MOSCOW -- American Dale Mulholland has signed a contract to play with Lokomotiv, the leading Moscow soccer club, the Soviet news agency TASS reported Monday.
Mulholland, who has played professional soccer for teams in the United States, West Germany, South Korea and Hong Kong, was expected to join Lokomotiv immediately, TASS said.
'I bought a one-way ticket to Moscow and will seek a regular place on Lokomotiv's starting line-up,' Mulholland, 25, told TASS.
He said the idea of joining a team in the Soviet Union came after he had seen U.S. philanthropist Armand Hammer call for broader sporting ties with the Soviet Union.
Mulholland said the Lokomotiv offer was one of many from Soviet clubs including Spartak Moscow, Zenit Leningrad and Pakhtakor Tashkent. He said although he considered the Spartak offer, he was more taken with Lokomotiv after several training sessions.
Lokomotiv director Vadim Korshunov said he hoped the signing of Mulholland would prove to be but the first step in establishing a relationship with Mulholland's former team, the Orlando Lions.
Korshunov said Lokomotiv plans to invite a guest trainer from the Lions nextfall, and would send a Soviet player to the United States.
The Lokomotiv director said that if Mulholland were chosen as part of the U.S. team to play in the World Cup Finals in Italy, Lokomotiv would be 'only too pleased' to release him.
