He went for a second, and now ill-fated, loan spell with Milan in a bid to keep his place in Fabio Capello's squad for South Africa, with every indication he would add to his record 115 international caps for an outfield player.
But state high school associations, as Michigan did to allow Dompierre to keep playing, are waking up and creating rules that clearly spell out how a school can allow a special-needs student to be part of a team without creating an unusual competitive advantage.