Frank Klopas

Early years

Klopas emigrated to the United States from Prosymna, Peloponnese, 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.

Professional career

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. On 4 November 1988, Klopas moved to Greece and signed for AEK Athens. He played four seasons with the team winning 4 championships a Greek Super Cup and the Greek League Cup. 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, which was made effective when his contact with AEK expired, in December 1993. 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 club, AEK. In 1996, Major League Soccer began developing teams for its…

Klopas made his debut for the U.S. national team in 1987, coming on in a 2–0 Olympic Qualifying loss at Canada on 23 May. Though this was technically his debut for the team, it isn't counted among his senior national team caps as Olympic play is not considered to be of full international status by FIFA even though many of the players that made up the side were full national team players. Klopas was also on the U.S. team at the 1987 Pan American Games. In total, Klopas earned five Olympic team appearances, scoring one goal in a 4–2 qualifying win at El Salvador on October 18, 1987, and helping the team qualify for the 1988 Olympics. Klopas would start and play the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 draw with hosts South Korea and a 4–2 loss to the Soviet Union as the U.S. failed to advance from their group. Klopas made his full senior team debut when he came on as a halftime substitute for Chico Borja in a 2–0 friendly loss to Colombia in Miami on May 14, 1988. He scored his first two international goals in a 5–1 defeat of Jamaica in St. Louis in the second leg of a home-and-home World Cup qualifying series on August 13, 1988. Despite appearing in seven of 10 U.S. World Cup qualifiers for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Klopas did not make the trip to the team's 1–0 clinching victory over Trinidad & Tobago on November 19, 1989, because head coach Bob Gansler didn't think he was fit enough. Subsequently, he was not included among the 22-man U.S. squad that went to Italy for the…

In 2000, the Chicago Fire hired Klopas as the team's strength and conditioning trainer. After the 2000 MLS season, he resigned for personal reasons. In 2004, he was named the head coach and general manager of MISL's expansion franchise Chicago Storm. He led the team to a playoff berth in its second season but resigned in July 2006. In January 2008, he was named the first technical director for the Fire. He was appointed the Fire's interim head coach following the dismissal of Carlos de los Cobos in May 2011. Klopas earned his first MLS win as coach in a 1–0 victory over the Columbus Crew thirteen days later on June 12. The Fire finished the season 8–5–10 under Klopas, just missing the playoffs. He coached the Fire through the following two seasons before stepping down after the 2013 season. In December 2013, he was named head coach and director of player personnel of the Montreal Impact. While he did lead the Impact to a CONCACAF Champions League final in 2015, narrowly losing to Mexican powerhouse Club América, he was formally relieved of his duties in late August 2015 after a string of poor performances, and replaced on an interim basis by Mauro Biello. After serving as a color commentator for the Fire, Klopas returned to their sideline as an assistant coach in January 2020. He was named interim head coach on May 8, 2023, following the dismissal of Ezra Hendrickson. He stepped down at the end of the 2024 season and was replaced by former U.S. National Men's Team coach…

Klopas lives in Chicago with his wife, Sophia.