Jake Ruby (born June 4, 2000) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a full-back for the

HFX Wanderers HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer le ...

of the

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

Early life

Ruby began playing youth soccer at age seven with Lynn Valley SA. Afterwards, he played for Mountain United FC, before joining the

Vancouver Whitecaps Academy Whitecaps FC Academy is a Canadian soccer team, the academy of professional team Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as ...

in 2016. In 2018, he participated in the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

's 2018 pre-season, as well as other first team training sessions. He departed the Whitecaps Academy in 2018, heading to Germany, where he had a month-long trial with

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

. He then began playing at the senior amateur level with NVFC Norvan in the

Vancouver Metro Soccer League The Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) is a soccer men's league operating in British Columbia, Canada primarily in the Lower Mainland area. History The league is an amateur league, and does not compete against or promote teams to the Canadian ...

University career

In 2019, he began attending

Trinity Western University Trinity Western University (TWU) is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts university with campuses in both Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley and Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia. The sch ...

, where he played for the men's soccer team. He scored his first goal on October 11, 2019 against the

UFV Cascades The UFV Cascades are the athletic teams that represent the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia and currently compete in the Canada West conference of U Sports. The Cascades field varsity teams in basketball, golf, soc ...

. In his rookie season, he was named the TWU's Male Rookie of the Year, across all sports. He was also named a

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

Second Team All-Star, as well as being named to the Canada West All-Rookie Team and the U SPORTS All-Rookie Team.

Club career

In April 2019, he signed with the

Victoria Highlanders Victoria Highlanders FC is a Canadian soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The club was founded in 2008 and currently play in the League1 British Columbia. The team had played in the American USL League Two from 2009 to 201 ...

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 syste ...

. In November 2019, Ruby was selected 14th overall by

in the

2019 CPL–U Sports Draft The 2019 CPL–U Sports Draft was the second annual CPL–U Sports Draft. It was held on November 11, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec. Seven Canadian Premier League (CPL) teams selected 14 eligible U Sports athletes in total. Format Each CPL team will ...

. In July 2020, he signed a U Sports contract with the Wanderers, which would allow him to maintain his university eligibility. In his debut season, he helped the Wanderers reach the CPL finals, where they were defeated by

Forge FC Forge FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadian soccer. The club plays its home matches at Tim Hortons Field. Forge FC joined the CPL in 2019 as ...

. In February 2021, he returned to the Wanderers on a fully professional contract for 2021, with club options for an additional two seasons, planning to finish his post-secondary education in Halifax. He scored his first goal on August 7, 2021 against York United. In January 2022, the Wanderers picked up his option for the 2022 season. In January 2023, after having previously exercised his contract option for 2023, the club signed him to a new extension for the 2023 season, with options for 2024 and 2025.

International career

In October 2016, Ruby made his debut in the Canadian national program, participating in a Canadian under-17 team camp and a month later played in a friendly series with the team in Jamaica. He made his international debut on November 27, 2016 against Jamaica U17, earning man of the match honours. In May 2017, he was named to the roster 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 ...

, where he started all three of the team's matches. In 2018, he was named to the Canada U21 team for the

2018 Toulon Tournament The 2018 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 46ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 46th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 26 May to 9 June 2018. Engl ...

, but he was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Jake 2000 births Living people Association football defenders Canadian soccer players Soccer players from Vancouver Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Trinity Western Spartans soccer players Victoria Highlanders players HFX Wanderers FC draft picks HFX Wanderers FC players USL League Two players Canadian Premier League players Canada men's youth international soccer players Sportspeople from North Vancouver