Ryan Johnson (born 26 November 1984) is a Jamaican former 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 ...

who played as a forward.

Career

Youth and college

Johnson was born in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to the Boston area with his family while he was still an infant. He played high school soccer and basketball at Melrose High School in Massachusetts, where he was a Middlesex League and Eastern Mass League soccer all-star. He attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...

on a sports scholarship and played

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 K ...

there from 2002 to 2005, where he scored 18 goals and assisted on 30 while appearing in 76 matches. He also spent two seasons in the

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

, playing for

Cape Cod Crusaders Cape Cod Crusaders were an American soccer team based in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1994, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2008, when ...

and

Boulder Rapids Reserve Colorado Rapids U–23 were an American soccer team based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado, United States. Originally founded in 2000 as part of the development system for the Colorado Rapids, the team played in the Premier Develo ...

Professional

Johnson was drafted in the third round, 26th overall, by

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...

in the

2006 MLS SuperDraft The 2006 MLS SuperDraft, held in Philadelphia on January 20, 2006, was the seventh incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection originally belonged to Chivas USA, but they traded it to the MetroStars for the fift ...

. On 25 July 2006, after only appearing in 7 matches with Salt Lake, Johnson was traded to Chicago Fire in exchange for Jack Stewart. In the remainder of the 2006 season, Johnson played 3 matches for the Fire and failed to agree on a new contract with the team at season's end. In early 2007, he was on trial with various teams in Scandinavia and eventually got a short-term contract with Swedish side

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has previously also compet ...

(then at Superettan), that stretched from March 2007 to July 2007. Because Östers' had a surplus of centre forwards at the time, they chose not to extend his contract any further and instead loaned Anatolij Ponomarev from GAIS. In 2007, he was on trial in

FK Bodø/Glimt Fotballklubben Bodø/Glimt () is a Norwegian professional football club from the town of Bodø that currently plays in Eliteserien, the Norwegian top division. The club was founded in 1916 and is frequently referred to by its original club n ...

where he played one game against Leknes FK. He scored the last goal in the 8–1 win. After a short stint playing indoor soccer with the

New Jersey Ironmen The New Jersey Ironmen were an American indoor soccer team. They originally joined the Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008), Major Indoor Soccer League for the 2007–08 season. When the MISL ceased operations a year later, they joined the Xt ...

, Johnson signed with San Jose Earthquakes for the 2008 MLS season. At the end of the 2009 MLS season, Johnson was named team MVP as the team's leading goalscorer. On 14 July 2011, San Jose traded Johnson, an international roster spot, and allocation money to

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

for

Nana Attakora Clement "Nana" Attakora-Gyan (born March 27, 1989), known as Nana Attakora and later Clement Attakora, is a Canadian former soccer player and coach, formerly a player and later assistant manager and director of player personnel of Oakland Roots ...

, Alan Gordon and Jacob Peterson. On 20 July Johnson made his debut for Toronto in a 1–0 home loss to

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

. Three days later against Sporting Kansas City Johnson scored his first goal of the season for Toronto and assisted on a goal by newly acquired

Danny Koevermans Danny Koevermans (born 1 November 1978) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Early career Born in Schiedam, Koevermans began his career with the amateurs of Excelsior'20, then went to Sparta Rotterdam ...

. The game ended as a 4–2 away defeat. On 2 August, in the return leg of the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League, Johnson scored a superb volley in the 37th minute, followed by a goal in the 47th from a misplaced pass by the Real Esteli F.C. keeper. The two goals put Toronto FC into the group stage for the second straight year on an aggregate of 4–2. Johnson continued his goal scoring form at the beginning of the 2012 season after scoring in both legs of the Champions League Quarter finals against

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

and against Seattle Sounders FC on 17 March. Johnson's goal against the Sounders earned him goal of the week. Johnson was awarded the George Gross Memorial Trophy as the

2012 Canadian Championship The 2012 Canadian Championship (officially the Amway Canadian Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a soccer tournament hosted and organized by the Canadian Soccer Association that took place in the cities of Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Va ...

's best player. Johnson was traded with Miloš Kocić to Portland Timbers on 12 December 2012 in exchange for

Joe Bendik Joseph T. Bendik (born April 25, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. Club career Clemson Bendik grew up in Marietta, Georgia and attended Clemson Un ...

, a first-round pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, and allocation money. On 27 February 2014, Johnson transferred to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

newcomer

Henan Jianye Henan Songshan Longmen Football Club (), previously known as Henan Jianye Football Club (), is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team ...

. The start of the 2015 season saw Ryan join new Korean

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National ...

side

Seoul E-Land FC Seoul E-Land FC ( ko, 서울 이랜드 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul which plays in the K League 2. Seoul E-Land was announced as the league's second football club based in Seoul on 14 April 2014. The club is ow ...

under the tutelage of former

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

manager Martin Rennie and his assistant, ex-

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and

Celtic FC The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

's Dan Harris. In March 2016, Johnson signed for

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

side

Rayo OKC Rayo OKC, also known as Rayo Oklahoma City, was an American professional soccer team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They joined the North American Soccer League (NASL) – the second tier of the American soccer pyramid – beginning w ...

. Johnson was released by Rayo OKC on 26 May 2016.

International

Johnson made his debut with the

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), ...

on 12 April 2006 in a friendly against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, playing the first 70 minutes. He was rewarded for his outstanding 2009 MLS season with a recall to the

in January 2010 for a friendly match versus Canada and a February 2010 match versus Argentina. He scored his first national team goal in a 2–1 loss to Argentina in Mar del Plata on 10 February 2010. Johnson continued his strong performances with the national team by scoring the winning goal versus Costa Rica in September 2010.

International goals

Honours

Club

;Toronto FC * Canadian Championship (1):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Individual

* George Gross Memorial Trophy: 2012

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ryan 1984 births Living people Colorado Rapids U-23 players Cape Cod Crusaders players Chicago Fire FC players Expatriate footballers in Sweden Association football midfielders Association football forwards Jamaican expatriate footballers Jamaica international footballers 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Jamaican footballers Major League Soccer players New Jersey Ironmen (MISL) players Oregon State Beavers men's soccer players Östers IF players Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Portland Timbers players Real Salt Lake draft picks Real Salt Lake players San Jose Earthquakes players Toronto FC players USL League Two players Chinese Super League players Expatriate footballers in China Henan Songshan Longmen F.C. players Seoul E-Land FC players K League 2 players Expatriate footballers in South Korea Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Soccer players from Massachusetts Rayo OKC players North American Soccer League players