Ian Bridge


Ian Christopher Bridge is a former member of the Canada men's national soccer team and most recently the head coach of the national women's Under-17 national team.

Club career

Bridge began his pro career in 1977 and played in the NASL with the Seattle Sounders from 1979 to 1983 and with the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1984, and MISL indoor soccer with the Tacoma Stars. Over 6 NASL seasons he played 124 games and scored 13 goals. Following the demise of the NASL Bridge played for Swiss club FC La Chaux-de-Fonds for two seasons when the club was in the Swiss league first division. Later in the Canadian Soccer League, he played for the Victoria Vistas, Kitchener Kickers, and North York Rockets. Ian played his youth soccer with the in Victoria BC, and has an annually awarded Youth Player "Inspirational" trophy named in his honour.

International career

A defender, Bridge made his debut for Canada in an October 1981 friendly match against Trinidad & Tobago and earned 34 caps, scoring 5 goals. He has represented Canada in 12 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played all three of Canada's games at the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals, the country's only appearance at a World Cup finals. Bridge also played for Canada at the 1984 Olympics and at the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. He scored a goal in the first two 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifying games that he played in. His final international was a June 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals match against Mexico.
Bridge was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2003.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
112 November 1981Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras1–11–21982 FIFA World Cup qualification
215 November 1981Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras1–11–11982 FIFA World Cup qualification
328 March 1984Stade Sylvio Cator, Port-au-Prince, Haiti1–01–0Friendly match
425 May 1988Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Canada1–01–0Matthews Cup
515 October 1988Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, Canada3–23–21990 FIFA World Cup qualification

Managerial career

Bridge was head coach of the University of Victoria women's soccer team from 1990 to 2000. He became assistant coach of Canada women's national soccer team in 1997, a position he still has. He became U-19 national women's coach and chief national team assistant coach in March 2001.
Bridge is also team chef of the Canada men's national youth soccer teams. On 10 January 2010, Bridge resigned as head coach of the U-17 Canadian women national team and is now coaching the Victoria Highlanders of the USL Premier Development League.