Andrew Sparkes, who previously spent three years as the New York Red Bulls Academy Goalkeeper Coach from 2008-10, has rejoined the club after spending the duration of 2011 coaching for the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg.
In Austria, Sparkes worked under the guidance of Han Leitert, head of Red Bull Global Goalkeeping and Development. Leitert’s goalkeeping philosophy transcends across all five Red Bulls teams (New York, Salzburg, Ghana, Leipzig and Brazil) and continues to advance the development of Academy hopefuls. Sparkes will continue to bring that approach back to New York after an already successful list of accolades in his first run with the club.
Under Sparkes' guidance during his previous stint with the New York Academy, six players were selected as US National Team goalkeepers, four were selected for prestigious US Soccer U-17 Residency and one ‘keeper was selected for the US National Team at the FUFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
The New York Red Bulls Academy has produced more goalkeepers for the US National teams than any other team in the United States.
