Bio
Matt Pickens was born in Washington, MO where he attended St. Francis Borgia High School and played for the late Duane Haddox. After high school, he started his collegiate soccer career playing for St. Louis Community College- Meramec for one year. During this time he was the top goalkeeper in Missouri being named 1st Team All-Region and 1st Team All-Conference as the Warriors finished as Region 16 runner-up in 2000.
Pickens finished his collegiate career playing three years for Missouri State University where he was named MVC All-Conference and MVC All-Tournament Team in 2002 and 2003. He was also an NSCAA Scholar Athlete 2001, 2002, 2003 and NSCAA Academic All-American in 2003 and named the MVC Player of the week three times.
While at MSU, he played for the Chicago Fire PDL team and also got his professional start as he was drafted by the Chicago Fire in the MLS Super Draft in 2004.
Pickens didn't get his break until two years later in 2006 to earn his first MLS start with the Chicago Fire. He played part of this season and the next before signing a deal with Queen's Park Rangers for a six month stint. He then had tryouts with a number of European clubs including Hibernian, Doncaster Rovers, Falkirk and Nottingham Forest. He eventually had his rights traded by the Chicago Fire to the Colorado Rapids. During the 2010 season, Pickens was the starting goalkeeper for the MLS Cup Championship team.
He was picked up 2014 by the New England Revolution and then was signed by the NASL Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2015 where now currently starts.
He was a member of the US National Team pool of players and was called into five separate camps.