Damani Ralph (born 6 November 1980) is a Jamaican retired footballer who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. His professional career spanned five years, two with

Chicago Fire S.C. (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(2003–2004) and three with

FC Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar language, Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in the city o ...

(2005–2007). He also earned 18 caps with the

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF ...

from 2002 to 2005. He has been a Licensed

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

player agent with ICM Stellar Sports since 2011 and is currently its vice president of soccer in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Early life and career

Ralph began playing football as a boy in Jamaica. This included time with Harbour View and St. George's College before moving to the United States. Ralph began his career in America playing

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

Meridian Community College Meridian Community College is a public community college in Meridian, Mississippi. Founded in 1937, it was originally named Meridian Junior College but changed its name in 1987. History Founded in 1937 as the "13th" and "14th" grades at Meri ...

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the count ...

, where he scored 59 goals in 45 games and was named MVP of the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Tournament. After two years with Meridian, Ralph left for the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

, where he continued his dominant play. During his two years at Connecticut he scored 28 goals and added 11 assists, and was a

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

finalist his senior year.

Professional

Major League Soccer

Ralph was drafted 18th overall by the Chicago Fire in the

2003 MLS SuperDraft The 2003 MLS Superdraft was held January 17, 2003 in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the fifth annual SuperDraft held by Major League Soccer. Player selection Any player whose name is marked with an * was contracted under the Project-40 program ...

. He quickly earned a spot in the starting lineup, and finished the season with 11 goals and 6 assists in 25 games. In scoring 11 goals, Ralph broke the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

record for goals scored by a rookie, previously held by

Rodrigo Faria Rodrigo Faria (born 24 February 1977, in Rio de Janeiro) is a former Brazilian footballer who played as a striker. Early career Faria began his youth career in Brazil with the Flamengo and Vasco da Gama systems. He later came to the United St ...

Josh Wolff Josh Wolff (born February 25, 1977) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Austin FC in Major League Soccer. Playing career College Born in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Wolff played three years of colle ...

, and

Jeff Cunningham Jeff Cunningham (born August 21, 1976) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He is Major League Soccer's third-all-time leader in regular-season goals scored with 134. Youth and college Cunningham was born ...

, and was named

MLS Rookie of the Year The MLS Young Player of the Year Award (known as the Rookie of the Year Award from 1996 to 2019) is an annual award given to the top player in Major League Soccer under the age of 22. The award was initially awarded to a rookie, or a player who no ...

for his accomplishments. In his second year with the Fire, he scored 11 goals again and added 3 assists to lead the team in scoring. Ralph scored the game-winning goal in the

2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The 2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup ran from June through October, 2003, open to all soccer teams in the United States. The Chicago Fire won their 3rd Open Cup title with a 1–0 victory over the MetroStars in the final at Giants Stadium, East Ru ...

final to win the Fire their third U.S. Open Cup.

Europe

Ralph actively pursued a move to Europe almost from his first day in Chicago. Some of the clubs reported as interested in Ralph included British clubs Sunderland and Bolton. In 2004, there were rumors that Ralph would move to the Spanish club Malaga, but MLS turned down a reputed $1 million (U.S.) transfer offer. However, in 2005 Ralph finally secured his long desired transfer to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The move was for undisclosed terms - thought to be $2 million (U.S.) - to Russian Club

. The contract would run for three years with a starting yearly salary of $650,000. In his first season for Rubin, he scored only twice in 25 league games as his team gained a fourth-place finish.

Injury and retirement

In February 2006, before the new Russian season started, Ralph had surgery in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to repair damage to his left knee. Later that year he was treated for a second time and he was sidelined for over 2.5 years after undergoing a third consecutive knee operation at the start of 2008.

Attempted Return to MLS

After almost three years out of professional football due to injury, during which he finished his economics degree at the

, Ralph reappeared on trial with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

during their 2010 pre-season. The trial ended without a contract offer from the club.

International career

Ralph struggled to cement a starting place on the Jamaica national team, largely because of competition from a number of naturalized Jamaican forwards from England. He made his debut in an August 2002 friendly match against

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

and earned 18 caps, scoring once. He played in 8

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches. His final international was an October 2005 friendly against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Career statistics

Club

Honors

Club

; Chicago Fire *

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

;

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

La Manga Cup La Manga Cup is a winter football tournament played in La Manga Club, La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia, Spain). Usual participants are clubs from countries with a summer football season: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Ukraine Uk ...

(2): 2005, 2006

Individual

: 2003 *

MLS Goal of the Year Award Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

: 2003

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralph, Damani 1980 births Living people Association football forwards Jamaican footballers University of Connecticut alumni Harbour View F.C. players UConn Huskies men's soccer players Chicago Fire FC players FC Rubin Kazan players Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer players Chicago Fire FC draft picks Russian Premier League players Jamaica international footballers 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Jamaican expatriate footballers Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Russia