Dale Mitchell

Dale William Mitchell... soccer family (father Bill)... parents Bill and Diana Mitchell... he was born in Vancouver when his father played for Vancouver Pilseners FC... he married his wife Dianne... he was five years old when he started playing soccer... grew up participating in soccer and basketball... enjoys golf, reading, music... growing up, favourites included Gordie Howe... granted his Canada Soccer Coaching B Diploma in 2001 and earned his Canada Soccer Coaching A Diploma in 2003...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as a player (he was shortlisted as an original alternate by The Soccer Hall of Fame in 2000 and then honoured as part of the Class of 2002)... honoured by the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia and the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame... part of the first Canadian team to reach the knock-out phase at the Olympic Games (Los Angeles 1984), recognised as a Canada Soccer Team of Distinction... part of the first Canadian team to play at the FIFA World Cup (Mexico 1986), recognised as a Canada Soccer Team of Distinction...

Concacaf champion (1985)... represented Canada at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games and 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico... represented Canada in four cycles of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and one cycle of Olympic Qualifiers... represented Canada at the inaugural Concacaf Gold Cup in 1991... Canada’s top goalscorer across FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 1985 (four goals in three international matches, although he missed the final matches through injury... Canada’s assists leader across FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 1992-93 (record four assists in 13 international matches)... Canada’s top goalscorer across FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 1988 (two goals in two matches)... career 72 international appearances across 17 years from 1977 to 1993 with Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team, including 55 international "A" appearances... when he left international football in 1993, he ranked tied for second all-time with 72 international appearances... with the Men’s National Team, he ranked second all time with 23 international goals and first all time with 19 international “A” goals...

club career in Canada and USA... with Vancouver 86ers, a three-time Canadian Soccer League Championship winner (1988, 1989, 1990), one-time North American Soccer Championship winner (1990), and one-time APSL regular season winner (1993)...

served as Canada team staff at one FIFA youth tournament (U-20 at UAE 2003, Netherlands 2005 and Canada 2007)…

in 2012 as part of the Canadian Soccer Association’s Centennial Celebration, was honoured on the All-Time Canada XI men’s team... attended the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 in Vancouver...

wrote historian Colin Jose, Mitchell “was one of the finest goal scorers Canada ever produced”... wrote the Portland Timbers in 1981, “exhibits exceptional ball skills with deft touch... has good vision and is an excellent passer; very quick, especially over the first few yards, which enables him to go past people. A good striker of the ball, especially at bending the ball around walls on free kicks”... said teammate Brian Gant in 1981 (of then 23-year old Dale Mitchell), “most players never possess the skill that Dale had at 16; of the top North American forwards I would put him up there with Steve Moyers and Branko Segota; of those three, I would rank Dale as the most skillful”...

as idolized in the 1986 lyrics for Oh Canada, We’ll Proudly Play for You, “Dale Mitchell has touches like no one else has got, in Mexico we’ll show them how to play”... said Glen Johnson in 2018, “at his peak, Dale Mitchell was Canada’s best player by a mile”...