Kevin McKenna

Kevin James McKenna (born 21 January 1980) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played as a centre back and current assistant manager of Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln. Occasionally, he also played as a central midfielder or striker.

Club career

McKenna began to play with soccer 1990 in the academy team of Calgary Foothills and was promoted to the senior team in 1991. He was selected for the Alberta Provincial Under 15 team in 1995 and won the Canadian National Championships with them that year. Owen Hargreaves was also part of that Alberta team.

Energie Cottbus

After playing with Calgary Foothills as an amateur, McKenna played three seasons (the first two in the reserves) with German Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus. In the first game of the 2000–01 season, McKenna and international teammate Paul Stalteri simultaneously became the first Canadians to play in the German Bundesliga in a match between McKenna's newly promoted Cottbus and Stalteri's Werder Bremen.

Hearts

In 2001, McKenna moved to Scottish Premier League team Hearts on loan, playing eight games for the Edinburgh club. After a £300,000 transfer that summer, McKenna was the club's second leading scorer in the 2001–02 season with nine goals in 35 games. As a mostly reserve striker in 2002–03, McKenna scored six in 41.

He also scored five goals in 38 games in 2003–04. After falling out of favour at Hearts in 2005, McKenna returned to Energie Cottbus. He was elected as the club's new captain after the departure of former skipper Gregg Berhalter.

1. FC Köln

In the summer of 2007, McKenna signed a four-year contract with 1. FC Köln, dropping down a division to the 2. Bundesliga. McKenna made his debut for his new team on 10 August 2007, in a 2–0 away win against FC St. Pauli. Several weeks later, McKenna scored his first goal for the club on 5 October in a 4–1 home victory over Kickers Offenbach. He helped Köln to promotion into the top flight in his first season with the club.

McKenna scored his first goal in the 2010–11 season in a 4–2 away loss to powerhouse Werder Bremen on 28 August, the other goal scored by teammate Lukas Podolski. Weeks later during the month of September, McKenna had surgery done on his knee and was labeled out indefinitely, however he made a faster recovery then originally anticipated and returned to the first team in early December.

He did not see any playing time until being subbed on in the 75th minute to Schalke 04 on 19 December, the game ended as a 3–0 loss.

McKenna made his 2011–12 debut as a starter on 13 August against Schalke in the team's second game of the season, it ended as a 5–1 away loss. Two weeks later Mckenna scored his first goal of the season and the winning goal to beat Hamburger SV in a thrilling 4–3 away victory.

International career

McKenna made his debut for Canada in a May 2000 friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago. By November 2009, he has earned a total of 46 caps, scoring nine goals. He has represented Canada in four FIFA World Cup qualification matches. McKenna has been a regular for the Canadian national team since 2002, when he featured in the CONCACAF Gold Cup as a target man for Holger Osieck's side. McKenna scored three goals, including a brace over Haiti in the first round.

McKenna earned his 50th cap for team Canada in a friendly against Ecuador prior to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the game ended in a 2–2 home draw at BMO Field. McKenna was named the captain for Canada during the Gold Cup with Paul Stalteri not in the tournament roster.

International goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McKenna goal.

• 1 — 30 May 2000 — Winnipeg Soccer Complex, Winnipeg, Canada — 2 — Honduras — 2–1 — 2–1 — Friendly
• 2 — 18 January 2002 — Orange Bowl, Miami, United States — 8 — Haiti — 1–0 — 2–0 — 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
• 3 — 18 January 2002 — Orange Bowl, Miami, United States — 8 — Haiti — 2–0 — 2–0 — 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
• 4 — 26 January 2002 — Orange Bowl, Miami, United States — 10 — Martinique — 1–1 — 1–1 — 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
• 5 — 12 February 2003 — 11 June Stadium, Tripoli, Libya — 14 — Libya — 1–0 — 4–2 — Friendly
• 6 — 1 June 2003 — Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg, Germany — 16 — Germany — 1–0 — 1–4 — Friendly
• 7 — 13 June 2004 — Richardson Stadium, Kingston, Canada — 23 — Belize — 3–0 — 4–0 — 2006 World Cup qualification
• 8 — 26 March 2005 — Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, Barcelos, Portugal — 27 — Portugal — 1–3 — 1–4 — Friendly
• 9 — 25 July 2005 — Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, Canada — 28 — Honduras — 1–2 — 1–2 — Friendly
• 10 — 7 September 2010 — Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Canada — 48 — Honduras — 2–1 — 2–1 — Friendly
• 11 — 29 February 2012 — Tsirio Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus — 56 — Armenia — 1–0 — 1–3 — Friendly

Coaching career

After retiring, McKenna started his coaching career as assistant manager for 1. FC Köln's U19 squad. He was then, alongside Markus Daun, assistant coach under head coach Stefan Ruthenbeck on an interim basis 1. FC Köln's Bundesliga team in December 2017, before becoming assistant coach of André Pawlak on the second team of 1.

FC Köln in the summer of 2018. After Pawlak was appointed manager for the Bundesliga team in late April 2019, McKenna took over on an interim basis as head coach for the second team in the Regionalliga West. In July 2019, McKenna left the club because he saw no prospect of a position as head coach in the youth area for the foreseeable future.

On 19 September 2019, McKenna was appointed assistant manager of 1. FC Kaiserslautern under the new head coach Boris Schommers. In 2021, he returned to Köln as an assistant coach to Steffen Baumgart. until May 2024 when a disappointing end to the season led to relegation and the team let the contracts of the entire coaching staff expire.

In September 2024, McKenna was appointed assistant manager at Hamburger SV, once again under chief trainer Steffen Baumgart . The time at HSV proved to be short-lived as McKenna was fired along with Baumgart and the entire trainer team in December 2025. McKenna followed Baumgart to FC Union Berlin in December 2025 and was relieved of duties by the team in April 2026 when Baumgart was sacked. On 26 June 2026. McKenna returned to 1. FC Köln as assistant manager to René Wagner.

Career statistics

As of match played 19 May 2019

Honours

Player

Canada

• CONCACAF Gold Cup: 3rd place, 2002

1. FC Köln

• 2. Bundesliga: 2013–14

Individual

• CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 2002
• Canada Soccer Hall of Fame: 2019 Inductee