a slow 1999 season, in which he registered two goals and five assists, De Rosario scored fifteen goals and provided five assists while leading the team to a 20–6–1 record in 2000.

De Rosario adopted a strict vegan diet in 1994, but started eating fish ten years later. He is married to Brandy De Rosario and has four children, including his sons Osaze and Adisa, who are also professional soccer players. His cousin is Olympic hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. He was appointed to the Order of Ontario in February 2020. His autobiography 'DeRo: My Life', written with Brendan Dunlop was published in May 2021 by ECW Press.

DeRo United Futbol Academy

In 2012, De Rosario established the DeRo United Futbol Academy. They entered a team in the League1 Ontario women's division beginning in 2018. In June 2021, the club became an official affiliate team of De Rosario's former club Toronto FC, joining their academy system and re-branded as DeRo TFC.