Kansas City Wizards Add Octavio Zambrano to Coaching Staff

Ecuadorian-Born Zambrano to Serve as Assistant Coach

(December 3, 2009) – The Kansas City Wizards announced Thursday that Octavio Zambrano is joining the team’s coaching staff. Zambrano, a former MLS Head Coach with the second-best winning percentage in League history, will serve as an assistant coach under Manager Peter Vermes. Kerry Zavagnin, Zoran Savic and John Pascarella will remain on the technical staff as assistant coaches.

“We worked to add an assistant coach with head coaching experience,” Wizards President Robb Heineman said. “Octavio (Zambrano) has excellent knowledge of our League and the international game. His presence will allow Peter Vermes to focus both on day-to-day coaching of the team and player personnel decisions more easily.”

Zambrano, 51, was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he lived before moving to the United States in 1980 to attend Chapman University. Zambrano is fluent in both English and Spanish. He also speaks Italian, Russian and Portuguese. Zambrano played for Ecuador’s U-20 National Team and First Division club Union Deportiva Valdez before starring at Chapman University in the U.S. Zambrano then played professionally for the Los Angeles Lazers in the USISL before becoming a coach.

Zambrano was a Head Coach in MLS for both the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York/New Jersey MetroStars, coaching 143 games and winning three division championships over six seasons. Zambrano went 80-55-8 as a head coach, including a 32-18-0 record in Los Angeles and a 48-37-8 record in New York. Zambrano coached some of the best players in MLS history, including Paul Caligiuri, Robin Fraser, Carlos Hermosillo, Eduardo Hurtado, Cobi Jones, Clint Mathis, Welton, Tim Howard, Lothar Matthaus and Tab Ramos.

"This is a great opportunity to return to MLS and join an organization with such a strong vision," Zambrano said. "I anxiously await coming to Kansas City to start working with the team and preparing for the 2010 season."

Zambrano’s teams are known for playing fast-paced, attacking soccer. In 1998, the Zambrano-led Galaxy scored a League-record 85 goals in 32 games (2.65 goals/game) and posted the most wins and best winning percentage in League history (24-8-0, .750). In 2000, Zambrano’s New York scored 64 goals in 32 games (2.00 goals/game), the 8th most goals in League history by a club in one season. Zambrano also served as Head Coach of CS Tiligul-Tiras Tiraspol of Moldova from 2006-2008 and FC Tatabánya of Hungary from 2008-2009.

Zambrano holds “A” coaching licenses in the United States as well as in Europe, and is also an innovator in youth player development, having developed the first soccer academy in Major League Soccer with the MetroStars. He also founded and coached the Latino-based LA Salsa U-19 team to the finals of the McGuire Cup, the top youth competition in the United States.

OCTAVIO ZAMBRANO MLS HEAD COACHING STATS
MLS Regular Season W L T PCT PTS OT/SHO
1997 Los Angeles Galaxy 13 7 0 .650 37 1- 0- 0

1998 Los Angeles Galaxy 24 8 0 .750 68 2- 2- 0

1999 Los Angeles Galaxy 2 3 0 .400 2 2- 2- 0

2000 MetroStars 17 12 3 .578 54 3- 2- 3

2001 MetroStars 13 10 3 .558 42 0- 0- 3

2002 MetroStars 11 15 2 .429 35 1- 1- 2

Regular Season Totals 80 55 8 .587 248 9- 7- 8

MLS Playoffs W L T PCT PTS OT/SHO
1997 Los Angeles Galaxy 0 2 0 .000 0 0- 1- 0

1998 Los Angeles Galaxy 2 2 0 .500 6 0- 1- 0

1999 Los Angeles Galaxy 0 0 0 .--- 0 0- 0- 0

2000 MetroStars 3 2 0 .600 9 1- 0- 0

2001 MetroStars 1 1 1 .500 4 0- 0- 1

Post Season Totals 6 7 1 .464 19 1- 2- 1

MLS ALL-TIME WINNING PERCENTAGE LEADERS
RK Coach WIN % Games
1 Dominic Kinnear 0.598 184

2 Octavio Zambrano 0.587 143
3 Bruce Arena 0.581 178

4 Peter Nowak 0.580 94

5 Robert Warzycha 0.576 46

*Minimum 15 games coached

MLS ALL-TIME WIN LEADERS
RK Coach WINS
1 Sigi Schmid 125

2 Bob Bradley 124

3 Steve Nicol 98

4 Bruce Arena 91

5 Bob Gansler 86

6 Thomas Rongen 83

7 Dave Dir 81

8 Octavio Zambrano 80
9 Dominic Kinnear 79

10 Tim Hankinson 78

SINGLE-SEASON TEAM GOAL LEADERS
RK TEAM YR GOALS
1 Los Angeles ’98 85 – coached by Zambrano

2 D.C. United ’98 74

3 D.C. United ’97 70

4 Columbus ’98 67

5 Chicago ’00 67

6 Tampa Bay ’96 66

7 D.C. United ’99 65

8 New York ’00 64 – coached by Zambrano

9 D.C. United ’96 62

9 Chicago ’98 62

9 Colorado ’98 62

9 Tampa Bay ’00 62

The Kansas City Wizards are now accepting renewals from current season ticket holders and new season ticket deposits for the 2010 Major League Soccer season. The Wizards will begin the 2010 campaign with a home match on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. CT against D.C. United at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Kansas City, a charter member of Major League Soccer, will play its 15th season in 2010.

Fans who renew their season tickets or purchase new season-ticket packages will retain an early priority number that will determine seat locations in Kansas City’s new stadium. To renew season tickets or place a deposit for new season tickets, call the Wizards locally at 913-387-3400, toll free at 1-877-828-7222 or visit www.kcwizards.com.

Kansas City is one of 27 remaining cities in the running to be part of the USA Bid Committee’s bid submission to FIFA. The USA Bid Committee is expected to include 18 cities in their bid to FIFA, naming those cities in December. To support the effort, Kansas Citians are asked to sign the petition at www.goUSAbid.com/kc and pass the petition along to their friends and family.

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