Julian Paolo Uccello (born October 30, 1986) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

soccer player.

Career

Youth

From the age of 5 to 15, Julian had played with youth clubs in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, including Richmond Hill Soccer Club, Thornhill Soccer Club, Kleinburg Nobleton Soccer Club and Woodbridge Soccer Club, before moving overseas. Julian secured a trial with Manchester United for six months, playing a league game with the U-17 team, scoring a goal in his only game for the club. Julian then went on to trial with the Bolton Wanderers of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

a year later. Following these trials in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Uccello found a home to continue his footballing development in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, first being brought over by

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, but in the end signing on with

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

Professional

After

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

's youth team, Julian was put on loan with Savona of

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

in 2004, scoring 19 goals in his first year one shy of all time record held by Panucci. At the end of his loan deal with Savona, he was released by Milan, at which point he signed with AC Sansovino on a transfer. He quickly earned the golden boot scoring title in 2007, finishing third overall in Serie D, where he netted 24 goals during the run of play, until the summer of 2009, when he signed a one-year deal with

FC Crotone Football Club Crotone S.r.l., commonly referred to as Crotone, is an Italian football club based in Crotone, Calabria. They play in the third division of Italian football, the Serie C. Founded in 20 settembre 1910, it holds its home games at S ...

. He was then was put on loan to Bellaria in C2 where he netted 10 goals in 30 games, before returning to re-sign a three-year deal with

. In June 2009, Uccello began to be noticed by

fans when he played the first half and scored a goal at

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Constructed on the site of the former ...

in a

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

charity game, called "Zidane & Friends All Star Match," in which world soccer veterans took on the Canadian All-Stars. The game finished in a 3–3 draw, with Uccello having scored the opening goal for the Canadian All-Stars with a memorable celebration in front of the South Stand in front of his grandfather Paolo Uccello. He finally debuted for Crotone on September 4, 2010 in a 1–1 away draw versus former

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

team

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

. In January 2011, Uccello was loaned to

A.S. Casale Calcio A.S.D. Casale Foot Ball Club (formerly A.S. Casale Calcio) is an Italian football club, based in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont. The club plays in Serie D. The team's nickname ''nerostellati'' (“the starred-blacks”) refers to the team's colou ...

, with whom he had spent the 2008–09 season. In an interview he said "Both Crotone and Casale have agreed and have assured me that I'm there for one role only and that is to be their first line striker for the next six months." Uccello made his return appearance for Casale on January 15, 2011 in a 5–0 loss to Pro Patria and was elected as the Captain of Casale for the balance of the year. He returned to Crotone after his loan from Casale and remained until January 2012, when he negotiated a release from the team with a year and a half remaining on his contract. Uccello has been the top goal scorer for five of the seven teams he has played for in Italy. Uccello, with 128 goals in Italy, has a scoring average of one goal every 59 minutes played (total 19,490 minutes), up to the end of his 2012 season. In 2012, he returned to Canada to play with the

York Region Shooters York Region Shooters is a Canadian association football, soccer team, that plays in the Canadian Soccer League. The Shooters played their home games at the St. Joan of Arc Turf Field in the City of Vaughan, Ontario. The team's colours were blue ...

in the Canadian Soccer League. In 2014, he played in

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 ...

with

Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home g ...

International

Uccello first represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with the under-20 team at the

2005 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament The 2005 CONCACAF U-20 Qualifying Tournament was held to determine the four CONCACAF entrants into the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, which was hosted by the Netherlands. The tournament final was held in two groups of four with the top two fr ...

, in which Canada won Group B, going undefeated winning all three games. Julian was not a part of the Canadian national team plans until early In October, 2010, senior national team coach Stephen Hart named him in the 18 man

squad to play a friendly on October 8 versus

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. He failed to make an appearance in the 2–2 away draw versus Ukraine, with goals for Canada from

Atiba Hutchinson Atiba Hutchinson (born 8 February 1983) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder and captains both Süper Lig club Beşiktaş and the Canada national team. While playing in Denmark he won the Danish Super Liga Player o ...

and

Simeon Jackson Simeon Alexander Jackson (born March 28, 1987) is a Canadian professional soccer player who currently plays as a forward for Chelmsford City. He has spent the majority of his career playing in England, relocating from Mississauga, Ontario, to ...

Personal life

Julian has two younger brothers who are twins,

Luca The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population from which all organisms now living on Earth share common descent—the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth. This includes all cellular organisms; th ...

and Michael Uccello. Luca is currently with

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 ...

and the Canadian National Team. Michael, is now attending the Toronto film school to follow his dream of becoming a film Director/Producer. He also has an older sister Melissa. Julian was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2011 which caused him to retire from professional soccer. He is now a V.P. of Housing for Stateview Homes and is currently coaching U-15 Woodbridge Strikers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uccello, Julian 1986 births Living people Canadian soccer players Canadian expatriate soccer players Serie B players Savona F.B.C. players F.C. Crotone players York Region Shooters players Soccer players from Toronto Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Canadian people of Italian descent Association football forwards Woodbridge Strikers players