Brian Mullan

Mullan retired from professional soccer at the end of the 2014 MLS season.

On September 15, 2010, Mullan was traded along with a fourth-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft (later converted to a pick in the 2013 MLS Supplemental Draft) to Colorado Rapids in exchange for Colin Clark and allocation money. On April 22, 2011, Mullan committed a two-footed sliding tackle in the third minute of the game between Colorado Rapids and Seattle Sounders FC, breaking the leg of Seattle winger Steve Zakuani, for which he received a straight red card. He was given an additional 9-game suspension and fined $5,000 for the incident. Mullan said after the game "It was a tackle that I’ve done hundreds of times, and I’d probably do it again." During his first return to Seattle since the incident, spectators booed Mullan every time he touched the ball. Mullan signed a multi-year contract extension with Colorado on December 5, 2011.

Along with the rest of his Earthquakes teammates, he moved to Houston for the 2006 season and played 31 of the 32 games (he was suspended for the other) in the inaugural season of Houston Dynamo. In the opening leg of the Western Conference semifinals of the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs, he made a clearing a 14th-minute header by former teammate Patrick Ianni off the line to help preserve a scoreless draw.

Mullan received his first cap for the United States on July 11, 2004 against Poland.

He was traded to San Jose Earthquakes prior to the 2003 season for a 2003 second round draft pick, and, with a move from forward to right midfield, his career took off. Mullan started all 30 regular season and four playoff games as the Quakes won MLS Cup; he scored six goals and added nine assists and added a goal and two assists in the playoffs. In 2004, Mullan scored three goals and recorded eight assists. He scored three goals and six assists in 2005.

Upon graduating, he was drafted 9th overall by Los Angeles Galaxy in the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. Mullan played two seasons for the Galaxy, totaling five goals and four assists in 31 games.

Mullan grew up in Denver, Colorado and graduated from Regis Jesuit High School where he was the 1995 Colorado Player of the Year. That season, Regis won the Colorado 4A soccer championship. He played his college soccer at Creighton University from 1997 to 2000, where he was named a second team All-American as a senior. While at Creighton, Brian played with former Houston Dynamo teammate Richard Mulrooney. In 1999, he played for the Wisconsin Rebels and Colorado Comets during an unknown season, both in the Premier Development League during college.

Brian Mullan (born April 23, 1978) is a retired American soccer player. He is one of only four players to have won the MLS Cup five or more times. He also won four caps for the United States between 2004 and 2007.