Founders
These are the few, the proud, the true Minnesota soccer sickos. I am proud to display their soccer fan bios on this page.
Gordon Knoblach
Favorite Team: Minnesota United FC
How I became a soccer fan: I became a soccer fan through forced conversion while studying abroad in Spain which then led to playing FIFA on Xbox360 and following the Premier League, but shifting to following Minnesota United in the NASL and becoming a season ticket holder starting in 2016.
Remembering A MNUFC Guy: Etienne Barbara
Jeff Rueter
Favorite Teams: AFC Bournemouth. Minneapolis City. FC Barcelona. And whichever side is down by two or more, but chasing a comeback.
How I became a soccer fan: Grateful to have come up in a Minnesota soccer family.
Remembering A MNUFC Guy: Kalif Alhassan
Colin O'Donnell
Favorite Teams: Minnesota United FC, Arsenal men, Arsenal women, Minnesota Aurora, USWNT / USMNT (plus Tier 2: most anarcho-leftist backed teams, Borussia Dortmund)
How I became a soccer fan: As a rebellious pre-teen growing up in the football-rich suburb of Eden Prairie (still remember the 2000 Prep Bowl when they intercepted Joe Mauer on the potentially game tying play) I decided that it’d be punk af to be a soccer fan. I took French in middle school and realized how Francophonic Arsenal was. I could try to read Le Monde and then just find box scores in the paper or the old BBC website to make sure I translated it correctly. That happened during the Invincible season.
Remembering A MNUFC Guy: Bertrand Owundi Eko'o. (Editor's note: Colin once wrote a satire piece matching Loons players to 2019 State Fair foods. In said article, Owundi was a snow-cone stand on Machinery Hill that reportedly had a mythical red berry ambrosia flavor, but turned out not to exist.)
Dave Laidig
Favorite Teams: Minnesota United FC, any team using analytics, and any club with a defender who thinks they’re Maradona.
How I became a soccer fan: My first match was Brazil v KSA at the ‘84 Olympics. And I started following the national teams after the ‘94 World Cup. But I wouldn’t say I was a soccer fan until I started hanging out with the Dark Clouds at Thunder/Stars/Loons games.
Remembering A MNUFC Guy: Kevin Friedland
Giles Ferrell
Favorite Teams: Liverpool, Minnesota United FC, Minnesota Aurora (part-owner), Minneapolis City
How I became a soccer fan: My roommate at the time, let's call him Dan, got me into Liverpool on weekends in 2015 and I’ve evolved to watching other leagues/competitions.
Remembering a MNUFC Guy: For whatever reason, I always think of Vadim Demidov allowing 15 goals in three games as central defense in the first MLS season, then they sent him away.
Chris Hatton
Favorite teams: I’m from the UK so my main team is Newcastle United but The Loons aren’t far behind!
How I became a soccer fan: I first starting watching football at age 6 watching Euro 96 and falling in love with Alan Shearer. That meant then falling in love with Newcastle. In terms of Minnesota, I was up late doing night time feeding for my daughter around 4/5 years ago and stumbled upon MLS. First game I saw just happened to feature Minnesota and I fell in love with Bongi and Reynoso.
Remembering a MNUFC Guy: I would love everyone to remember Eric Dick and his pre match pitch reports on the clubs social media.
Karsten Piper
Favorite Teams: MNUFC and any team making a run at the big boys, from Cameroon in the '90 World Cup to Hearts in the '26 Scottish Prem.
How I became a soccer fan: The World Cup. My first was in '90, watching in Dinkytown in a house full of rowdy undergrads from a dozen different countries. In '98 it was on old Soviet TVs with my English-language students in Dnipro, Ukraine, in '06 at pubs with other grad students and at home with my own young kids in St. Andrews, Scotland, and in '26 in person (MIND BLOWN) with my son and his buddies at games in KC. The World Cup always helps me love soccer, stories, people, and the world more. (Oh, and I started going to Loons games in 2015.)
Remembering a MNUFC Guy: Collin Martin, who should have seen the field vs. Dallas that one night in June 2018.
Akos Beres
Favorite Teams: Minnesota United, Ajax, AC Milan
How I became a soccer fan: I grew up in Hungary, played soccer going up on semi-pro level. I had a Hungarian friend who played for the Thunder for a few years. I started going to games to watch him, followed the team on and off especially when they were close the cities at the Metrodome or at Concordia. I played a rec soccer until my body said no more.
William Foy
Favorite Teams: Tottenham Hotspur (with a Saturday morning cup of tea), Minnesota United FC, keeping tabs on Borussia Moenchengladbach
How I became a soccer fan: I became a soccer fan around 1970 or 1971, when I was around 8 or 9. PBS had a show on called "Soccer Made In Germany". It was an hour long show and they would condense a Bundesliga match down to about 45 minutes, so much more than just highlights. The rest of show would have about a minute or so on the other matches around the league. I think we were seeing matches from the previous week. I found myself really liking a Danish player for Borussia Moenchengladbach, Allan Simonsen. He won a Ballon d'Or a few years later. They became my team and featured on the show several times that season. The next year, PBS ran "Soccer Made in England", with the same concept, except featuring play from the First Division. I found myself rooting for Tottenham Hotspur. The name conjured up Shakespeare for me and being the young nerd that I was, that was all I needed. I did follow the NASL when it was in its heyday back in the 70s. I grew up in San Francisco, so the San Jose Earthquakes were my nearest team.
Remembering a MNUFC Guy: Robin Lod