Sidney Adam Rivera (born November 15, 1993) is a professional

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 plays for

United Premier Soccer League The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American soccer league that was founded in Santa Ana in Southern California, with teams in regionalized conferences throughout the United States, and recently Canada and Mexico. The league was found ...

side New York Braveheart SC. Born in the United States, he represents

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

internationally. Born and raised in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

, Rivera moved to

Hampton, New Jersey Hampton is a borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 1,401,Saint Benedict's Preparatory School St. Benedict's Preparatory School is a Catholic college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey run by the Benedictines. The school serves boys and girls in kindergarten through twelfth grade on a urban campus. The school has been accredite ...

and

North Hunterdon High School North Hunterdon High School is a four-year regional public high school serving students from six municipalities in northern Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States, as one of two high schools in the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High Sch ...

Career

College

Rivera spent his entire college career at

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia with ...

. He made a total of 48 appearances for the Monarchs and tallied 11 goals and one assist. He led the team with nine goals in 2014, where he won the first ever Conference-USA tournament championship in Old Dominion University history while being named tournament offensive MVP. Rivera played for

Virginia Beach City FC Virginia Beach City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Norfolk, Virginia playing in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in the Mid-Atlantic Conference of the Northeast Region. The club was founded in 2013 and ...

in the summer of 2014.

Professional

On January 20, 2015, Rivera was selected in the third round (63rd overall) of the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Januar ...

by Orlando City. While he earned a contract with Orlando, the team loaned him out on May 8 to

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

affiliate club

Louisville City FC Louisville City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the USL Championship, known through the 2018 season as the United Soccer League (USL), which is currently the second tier of th ...

. He made his professional debut four days later in a 3–0 victory over the

Wilmington Hammerheads Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017. History ...

. Rivera went on to make 10 appearances for

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

before leaving the team under circumstances that neither

, nor

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

would comment on. On July 30, he was sent on loan to the

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...

along with teammate, Conor Donovan, in a bid to gain more experience. However, Rivera would only make 1 appearance for the Riverhounds and he was released by Orlando on November 25, 2015. On April 6, 2016, Rivera signed with NASL expansion side

Puerto Rico FC Puerto Rico FC was a professional football club based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2015, the team played in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team debuted in the 2016 fall ...

. In his first season with the club, Rivera found consistent playing time for the first time in his professional career, making 16 appearances and scoring 3 goals. After a successful first season with the club, Rivera appeared in 20 matches for

, however, he only started 6 matches and his minutes over the course of the season decreased. Due to the hiatus by both the NASL, due to operations reasons, and the team, because of the devastation caused by

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...

, Rivera left the club at the end of the 2017 season. After leaving Puerto Rico, Rivera had a brief stint in the semi-professional

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 ...

, making 7 appearances for

Atlantic City FC Atlantic City Football Club (ACFC) is an American Association football, soccer team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 2017, the team plays in the National Premier Soccer League, NPSL . The team uses Stockton Universit ...

. Then he had a brief stint with

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

side, Reno 1868, where he failed to make an appearance for the club. After leaving Reno, Rivera moved to

V.League 1 The V.League 1 ( vi, Giải bóng đá vô địch quốc gia, lit=National Football League), also called Night Wolf V.League 1 due to sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, football league in Vietnam, controlled by ...

side Than Quang Ninh. However, despite playing and starting in the first two matches for the club, Rivera was dropped from the squad for undisclosed reasons. After leaving

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, Rivera returned to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

where he began playing for

FC Motown FC Motown is an American soccer club based in Morristown, New Jersey. Founded in 2012, the team currently plays in both the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and USL League Two. In 2020, the team joined the newly formed Northeast Elite Soccer ...

in the

. After the NPSL season, Rivera signed with the

Philadelphia Fury The Philadelphia Fury was an American soccer team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that last competed in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). The club formerly competed in the American Soccer League and is currently owned by ...

of the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season format with a ...

, along with several of his FC Motown teammates, ahead of the league's inaugural season.

Post-professional

On April 26, 2021, Rivera signed with

USL League Two 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 syste ...

side

Morris Elite SC Morris Elite Soccer Club is an American soccer club based in Union, New Jersey that competes in the Metropolitan Division of USL League Two. They will begin play in the 2021 USL League Two season The 2021 USL League Two season is the 27th se ...

to compete in the clubs inaugural season. On May 24, 2021, he scored the first goal for the club in a 1–0 victory over

F.A. Euro Euro Youth Football Association (FA Euro or FA Euro New York) is a soccer team based in Brooklyn, New York that plays in USL League Two. The club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit youth soccer organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Established in 201 ...

, the first victory in club history. Rivera joined New York Braveheart SC of the

in 2022.

International

Rivera was born in the United States to a Colombian father and Cape Verdean mother. After a stint with

, he gained the option to represent the

Puerto Rico national football team The Puerto Rico national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Puerto Rico) represents Puerto Rico in men's international football, and are governed by the Federación Puertorriqueña de Fútbol (FPF). The team's nickname is ''El Huracá ...

. He made his debut for Puerto Rico on 24 March 2019 in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier against Grenada, as a 58th-minute substitute for

Héctor Ramos Héctor Omar Ramos Lebrón (born 4 May 1990), also known as Pito Ramos or simply Pito, is a Puerto Rican footballer, who plays as a forward for Metropolitan FA and the Puerto Rico national team. Career Ramos began 2011 playing for Puerto Rico ...

International goals

:''Scores and results Puerto Rico's goal tally first.''

References

External links

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uslleaguetwo.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Sidney 1993 births Living people Puerto Rican men's footballers Puerto Rico men's international footballers American men's soccer players American sportspeople of Colombian descent American people of Cape Verdean descent African-American men's soccer players Old Dominion Monarchs men's soccer players Orlando City SC players Louisville City FC players Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players Puerto Rico FC players Reno 1868 FC players Men's association football forwards People from Hampton, New Jersey Soccer players from New Jersey Sportspeople from Hunterdon County, New Jersey Orlando City SC draft picks USL Championship players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players North Hunterdon High School alumni FC Motown players National Independent Soccer Association players Philadelphia Fury players American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Vietnam American expatriates in Bangladesh Expatriate men's footballers in Vietnam Expatriate men's footballers in Bangladesh Bangladesh Police FC players Morris Elite SC players 21st-century African-American sportspeople