Mirko Castillo 1990

Mirko Castillo was born August 30th, 1962 in Lima, Peru, spent his entire professional career in the United States. He played two seasons in the American Soccer League, tying Ricardo Alonso as the 1989 league leading scorer. He then played two seasons in the American Professional Soccer League and over a dozen years playing in five indoor leagues.

Although Mirko began playing soccer in Peru, including time on the Alianza Lima youth teams, he moved to the United States in 1988 to sign with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the ASL. In 1989, he moved to the Miami Sharks where he tied Ricardo Alonso as the league’s leading scorer with ten goals. However, he finished second to Alonso in the points standings.

In 1990, the ASL merged with the Western Soccer League to form the American Professional Soccer League. That summer, Castillo played for both the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Washington Diplomats in the APSL. In the summer of 1991, he returned to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, but played only two games with the team.

Mirko had began his indoor soccer career with the Chicago Power of the National Professional Soccer League in 1989. He spent two seasons in Chicago before moving to the St. Louis Storm of the MISL. In 1992, both the Storm and MISL collapsed and he then moved back to the Chicago Power. Mirko played the 1992-1993 season, but was released by the Power in the summer of 1993 after he engaged in several heated confrontations with head coach Pato Margetic. On January 8th, 1994, the Power shuffled its coaching staff and signed Mirko for the remainder of the season. That summer, he joined the Houston Hotshots of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, a summer indoor league. In 1995, he signed with the Detroit Rockers, playing the 1995-1996 NPSL season. In 1996, he began the summer indoor season with the Seattle SeaDogs of the CISL, but was waived on July 25th, 1996. In the September, he signed with the Indiana Twisters. He played the rest of the 1996 season in Indiana and the entire 1997 CISL season there. At the end of the 1997 season, the Twisters and CISL collapsed and in September 1997 the Edmonton Drillers selected Mirko in the supplemental draft. He did not sign with the Drillers, but moved to the Baltimore Spirit for the 1997-1998 season. On February 5th, 1998 the Spirit waived him. He then played the 1998-1999 season with the Montreal Impact in the NPSL. He was back with the Houston Hotshots in the summer of 1999. This time, the Hotshots were in the World Indoor Soccer League. That fall, he signed with the St. Louis Ambush of the NPSL, but played only three games. According to his biography, Mirko also played for the San Diego Sockers, Memphis Rogues and Arizona Sandsharks.

Beginning in 1998, Mirko has held numerous positions as a director of coaching, coach and trainer with several youth soccer clubs in the Houston area. Today, he is the Director of Coaching at the Houstonians Futbol Club. More details can be found at their website: http://houstoniansfc.org/

Thanks to Mirko for the photos.