Gianluca Catalano

Gianluca Catalano (born May 6, 2000) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario.

Gianluca Catalano
Catalano with Toronto FC III in 2017
Personal information
Date of birth (2000-05-06) May 6, 2000
Place of birth Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Vaughan Azzurri
Number 12
Youth career
Kleinburg Nobleton SC
2012–2018 Toronto FC
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2018–2021 Connecticut Huskies 19 (0)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2018 Toronto FC III 28 (0)
2018 Toronto FC II 5 (0)
2019 AC Connecticut 9 (0)
2022– Vaughan Azzurri 9 (0)
2022 → York United (loan) 1 (0)
International career‡
2017 Canada U17 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of April 12, 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:41, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Early life

Catalano began playing soccer at age three with Kleinburg Nobleton SC.[1] As a youth, he was a member of the TFC Academy. He represented Toronto FC at multiple youth international soccer tournaments in France, Mexico, US, and at the world-famous Torneo di Viareggio in Italy, where he helped the TFC Academy to a 1–1 draw against the Juventus Academy.[2] He later helped them defeat Juventus saving the final shot in a penalty shootout in the championship finals to win the 2017 International Youth Soccer Cup.[3]

College career

In 2018, he accepted a scholarship to play for NCAA Division 1 University of Connecticut (UConn).[4] As a freshman, he started the season opener and won 2-1 vs Lehigh, advanced to the American Athletic Conference semi-finals, and lost to Indiana University in the 2nd round of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, also known as the College Cup. As a sophomore in 2019, he was named Goalkeeper of the Week in October.[5] On February 24, 2020, he was named to the FTF NCAA All-Canadian 1st Team.[6]

Club career

He began his career in the semi-professional League1 Ontario playing for Toronto FC III and was selected to the 2017 League1 Ontario All-Star team.[7]

He made his fully professional league debut for Toronto FC II in the USL Championship as an academy call-up, on May 16, 2018, against Atlanta United 2.[8] He went on to play a total of 5 USL Championship games, including 4 starts, prior to joining UConn.[9]

In the spring of 2019, he joined AC Connecticut of the USL League Two (USL2) making 66 saves in 9 games[10] and was named the number two goalkeeping prospect as part of the league's Top 20 Under 20.[11] On November 20, 2019, he was nominated by the league for the 'Global Greats Series': Best Player from North America 2019, where he finished 3rd overall in voting.[12]

In 2022, he played for Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario.[13] With the Azzurri, he helped them win League1 Premier Division regular season Championship as well as winning the final which also qualified the team to the 2023 Canadian Championship.[14] He also went on trial with Canadian Premier League club York United FC, ahead of the 2022 season.[15] He served as an emergency substitute goalkeeper for York United during the season, and made a start for the club on July 1 against FC Edmonton.[16][17]

International career

In October 2014, he made his debut in the Canadian youth program at an identification camp for the Canada U15 team.[1] In 2015, he was named to the Canadian U-15 team, for a CONCACAF tournament in Mexico City.[18] Later that same year, he was named to a U-18 development camp.[19] In 2017, he was named to the Canadian U17 team for the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship.[20]

Career statistics
As of April 18, 2023[21]
Club League Season League Playoffs Domestic Cup League Cup Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Toronto FC III League1 Ontario 2016[22] 90——?090
2017[23] 170——?0170
2018[24] 20——1030
Total 280————10290
Toronto FC II USL 2018 50———50
AC Connecticut USL League Two 2019[10] 90———90
Vaughan Azzurri League1 Ontario 2022[13] 8020——100
2023[25] 100010—20
Total 90201000120
York United FC (loan) Canadian Premier League 2022 10—00—10
Career Total 520201010560

    References
    1. Gianluca Catalano at the Canadian Soccer Association
    2. "Viareggio Cup Journal: Tournament Match Day 2". Toronto FC. March 15, 2017.
    3. Adam Krueger (August 21, 2017). "U-17s beat Juventus to capture International Youth Soccer Cup!". Toronto FC.
    4. Krueger, Adam (February 7, 2018). "Signing Day 2018 Three academy players sign National Letter of Intent". Toronto FC. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
    5. "Catalano, Lapert Collect Major Conference Honors". UConn Huskies. October 14, 2019.
    6. @FTFCanada__ (February 24, 2020). "FTF NCAA All- Canadian Teams" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
    7. staff, League1 Ontario (2017-07-18). "League1 Announces Final Selection For #L1OAllStar 2017 Match Versus PLSQ". League1 Ontario. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
    8. James Grossi (May 17, 2018). "Offensive explosion not enough for Toronto FC II as they lose by the odd goal in nine at Atlanta United 2". Waking The Red.
    9. "Gianluca Catalano". University of Connecticut.
    10. "Gianluca Catalano". USL League Two.
    11. "League Two 20 Under 20: Goalkeepers". USL League Two. October 2, 2019.
    12. "Global Greats: North America". USL League Two. November 20, 2019.
    13. "Gianluca Catalano 2022 L1O Stats". League1 Ontario.
    14. Jacques, John (May 6, 2023). "Catalano Pushing For Pro Return". Northern Tribune.
    15. Jacques, John (March 2, 2022). "Austin Ricci Is Training With York United". Northern Tribune.
    16. Watson, Kyle (July 2, 2022). "FC Edmonton defeats York United FC 3-0 at home". Last Word on Sports.
    17. @yorkutdfc (July 1, 2022). "Gianluca Catalano and Eleias Himaras have been signed to Emergency Goalkeeper contracts" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
    18. "Six TFC Academy players named to Canada's U-15 Team". Toronto FC. July 30, 2015.
    19. "Kia TFC Academy Players Selected to Canada's U-18 Development Camp". Toronto FC. October 17, 2015.
    20. "Eleven Athletes called into Canada U-17 Squad". Toronto FC. April 17, 2017.
    21. Gianluca Catalano at Soccerway
    22. "Gianluca Catalano TFCIII Statistics 2016". League1 Ontario.
    23. "Gianluca Catalano TFCIII Statistics 2017". League1 Ontario.
    24. "Gianluca Catalano TFCIII Statistics 2018". League1 Ontario.
    25. "Gianluca Catalano 2023 L1O Stats". League1 Ontario.
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