Renny Piers Smith (born 3 October 1996) is an English-born Austrian 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

. He has also represented

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

internationally at under-18 and under-19 level.

Career

Smith was born in

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, and attended the

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

South Croydon South Croydon in south London is the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon and running as far south as the former Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is bounded by Waddon to the West and Selsdon and Sanderstead to the ...

. He started his career in the youth team at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

where he stayed until early 2013, before he made the decision to leave following a difference in opinion over his playing position. He subsequently joined

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

rivals

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on a two-year scholarship, a move which followed him being on trial at clubs

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. He featured regularly for Arsenal's youth team over various competitions including the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

, but he failed to make the breakthrough to the first team. He failed to earn a professional deal and was released in the summer of 2015 following the end of his scholarship. In August 2015, he signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

on a three-year contract, following a successful trial against

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. He was placed immediately into the Development Squad. In February 2016 he joined Swedish

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

side

GAIS , neighboring_municipalities= Altstätten (SG), Appenzell (AI), Bühler (AR), Eichberg (SG), Rüte (AI), Schlatt-Haslen (AI), Trogen (AR) , twintowns= } Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden i ...

on a season-long loan, following a successful two-week trial. During his time with the club he made ten league appearances, however, he was predominantly used as a substitute or remained on the bench. In August 2016, he was recalled early from his loan with GAIS and was sold to Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

for a nominal fee. He made his professional debut for the side in November 2016, replacing

Francesco Signori Francesco Signori (born 26 October 1988) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder. Career Born in Milan, Lombardy, Signori started his career at Lombard club Montichiari. Sampdoria In 2007 Signori was signed by Ligurian club Sampdoria ...

as a substitute in the 1–0 league win over

Trapani Calcio S.S.D. F.C. Trapani 1905, commonly referred to as Trapani, is an Italian football club based in Trapani, Sicily. It currently plays in Serie D, after a year long hiatus following its exclusion from Serie C during the course of the 2020–21 seaso ...

. On 31 January 2017, Smith joined

Lega Pro The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

side

Mantova Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Europ ...

on loan. On 5 July 2018, Smith joined Dutch side

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

on a three-year deal. On 15 September 2020, Smith joined

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

side WSG Tirol on a free transfer. He left the club at the end of the 2021-22 season. On 26 September 2023, Smith signed for

.https://twitter.com/OxCityFC/status/1706734612062650672

International career

Despite being born in England, Smith qualifies to represent

through his maternal grandfather. His father, Renny Sr., alerted the

Austrian Football Association The Austrian Football Association (german: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund; ÖFB) is the governing body of football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as w ...

of his eligibility, and in April 2014 he received his first call-up to the under-18 side for a friendly against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, after the Association had scouted him in Arsenal youth team fixtures. He made his debut in the 2–1 win.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Profile
at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Renny 1996 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Epsom English men's footballers Austrian people of English descent Burnley F.C. players GAIS players LR Vicenza players Mantova 1911 players FC Südtirol players FC Dordrecht players WSG Tirol players Oxford City F.C. players Superettan players Serie B players Serie C players Eerste Divisie players National League (English football) players Austria men's youth international footballers Austrian men's footballers People educated at Whitgift School Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands