Paco Gigi Craig (born 19 October 1992) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for North Carolina FC in the USL Championship. He is the son of

Mikey Craig Michael Emile "Mikey" Craig (born 15 February 1960) is a British musician and DJ of Jamaican descent, best known as the bassist of the pop/soul/new wave group Culture Club. Craig's group Culture Club became one of the most successful bands of t ...

, bass player of the band

Culture Club Culture Club are an English pop band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Mikey Craig (bass guitar) and formerly included Jon Moss (drums and percussion). Emerging in the New ...

Early life

Personal

Paco Craig was born in London, England to Lilli and

and has two brothers as well as one half-brother and one half-sister. At the urging of his father he played both football and was a drummer in a band with his brother. He attended secondary school at

Dame Alice Owen Alice Owen ( Wilkes; 1547 – 26 October 1613) was an English philanthropist. Life Owen was born in 1547 to an Islington landowner Thomas Wilkes and his wife. She had a sister Mary whose daughter, Anne Bedingfeild, was also a benefactor.Griff ...

where he played

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and was named captain of his football team.

College and youth career

Craig played in the West Ham United youth system from 2008 to 2011. Following his release he went on trial with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Gillingham before spending a season with

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

. Not wanting to play non-league football, Craig moved to the U.S. and played three years of

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 ...

Young Harris College Young Harris College is a private Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college in Young Harris, Georgia, United States. History Origins The school was founded in 1886 by Artemas Lester, a circuit-riding Methodist minister who wanted to pr ...

between 2013 and 2015. In each of Craig's three seasons with the team, Young Harris College won the Peach Belt Conference title while winning the Peach Belt Conference Tournament twice. As a

Freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

Craig won the Conference's Freshman of the Year award as well as winning the Conference's Player of the Year award as a Junior. Craig was the second player to win both awards during his career. He finished his career with 17 goals and 14 assists in 57 matches. While at college, Craig played one season for the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially ...

side Rocket City United and two seasons for the

Ocala Stampede Ocala Stampede was an American soccer club based in Ocala, Florida that played in the Premier Development League, the fourth division of the American soccer pyramid. History Ocala Stampede was granted a franchise in the PDL on December 28, 2011, ...

of the

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

. Over the course of his two seasons with Ocala, Craig appeared in 26 matches, scoring three goals with one assist. In both of his years with the Stampede, the team won the PDL's Southeastern Conference and made the national semi-final with Craig being named to the All Conference team in 2015.

Club career

Louisville City FC

2016 season

Craig signed his first professional contract with

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

club Louisville City FC on March 14, 2016. He made his professional debut on April 16 against

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

. He appeared in 15 of Louisville's 28 regular season matches scoring one goal with one assist. He played in one of Louisville's two US Open Cup matches as well all three of Louisville's USL Cup matches. In the Eastern Conference finals match against the New York Red Bulls II Craig scored Louisville's lone goal and was sent off in extra time. Louisville lost the match on penalties.

2017 season

Craig missed the first game of the 2017 season while serving a suspension for being sent off in the Eastern Conference Finals match from the previous season. He made his season debut on March 30 against Orlando City B and went onto play in 21 of Louisville's 32 regular season matches. He scored two goals which occurred in consecutive games on July 22 and 29th against Saint Louis FC and New York Red Bulls II respectively as well as register two assists. In addition he'd appear in one of Louisville's US Open Cup matches and all four of their USL Cup matches. At the end of the season he was named to the USL All League First Team. He was second in USL Defender of the year voting. Louisville went on to win the

USL Cup The USL Championship Final is the post-season championship match of the USL Championship, the second tier of professional men's soccer in the United States. The winner is crowned champion in the same manner as in other North American sports lea ...

Final against Swope Park.

2018 season

Craig had his contract renewed with Louisville City FC. He made his season debut on March 17 against USL expansion side

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

. Craig appeared in 32 of Louisville's 34 league matches, missing one match due to a suspension. Craig scored 2 goals. He also appeared in all five of Louisville's

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 ...

matches scoring one goal as Louisville reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time in its history. This included a 3–2 victory over the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

of MLS; Louisville's first victory over an MLS side. Craig appeared in all four of Louisville's

playoff matches going goalless. Craig and Louisville went on to win the USL Cup Final for the second consecutive season. This time against Phoenix. After the season he was again named to the USL All League First Team and finished second in USL Defender of the year voting behind

Forrest Lasso Forrest Baldwin Lasso (born May 11, 1993) is an American soccer player who plays for USL Championship club Tampa Bay Rowdies. Early life Lasso played high school soccer at Needham B. Broughton High School. During his sophomore, junior, and seni ...

Wycombe Wanderers

On 25 February 2020, Craig signed a one-month contract with

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He played his first game against

Hungerford Town Hungerford Town Football Club is a semi-professional Football club (association football), football club based in Hungerford, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks Football Association, they are currently members of and play at B ...

on the same evening in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup. However, he never made a league appearance for Wycombe due to his contract expiring during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

situation.

Miami FC

On 13 January 2021, Craig signed with Miami FC of the USL Championship.

North Carolina FC

Craig signed for North Carolina FC in December 2023, ahead of the club's return to the USL Championship.

Honours

Club

Louisville City FC *

(2):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual

*USL All League First Team (3):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

*USL All League Second Team (2):

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Paco Living people 1992 births English men's footballers Footballers from London English expatriate men's footballers Black British sportsmen Men's association football defenders Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Ocala Stampede players Louisville City FC players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Miami FC players National Premier Soccer League players USL League Two players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States USL Championship players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent English people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent North Carolina FC players