Background and career
Dwayne Anthony De Rosario OOnt (born May 15, 1978) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played as a forward or as an attacking midfielder. A versatile attacker, he played for the Toronto Lynx, FSV Zwickau and Richmond Kickers early in his career. He came to prominence in the 2000s playing in Major League Soccer for the San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC, New York Red Bulls and D.C. United. A four-time MLS Cup champion, he also won the 2011 MLS Most Valuable Player award. He is the tenth-leading scorer in MLS history with 104 goals. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential Canadian players of all time. Internationally, De Rosario represented the Canadian national team from 1998 to 2015 where he was the country's all-time leading scorer, with 22 goals in 81 games. De Rosario is a 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup champion and four-time Canadian Player of the Year. He is an honoured member of the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Born in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, De Rosario is the son of Guyanese immigrants to Canada. He began playing soccer at age three with Scarborough Blizzard SC, later playing with the Malvern Majors. As a 14-year-old, De Rosario rejected an offer from A.C. Milan after a successful trial because he was not ready to commit to living in Italy. De Rosario went to Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute in Scarborough. De Rosario began his professional career in 1997 at the age of 18, signing with the Toronto Lynx of the A-League. Halfway through the season, however, De Rosario signed with German side FSV Zwickau. After two seasons with Zwickau, De Rosario returned to North America, signing with the Richmond Kickers in 1999. After a slow 1999 season, in which he registered two goals and five assists, De Rosario scored fifteen goals and provided five assists while leading the team to a 20–6–1 record in 2000.
The next season, when Canadian Frank Yallop was named head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes, De Rosario was one of his first acquisitions. De Rosario proved Yallop's judgment right, scoring five goals and four assists in only 1,072 minutes for the Earthquakes in 2001, playing an important role as the team went on to win the MLS Cup; he scored the golden goal in the final and was named MLS Cup MVP. De Rosario had similar success in 2002, registering four goals and eight assists in 1,637 minutes, though the Quakes fell short of a repeat. In 2003, a torn ACL hobbled De Rosario for much of the season but he still managed to make a late surge, registering four goals and three assists in only 686 minutes and helping lead the team to a second MLS Cup championship. De Rosario played 1,211 minutes in 2004, scoring five goals, including the 2004 MLS Goal of the Year, and three assists. In December 2004 De Rosario had a trial with Nottingham Forest, but he was not offered a contract by the team. In 2005, following Landon Donovan's departure, De Rosario moved to midfield and promptly led MLS in assists with 13, while scoring nine goals, including the 2005 MLS Goal of the Year – the only player ever to receive that honour in two consecutive years – for a powerful bending free kick in the last regular season game against the Los Angeles Galaxy. He was named to the MLS Best XI six times (2005–07, 2009–11).
Due to San Jose's failure to reach a stadium agreement with AEG, De Rosario, along with the rest of his Earthquakes teammates, moved to Houston for the 2006 season. During the 2006 MLS All-Star Game in Chicago, De Rosario scored the only goal of the game in the 70th minute to lift the MLS All Stars to a 1–0 win over Chelsea, a pre-season friendly for the London club. De Rosario was one of only four players on the MLS team to play the entire match. De Rosario and the Houston Dynamo captured the 2006 MLS Cup title by beating the New England Revolution on November 12, 2006. The Dynamo won in a shootout, and De Rosario successfully converted his penalty kick. De Rosario signed a contract extension with Houston through 2010, where he was reported to make $325,000 per year. He was later transferred to Toronto before the end of his contract. The next year, De Rosario assisted on Joseph Ngwenya's equalizing goal and scored the winning goal of the 2007 MLS Cup final, giving Houston a 2–1 win over the Revolution and the Dynamo their second championship. De Rosario was named MLS Cup MVP, the first player ever to win the award twice. De Rosario made his third consecutive all-star appearance at the 2008 MLS All-Star Game in his home country, when the game was held in Toronto. He scored the decisive goal on a penalty kick in the 69th minute in the MLS All-Stars' 3–2 victory over West Ham United.
De Rosario was traded to Toronto FC on December 12, 2008, in return for Julius James and allocation money, after long speculation that De Rosario would move to his hometown club. He made his competitive debut for Toronto FC on Saturday, March 21 against the Kansas City Wizards, setting up Jim Brennan for Toronto's first goal in a 3–2 victory. He scored his first goal for Toronto from a header in a 1–1 draw at BMO Field against FC Dallas. De Rosario was expected to miss the first two to four weeks of Toronto FC's training camp due to a calf injury obtained in the January 31, 2010, match against Jamaica, and returned to game action in Toronto's 1–0 preseason win versus the University of South Florida. On April 8, 2010, De Rosario was named captain of Toronto FC, the second in the club's history, after the retirement of Jim Brennan. Two days later, De Rosario scored his first goal of the 2010 season, his team's first, in a 4–1 loss to the New England Revolution. On April 15, 2010, De Rosario scored twice in Toronto's 2–1 home opener win against the Philadelphia Union. In his next game versus the Colorado Rapids, De Rosario scored his fourth goal of the season, and more importantly, became Toronto FC's all-time leading scorer in the regular season. De Rosario again found the back of the net on April 25 in a 2–0 home win against Seattle Sounders FC, scoring the first goal, his fifth of the season. Until O'Brian White scored the second goal for Toronto, De Rosario had previously scored all of Toronto's goals up until that point in the season. For his efforts in that game, he was awarded the MLS Player of the Week for week 5. De Rosario was again honoured with the Player of the Week award on week 10 of the MLS season, for his two-goal performance against his former team the San Jose Earthquakes. De Rosario had scored the second and third goal in Toronto FC's 3–1 win. De Rosario continued to have a successful 2010 season for Toronto, culminating in a spot on the MLS All-Star team, scoring a goal in the 5–2 loss to Manchester United. On August 3, 2010, De Rosario scored against C.D. Motagua in the second leg of Toronto FC's CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round tie, which at the time, put TFC ahead on 2–1 on aggregate. They would eventually win 3–2 on aggregate. On December 28, De Rosario was confirmed to be on trial with Scottish Premier League club Celtic by manager Neil Lennon. Dwayne and Celtic inquired about the possibility of a short-term loan deal until the MLS season kicked off in March, however new Toronto FC coach Aron Winter and the league denied any further negotiations. De Rosario scored the first Toronto goal of the 2011 season on March 19 in a 4–2 away defeat to Vancouver Whitecaps FC in what was the league's first all Canadian match up. The goal scored in the 20th minute was also the 8000th goal scored in Major League Soccer's history.
New York Red Bulls acquired De Rosario on April 1, 2011, in exchange for midfielder Tony Tchani, Danleigh Borman and a first round 2012 MLS SuperDraft pick. He scored his first goal for New York on a penalty, as the second goal, in a 3–2 loss to Chivas USA.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
