Gianluca Catalano (born May 6, 2000) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's association football, soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league ...

Youth career

He began playing soccer at age three with Kleinburg Nobleton SC. As a youth, he was a member of the TFC Academy. He represented Toronto FC at multiple youth international soccer tournaments in France, Mexico, USA, and at the world famous

Torneo di Viareggio The Torneo di Viareggio ( en, Viareggio Tournament), officially named the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth association football tournament held annually in the commune of Viareggio, Italy and its surrounding are ...

in Italy, where he helped the TFC Academy to a 1-1 draw against the Juventus Academy. 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.

College career

In 2018, he accepted a scholarship to play for

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division 1

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 H ...

(UConn). As a freshman, he started the season opener and won 2-1 vs Lehigh, advanced to the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

semi-finals, and lost to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in the 2nd round of the

NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champi ...

, also known as the College Cup. As a sophomore in 2019, he was named Goalkeeper of the Week in October. On February 24, 2020, he was named to the FTF NCAA All-Canadian 1st Team.

Club career

He began his career in the semi-professional

playing for Toronto FC III and was selected to the 2017 League1 Ontario All-Star team. He made his fully professional league debut for

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well a ...

in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

as an academy call-up, on May 16, 2018 against

Atlanta United 2 Atlanta United 2 are the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. The team plays in the USL Championship, the second tier of American soccer. The team was established on November 14, 2017 and began their first professional ...

. He went on to play a total of 5

games, including 4 starts, prior to joining UConn. In the spring of 2019, he joined AC Connecticut of the

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

(USL2) making 66 saves in 9 games and was named the number two goalkeeping prospect as part of the league's Top 20 Under 20. 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. In 2022, he played for

. Leading the team to a second consecutive undefeated League1 Premier Division regular season Championship as well as winning th
Playoff Championship
final which also qualified the team to the 2023 Canadian Championship. He was named to the Gatorade team of the month for August, 2022. He went on trial with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league compe ...

club

York United FC York United Football Club (formerly known as York9 FC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at York University's York Lions Stadium. Histor ...

, ahead of the 2022 season. 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 FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 to 2017. The club went on hiatus when NASL ceased competitive operat ...

International career

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

2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2017 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (18th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in Panama between 21 ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Catalano, Gianluca 2000 births Living people Association football goalkeepers Canadian soccer players Soccer players from Toronto Toronto FC players Toronto FC II players UConn Huskies men's soccer players USL Championship players League1 Ontario players USL League Two players AC Connecticut players York United FC players Canada men's youth international soccer players Vaughan Azzurri players