Alex Zotincă


Alexandru Florin Zotincă is a Romanian-American former professional football defender and current coach. His older brother, Dorin was also a footballer.

Career

Zotinca began his career with FC Inter Sibiu, where he played from 1995 to 1998. In 1998, he moved to Steaua București, where he would play from 1998 to 2000, and with whom he would appear in the UEFA Cup.
In 2000, Zotinca won a United States Green Card in an immigration lottery, and left Romania for America. He played for four years for the Kansas City Comets of the MISL, being named to the All-Rookie team in 2000–01, and the All-Star team in 2002–03. Near the beginning of the 2003 MLS season, Zotinca was signed by the Wizards. He did well in his first year, starting 14 games and playing 1239 minutes in a variety of positions for the Wizards. In 2004, Zotinca firmly established himself at the right back position, and played most of the team's minutes there, appearing in 25 games and playing 1779 minutes. He played a similarly important role during the next two seasons, but failed to sign a new contract with the team for the 2007 season and was traded to Chivas USA. Zotinca started 20 games for the club during 2007, but played a diminished role in the next season, starting only 4 games, and was waived by Chivas USA on 28 November 2008.
After a two-year layoff from professional football, Zotincă was re-signed by Chivas USA on 4 June 2010 to strengthen their defensive unit.
After the 2010 MLS season Chivas USA declined Zotincă's contract option and Zotincă elected to participate in the 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft. Zotincă became a free agent in Major League Soccer when he was not selected in the Re-Entry draft.

Coaching career

After the end of his playing career, he was part of the Chivas USA Youth team coaching staff. Since December 14, 2011, he has worked as head coach of United Futebol Club in San Juan Capistrano.
In July 2023, he was named assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the men’s soccer team at Soka University of America.

Honours

Club

; Steaua Bucharest
; Gaz Metan Mediaș
; Sporting Kansas City
  • Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: 2004
  • MLS : 2004
;Individual
  • MISL All-Rookie team: 2001
  • MISL Al-Star: 2003

    Personal life

Zotinca was married to Carmen, a native of Kansas City, from 2004 to 2010, and they have a daughter named Leila. In 2012, he married Amanda, with whom he also has a daughter.