Thomas Dooley

Dooley played as a forward with amateur team FK Pirmasens. He started his professional career in 1984 with third division club FC Homburg. He moved to midfield with Homburg and helped the team move steadily up the German leagues, until they finally reached the Bundesliga. He moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1988 and helped them to the German Cup in 1990 and the Bundesliga title in 1991. He also played as they won the 1991 DFB-Supercup. After the 1994 World Cup, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen, and to Schalke 04 a year after that, helping them to the 1997 UEFA Cup title. At the end of the season, he moved to Major League Soccer (MLS), signing with the Columbus Crew. Dooley spent three seasons in Columbus and was named to the MLS Best XI in both 1997 and 1998. In 2000, Thomas was traded to the MetroStars for Mike Duhaney, partially to help support Lothar Matthäus' adjustment to the United States. Dooley played one year for the Metros before retiring from playing football/soccer.

As U.S. Soccer started to look abroad for players eligible to play for its national team in advance of its hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Dooley was discovered. He made his first international appearance on May 30, 1992, against Ireland. Dooley became a regular for the U.S. almost immediately, being named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1993 and then playing every minute at the 1994 World Cup, including the match against Colombia which the U.S. won 2–1. After John Harkes was dismissed from the U.S. national team, Dooley was named captain for the 1998 World Cup, and started every game for the U.S. On February 21, 1999, Dooley was given a send-off match by the United States in a friendly against Chile. He ended his international career with 81 caps and seven goals.

International goals

Scores and results list United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dooley goal.

Saarbrücken

After retiring, Dooley went back to Germany and became the head coach of FC Saarbrücken in 2002, becoming the first American to coach a team in Europe.

United States

Dooley was appointed by U.S. national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann to be an assistant coach in the match against Mexico on August 10, 2011.

Philippines

In February 2014, Dooley signed a one-year deal with the Philippine Football Federation to handle the Philippines national team. His first match was a friendly against Malaysia which ended 0–0, and a few days later, narrowly lost to European side Azerbaijan 1–0. Dooley earned his first win for the Philippines after his charges defeated Nepal 3–0 in another friendly match in Qatar. Dooley earned national team coach Dan Palami's praise after his first few matches in charge. Palami commended Dooley's ability to foster a better understanding of the game to his squad and give subs and reserves chances to step up in the absence of star players. "Our players have a better understanding of the role they have to play in their respective positions under Dooley's system that anyone can step up even if we don't have our stars playing," Palami said. The Philippine national team came close to qualifying to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. They failed to qualify after they lost 0–1 to Palestine in the final of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. Two months after the tournament, Stephan Schröck and Dennis Cagara resigned from the national team over…

Dooley was born in Bechhofen, West Germany to a German mother and a father who served in the U.S. Army.