Luca Robert Gasparotto (born 9 March 1995) is a retired Canadian

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 played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He has played for

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 ...

at youth level and has been called into the senior squad.

Club career

Early career

Gasparotto began playing soccer with local club Ajax SC, coached by his father, and then moved to

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

side

SC Toronto SC Toronto was a Canadian soccer team, founded in 1994. The team was a member of the Canadian Soccer League, and played its final home games at Lamport Stadium in the city of Toronto, Ontario. The club found success early on since its incep ...

Rangers

In 2011, he went overseas to sign with Rangers and made his debut in 2013, coming on for

Emílson Cribari Emílson Sánchez Cribari (born 6 March 1980) is a Brazilian footballer who played as a centre back. Career Cribari started his career in his home state of Paraná, with Londrina Esporte Clube. From Londrina, he moved to Italy where he bega ...

in a 2–0 win over

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

at Ibrox on 13 April 2013. Gasparotto made his second Rangers appearance in a 1–2 defeat to

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

at Ibrox on 20 April. Gasparotto made his first start for Rangers on the final day of the 2012–13 season in a 1–0 win over Berwick Rangers. Gasparotto did not play for Rangers during the 2013–14 season but was loaned out to

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in Scottish League Two as a member of the ...

. He joined

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

on 1 September 2014, initially until January, however, this was extended until the summer of 2015.

Greenock Morton

Following a serious injury to Frank McKeown, Gasparotto was signed by

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

on a short-term deal until January 2016. After impressing in his loan stint, Gasparotto's loan with Morton was extended to the end of the 2015–16 season. After the conclusion of his loan spell with Greenock Morton, Gasparotto announced that he would not be returning to Rangers for the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership season.

Falkirk

In June 2016, Gasparotto joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

side

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Second spell at Morton

In November 2017, Gasparotto returned to Greenock Morton on an emergency loan deal until the start of January 2018, whereupon he signed a permanent deal until the end of the 2017–18 season. He was released at the end of the season.

York9

On 14 February 2019, Gasparotto returned to Canada, signing with

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 ...

side York9. He made his first appearance for York9 in their inaugural match against

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 ...

on 27 April 2019. He scored his first goal for the Nine Stripes in a

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contest ...

match 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 ...

on 5 June 2019. Gasparotto ended up playing every single minute for York9 in 2019, 28 league games and 6 in the Canadian Championship, the only CPL player to do so. On November 3, 2020, he announced his retirement from professional football, citing a desire to pursue a career outside of football.

Later career

In 2021, he began attending

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

, where he joined the men's soccer team.

International career

He was called into a training camp for the Canada national team in January 2014, whilst on loan at Stirling. Gasparotto was again called into the squad for a training camp in March 2015. He has also played for Canada at U17 (including three games at the U17 World Cup in Mexico) and

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA SN ...

level. In August 2015, Gasparotto was called up for

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

qualifiers against

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. In May 2016, Gasparotto was called to Canada's U23 national team for a pair of friendlies against

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

and

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 ...

. He saw action in both matches. Gasparotto was called up to the senior

squad for a

qualifier against

in September 2015.

Personal life

Gasparotto was born in

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...

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 Ca ...

to a Canadian mother and an Australian father. When he was one year old, his family moved to

Ajax, Ontario Ajax (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population: 126,666) is a town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Southern Ontario, Canada, located in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area. The town is named for , a Royal Navy cruiser ...

. His father was born in

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in the south-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Career statistics

Honours

;Individual *Airdrieonians Young Player of the Year: 2014–15 *Airdrieonians Player of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gasparotto, Luca 1995 births Living people Men's association football defenders Canadian men's soccer players Sportspeople from Ajax, Ontario Soccer players from Toronto Sportspeople from North York Canadian people of Australian descent Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland SC Toronto players Rangers F.C. players Stirling Albion F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players York United FC players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish Football League players Canadian Premier League players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Humber College alumni