Paul Stalteri

Paul Andrew Stalteri (born October 18, 1977) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played as a defender or midfielder.<ref name="Paul Stalteri Goes Big League">Template:Cite news</ref> He spent most of his professional career in Germany, winning the league and cup double with Werder Bremen in the 2003–04 season. Stalteri also played football in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham.<ref name=BBC>Template:Cite news</ref>

A regular for the Canada national team, Stalteri made a total of 84 appearances at the senior level, scoring 7 goals.<ref name=RSN>Template:Cite news</ref> He was the all-time cap leader of the Canada national team until Julian de Guzman surpassed him in November 2025. He was part of the squad that won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2000.<ref name="RSN"/>

He serves as an assistant coach for the Canada national team.

Early life

Stalteri was born to an Italian father and a Guyanese mother.<ref name="Paul Stalteri Goes Big League"/> While growing up, Stalteri says his favourite player was Paolo Maldini and the first live football match he ever saw was Toronto Blizzard. He also considered Physical Education to be his favourite subject.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

While playing youth soccer in Ontario with the Malton Bullets, won a Robbie International Soccer Tournament Championship.Template:Citation needed

Club career

A defender who can play either side of the field as well as in midfield, Stalteri began his soccer career playing one year of college soccer at Clemson University in 1996. Following his first year, he elected to turn professional, signing a contract with the Toronto Lynx while attending York University. After playing one season with the Lynx, alongside fellow Canada national team teammate Dwayne De Rosario, where he led the team in scoring with eight goals and two assists, Stalteri was noticed by a scout from Werder Bremen and purchased from the team. After two and a half seasons in the reserves,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Stalteri made his debut with the club in August 2000, scoring in the first game of the season against Energie Cottbus.

During the 2001–02 season, Stalteri established his role in the first team at Bremen and went on to cement his role as a regular in the 2002–03 season. In 2003–04, Werder Bremen won the Bundesliga.

In May 2005, Stalteri transferred to English Premiership club Tottenham Hotspur.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He featured heavily in the 2005–06 campaign as Spurs narrowly missed out on a Champions League place, but the arrival of full back Pascal Chimbonda at White Hart Lane the following season limited his chances.

On March 4, 2007, after coming on as a substitute, he scored a dramatic last minute winner against London rivals West Ham United to complete an extraordinary 4–3 win.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He had hardly featured in the first team all season up to that point. His other Spurs goals came against Manchester City in the league<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Leicester City in the FA Cup.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On January 31, 2008, Stalteri moved to Fulham on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut for Fulham away at Middlesbrough on February 9, 2008 where his team lost 1–0.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Having returned to White Hart Lane, his contract was terminated by mutual consent on December 21, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Stalteri returned to the Bundesliga, having been immediately signed by Borussia Mönchengladbach where he joined fellow international Rob Friend.<ref name=BBC/>

He announced his retirement as a player at the age of 35 on March 20, 2013.<ref name=Globe>Template:Cite news</ref>

International career

Stalteri was a regular starter for the Canada national team for over ten years from making his debut on August 17, 1997 against Iran. In total, he won 84 caps and scored seven goals for the national team.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That made him the most capped Canadian of all time until this record was surpassed by Julian De Guzman in 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was named team captain for a friendly on June 1, 2007 against Venezuela, and remained captain for international fixtures for the rest of his international career including for the entirety of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. On September 7, 2010 Stalteri earned his 83rd cap for Canada in a 2–1 win over Honduras making him the all-time leader in appearances for the Canada men's national team.<ref name=CSASept2010>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2017, Stalteri was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Coaching career

In February 2020, Stalteri joined Canadian Premier League club York9 FC (later renamed York United) as an assistant coach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He departed the club after the 2021 season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In January 2022, he joined Major League Soccer club Toronto FC as an assistant coach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2023, he joined the Canada national team as an assistant coach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cupTemplate:Efn		League cupTemplate:Efn		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Toronto Lynx	1997<ref name="nft">Template:Cite web</ref>	USL A-League	16	8	–		–		–		–		16	8
Werder Bremen II	1997–98<ref name="nft"/>	Regionalliga Nord	14	3	–		–		–		–		14	3
	1998–99<ref name="nft"/><ref name="wf">Template:Cite web</ref>		29	7	1	0	–		–		–		30	7
	1999–2000<ref name="nft"/><ref name="wf"/>		28	4	2	0	–		–		–		30	4
	Total		71	14	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	74	14
Werder Bremen	2000–01<ref name="wf"/>	Bundesliga	31	1	2	0	–		5Template:Efn	2	–		38	3
	2001–02<ref name="wf"/>		22	3	2	0	–		1	0	–		25	3
	2002–03<ref name="wf"/>		33	0	5	0	–		4Template:Efn	0	1Template:Efn	0	43	0
	2003–04<ref name="wf"/>		33	2	6	1	–		4	0	0	0	43	3
	2004–05<ref name="wf"/>		32	0	5	0	–		8Template:Efn	0	2Template:Efn	0	47	0
	Total		151	6	20	1	0	0	22	2	3	0	196	9
Tottenham Hotspur	2005–06<ref name="wf"/>	Premier League	33	1	1	1	1	0	–		–		35	2
	2006–07<ref name="wf"/>		6	1	3	0	2	0	3Template:Efn	0	–		14	1
	2007–08<ref name="wf"/>		3	0	1	0	0	0	3Template:Efn	0	–		7	0
	Total		42	2	5	1	3	0	6	0	0	0	56	3
Fulham (loan)	2007–08<ref name="wf"/>	Premier League	13	0	0	0	0	0	–		–		13	0
Borussia Mönchengladbach	2008–09<ref name="wf"/>	Bundesliga	16	0	0	0	–		–		–		16	0
	2009–10<ref name="wf"/>		3	0	0	0	–		–		–		3	0
	Total		19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
Career total			312	30	28	2	3	0	28	2	3	0	374	34

International

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Stalteri goal.<ref name="nft"/>

List of international goals scored by Paul Stalteri

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	June 2, 1999	Edmonton, Canada	Template:Fb	1–0	2–0	1999 Canada Cup
2	November 14, 2001	Paola, Malta	Template:Fb	1–1	1–2	Friendly
3	May 15, 2002	St. Gallen, Switzerland	Template:Fb	2–0	3–1	Friendly
4	February 12, 2003	Tripoli, Libya	Template:Fb	3–1	4–2	Friendly
5	March 29, 2003	Tallinn, Estonia	Template:Fb	1–0	1–2	Friendly
6	July 12, 2003	Foxboro, United States	Template:Fb	1–0	1–0	2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
7	March 25, 2007	Hamilton, Bermuda	Template:Fb	3–0	3–0	Friendly

Honours

Player

Canada

• CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2000;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 3rd place, 2002<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Werder Bremen

• Bundesliga: 2003–04
• DFB-Pokal: 1998–99, 2003–04
• DFL-Ligapokal: 2006
• DFB-Hallenpokal runner-up: 2001

Tottenham Hotspur

• Football League Cup: 2007–08

Individual

• CONCACAF Gold Cup All-Tournament team (Honorable Mention): 2007<ref>Template:Cite web </ref>

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Soccerbase
• Template:FIFA player
• Template:Canada Soccer player / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
• Template:Fussballdaten
• Template:WorldFootball.net
• Template:NFT player
• Paul Stalteri profile, detailed club and national team statistics, honours (palmares) and timeline