Derk Droze (born October 29, 1972, in Fairfax, Virginia) is a retired American soccer player, who is currently coaching in Denmark for the Danish Club FC Nordsjælland. During his playing career, he played professionally in Chile, Denmark and the US.
Droze, the son of Dan Droze who played minor league football for the Annapolis Sailors, grew up in the Southern Maryland area, 30 miles outside Washington DC in the small town of La Plata, graduating from St. Mary's Ryken High School in 1990. Droze attended George Washington University where he played on the men's soccer team from 1990 to 1993. He graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in psychology. In 1994, he moved to Deportes Iquique in the Primera División de Chile. In 1995, he moved to CD Arica in the Chilean Second Division. In February 1996, the New England Revolution selected Droze in the fifteenth round (145th overall) of the 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. He later played for the New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers in the USISL. On June 3, 1998, he signed a one-year contract with Lyngby Boldklub of the Danish Superliga just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. In the fall of 2001, he moved to Ølstykke FC of the Danish First Division. He played sixty games, scoring twenty-one goals with Ølstykke. In 2002, he moved to Helsingør IF. In the spring of 2003, Droze returned to the US where he went on trial with the Chicago Fire S.C. and the New York MetroStars
In June 2003, Droze was cast to be a part of the movie The Game of Their Lives. The Game of Their Lives (released on DVD as The Miracle Match) is a 2005 American drama film directed by David Anspaugh (Rudy & Hoosiers). The screenplay by Angelo Pizzo is based on the book of the same title by Geoffrey Douglas. The film starred Gerard Butler, Gavin Rossdale, Wes Bentley, Patrick Stewart, John Rhys-Davies, Zachery Ty Bryan & Jimmy Jean-Louis. The film details the true story of the 1950 US soccer team which, against all odds, beat England 1-0 in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil during the World Cup. The story is about the family traditions and passions that shaped the players who made up this team of underdogs. One group of teammates were from The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Another group came from the Corky Row district of Fall River, Massachusetts. Droze played the part of Robert Annis in the movie. Annis was a part of the group of players who came from 'The Hill' in St. Louis, Missouri.
In February 2004, Droze moved out to Los Angeles, California where became a broadcast engineer with Fox Cable Networks over at Fox Studios, while he continued to play for Hollywood United and the Southern Maryland Futsal Club. Derk slowly began making the transition from playing into the coaching and managing world of soccer, but not before he led and captained Hollywood United to a first round upset of the Portland Timbers in the 2008 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. He began coaching at the youth level for Santa Monica United Football Club, in Santa Monica, California back in 2006, where he teamed up with fellow coach Robert Bahedry. The two would go on to make a terrific team and would coach various teams together for almost 6 years. In 2009, Droze was forced to take over as the General Manager for the Elite Men's Amateur side Doxa Italia, a Manhattan Beach based soccer team, a team Derk began playing on after Hollywood United's surprise success in the US Open Cup in 2008. After a slight transition where DOXA would lose their ownership, their financing, and eventually their coach, the team would regain their form and identity that had made them a powerhouse in Southern California and the west coast for many years. In May 2011, Droze took over the active duties as the head coach of Doxa Italia, where he also continued to play and serve as Manager, leading DOXA to their first Region IV Men's Open Title and at the same time qualifying for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup for the first time in Club history. DOXA finished as the second best men's amateur team in the US in 2011 losing in the Final on PK's to the Pancyprian Freedom from Eastern New York. In March 2012, Droze traveled back to Denmark, where he used to play professionally, to work with former Coach Flemming Pedersen (Helsingor IF), who is now the First Team Coach with FC Nordsjælland. Droze served as a 'Guest Coach' for Danish Superliga side FC Nordsjælland, where he worked with both the First Team & the Youth Division. FC Nordsjælland (FCN) would go on to win their first ever Danish Superliga Championship and earn automatic qualification into the Champions League of Europe for the 2012-2013 Season. He was eventually offered a spot on the coaching staff as the Club's first ever 'Guidance & Development Coach' where he continues to serve as an assistant coach, making Derk just one of a handful of Americans who are coaching abroad.