
Albertin Montoya
MVLA Technical Director
08B Atletico ECNL Head Coach
2015 Program Coach
Albertin was born in Cuba and moved to the United States when he was six years old. He grew up in Mountain View and played club soccer for MVLA (along with his teammate MVLA Executive Director Joe Cannon). One of Albertin’s favorite soccer memories was playing in MVLA’s first National Championship with his MVLA team!
Albertin played for the US national team in the U17 World Cup, he was part of the US U20 National Team and the US U23 Olympic Team. Albertin played collegiate soccer at North Carolina State and Santa Clara University. He played professional soccer in the MLS; he was a first round draft pick, fourth overall, when he was selected by the San Jose Clash (now the San Jose Earthquakes).
Albertin points to his father, Alberto Montoya, as the biggest inspiration in his coaching career. Albertin played for his dad at MVLA for 10 years, and says he learned from his dad that it’s not necessarily how much you know about the game, it’s how you go about leading a group of individuals to become a team and help them achieve their full potential.
Albertin’s coaching duties, in addition to MVLA, have included being the US U17 Youth National Team coach, the head coach for the Women’s Professional Soccer League WPS Champions (under his watch) FC Gold Pride, and the WPS All-Star Team Coach. Albertin was named Soccer America Women’s Coach of the Year and was a F.I.F.A. Women’s World Coach of the Year finalist. Albertin holds his USSF A License, and is also NorCal as well as an ECNL Boys board member.
Albertin’s favorite part of coaching is sharing the love and passion he has for the game while inspiring players to be the best version of themselves. MVLA allows coaches to express themselves while teaching the MVLA way of playing; having this freedom encourages coaches to problem solve and think for themselves. Albertin’s favorite soccer memory as a coach is coaching in MVLA’s first state championship on the girl’s side with the MVLA Mercury.
Albertin’s favorite team is Barcelona, and Messi is his favorite player. Albertin is thankful for the relationships that he has formed with players, parents, and coaches over the last 36 years at MVLA. He wants to express a big THANK YOU to his first team, the MVLA Mercury. These young, strong women are now in their late 20’s or early 30’s and are excelling in their personal lives. He owes so much of his coaching success to them.