Ryan Gyaki (born 6 December 1985) is a Canadian former professional

soccer player 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 ...

and professional

soccer coach In association football, the manager is the person who runs a Football team, football club or a national sports team, national team. They have wide-ranging responsibilities, including selecting the team, choosing the tactics, recruiting and t ...

. He was last signed with

FC Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Currently, he is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. History Mount Royal University was founded by Alberta provincial charter by the Arthur Sifton government on December 16, 1910 and officially opened on September 8 ...

men's soccer team in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Canada, called The Cougars. Awarded "Canadian U20 player of the Year" in 2005, Gyaki was a creative

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 ...

who usually played in a forward playmaking role as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. He represented the Canada national team in 2005 as captain of the U20 soccer team. Gyaki, a former standout in the Calgary youth soccer scene, made his transition to the professional ranks at only 17 years old. He played for

Sheffield United F.C. Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

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 ...

, before a knee injury sidelined him for the remaining part of the season. The following season, he signed a contract with

F.C. Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

in the German first

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. After continuing knee problems, Gyaki decided to retire his professional career as a player and focus on this coaching career instead. In 2014, Gyaki became

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

of the men's soccer team at

and in 2015 he succeeded as head coach. In his first season as manager, Gyaki guided the Mount Royal Cougars to the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

for the first time in University history, finishing third in the Prairie Division.

Career

Gyaki started his career with

Calgary Storm Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, making ...

and was discovered at 17 years old, by

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

while touring with a Calgary select team. He signed with Sheffield United F.C. in the English Premier League. Unfortunately, after just one game with United's reserves in August 2005, he damaged knee ligaments and missed the entire 2005–06 promotion campaign. After five years with the Premiership and Championship outfit, he left United in 2007 and signed with F.C. Hansa Rostock in the German first Bundesliga. After a continuing battle with knee problems, he was released by

on 27 May 2009.

International career

In 2004–05 season, after recovering from torn abdominal muscles, Gyaki captained the Canadian U20 national team and scored all four of their goals during qualifying for the

2005 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 15th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in the Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. Venues Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA Worl ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He played 90 minutes in all three of Canada's games in the tournament against Colombia, Syria and Italy. He was named Canada Youth Player of the Year in 2005. Gyaki presented Canada in Seventeen games on Under-20 Level and scores four goals. He was rated as one of the top 10 players to watch at the under 20 world cup in 2005.

Personal life

Gyaki holds an Austrian and a Canadian passport and his girlfriend Vivienne Gliesche was Miss Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2007. His father is from

Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...

and his mother is from

Wien en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, his grandparents raised in

Oberwart Oberwart (; hu, Felsőőr; hr, Gornja Borta) is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the same name. Oberwart is the cultural capital of the small ethnic Hungarian minority ...

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gyaki, Ryan 1985 births Men's association football midfielders Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Canadian people of Austrian descent Canadian men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany FC Hansa Rostock players Living people Sheffield United F.C. players Soccer players from Calgary Soccer players from Toronto Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England