Tim Howard

Timothy Matthew Howard (born March 6, 1979) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper.

He last played for USL Championship club Memphis 901, a club of which he is a minority owner and sporting director.

He is also international ambassador in the U.S. for former club Everton.

He is regarded as one of the best American goalkeepers of all time.

Howard began his career with the North Jersey Imperials, before making a move to the MetroStars.

In 1991, before Howard was a teenager, Tim Mulqueen, a one-time assistant coach for the U.S. under-17 soccer team, saw Howard's potential at a single $25 soccer coaching session.

He took Howard under his wing, offering him free soccer coaching.

When Howard was 14 and 15 years old, Peter Mellor, the former professional goalkeeper who was coaching for the United States Soccer Federation and writing the curriculum for the first U.S. Soccer National Goalkeeping License for coaches, saw the 14-year-old Howard in an Olympic Development Player camp, identified him as a star of the future, and placed him in the Olympic Development Program.

In 1995, Howard was part of the U.S. under-17 squad.

In 1997, Mulqueen became the coach of the North Jersey Imperials, a team in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues (USISL), and served as the goalkeeping coach for Major League Soccer (MLS)'s MetroStars; he considered Howard for a position on the Imperials.

Howard signed with the Imperials and played in his first professional game before graduating from high school.

He notched six appearances with the North Jersey Imperials.

Howard was brought up to the MetroStars by Mulqueen, who at the time was the MetroStars' goalkeeping coach.

Howard was victorious in his MLS debut with the MetroStars on August 18, 1998, making five saves in a 4–1 win over Colorado at Giants Stadium (his only appearance of the year).

He later played in one game with the Nike Project-40 Team, a 3–1 win over the Staten Island Vipers at Giants Stadium on May 6, 1998.

With the MetroStars during the 1999 MLS season, Howard made eight starts in nine contests.

Howard had a 1.58 GAA and won just one match in a season in which the Metros won just seven games.

He also spent most of the international season with the United States Under-20 team, leaving the club to compete in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship in April and the 1999 Pan American Games in July.

Howard posted a 5–2–2 record with a 1.59 GAA in 2000, splitting time between the MetroStars and the United States Olympic team, also winning all three of his U.S. Open Cup starts that season.

Howard won the 2001 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, recording 146 saves and finishing the year with a 1.33 GAA, four shutouts, and a 13–10–3 record.

Howard is the most capped goalkeeper of all-time for the United States men's national team, with 121 appearances from 2002 until his international retirement in 2017.

He was signed by English Premier League club Manchester United in 2003, replacing Fabian Barthez as the team's first-choice keeper.

In his second season at the club, Howard competed for the first-choice spot with Roy Carroll.

Howard enjoyed relative success with the club, as they won the 2003 FA Community Shield, the 2003–04 FA Cup and the 2005–06 League Cup.

Mellor also helped Howard obtain his work permit appeal after he joined Manchester United from the MetroStars in 2003.

Howard attended North Brunswick Township High School.

Howard proved a star not only in soccer as a midfielder, but also on the basketball court, where he averaged 15 points per game and helped bring his team to the state finals in his senior year.

During high school, he played for Central Jersey Cosmos.

After United signed goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in 2005, Howard would only play once more for United before going on loan to Everton in 2006 and eventually signing permanently with them in February 2007.

He was an unused substitute for the 2006 FIFA World Cup but later established himself as first-choice keeper of the United States' international tournament games beginning with the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which the U.S. ended as runner-up against Brazil.

He started all of the team's 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup games.

The team reached the Round of 16 on both occasions, and during the latter Howard set a World Cup record for most saves in a match, with 16 against Belgium.

Howard was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the son of African-American truck driver Matthew Howard and his Hungarian wife Esther (née Fekete), who worked for a container packing distributor.

His father moved out "before [Howard] formed [his] first memory" and his parents divorced when Howard was three.

Afterwards, Howard lived with his mother.

Howard was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome and OCD when he was in the sixth grade.

On January 4, 2012, Howard scored against Bolton Wanderers, making him only the fourth goalkeeper to score a goal in the Premier League.

In 2016, Howard made his return to MLS, signing for the Colorado Rapids.

He played for three years for the Rapids before hanging up his gloves in October 2019.

He became the sporting director of USL Championship side Memphis 901 in January 2020, and came out of retirement to play briefly for them in March 2020.