Catalano with Toronto FC III in 2017
| |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (2000-05-06) May 6, 2000 (age 24) | ||
| Place of birth | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Kleinburg Noble ton SC | |||
| 2012–2018 | Toronto FC | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2018–2021 | Connecticut Huskies | 19 | (0) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2018 | Toronto FC III | 28 | (0) |
| 2018 | Toronto FC II | 5 | (0) |
| 2019 | AC Connecticut | 9 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | Vaughan Azzurri | 12 | (0) |
| 2022 | → York United (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2023 | Toronto FC II | 4 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2017 | Canada U17 | 3 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of September 1, 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of May 25, 2018 | |||
Gianluca Catalano (born May 6, 2000) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper.
Catalano began playing soccer at age three with Kleinburg Nobleton SC.[1] As a youth, he was a member of the TFC Academy. He represented Toronto FC at multiple youth international soccer tournaments in France, Mexico, US, and at the world-famous Torneo di Viareggio in Italy, where he helped the TFC Academy to a 1–1 draw against the Juventus Academy.[2] He later helped them defeat Juventus saving the final shot in a penalty shootout in the championship finals to win the 2017 International Youth Soccer Cup.[3]
In 2018, he accepted a scholarship to play for NCAA Division 1 University of Connecticut (UConn).[4] As a freshman, he started the season opener and won 2-1 vs Lehigh, advanced to the American Athletic Conference semi-finals, and lost to Indiana University in the 2nd round of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, also known as the College Cup. As a sophomore in 2019, he was named Goalkeeper of the Week in October.[5] On February 24, 2020, he was named to the FTF NCAA All-Canadian 1st Team.[6]
He began his career in the semi-professional League1 Ontario playing for Toronto FC III and was selected to the 2017 League1 Ontario All-Star team.[7]
He made his fully professional league debut for Toronto FC II in the USL Championship as an academy call-up, on May 16, 2018, against Atlanta United 2.[8] He went on to play a total of 5 USL Championship games, including 4 starts, prior to joining UConn.[9]
In the spring of 2019, he joined AC Connecticut of the USL League Two (USL2) making 66 saves in 9 games[10] and was named the number two goalkeeping prospect as part of the league's Top 20 Under 20.[11] On November 20, 2019, he was nominated by the league for the 'Global Greats Series': Best Player from North America 2019, where he finished 3rd overall in voting.[12]
In 2022, he played for Vaughan AzzurriinLeague1 Ontario.[13] With the Azzurri, he helped them win League1 Premier Division regular season Championship as well as winning the final which also qualified the team to the 2023 Canadian Championship.[14] He also went on trial with Canadian Premier League club York United FC, ahead of the 2022 season.[15] He served as an emergency substitute goalkeeper for York United during the season, and made a start for the club on July 1 against FC Edmonton.[16][17]
In June 2023, he signed a short-term contract with Toronto FC IIinMLS Next Pro, with the team retaining options to extend the contract for the remainder of the 2023 season, as well as the 2024 season.[18][19]
In October 2014, he made his debut in the Canadian youth program at an identification camp for the Canada U15 team.[1] In 2015, he was named to the Canadian U-15 team, for a CONCACAF tournament in Mexico City.[20] Later that same year, he was named to a U-18 development camp.[21] In 2017, he was named to the Canadian U17 team for the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship.[22]
| Club | League | Season | League | Playoffs | Domestic Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Toronto FC III | League1 Ontario | 2016[24] | 9 | 0 | — | — | ? | 0 | 9 | 0 | ||
| 2017[25] | 17 | 0 | — | — | ? | 0 | 17 | 0 | ||||
| 2018[26] | 2 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 28 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | 29 | 0 | ||
| Toronto FC II | USL | 2018 | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 5 | 0 | |||
| AC Connecticut | USL League Two | 2019[10] | 9 | 0 | — | — | — | 9 | 0 | |||
| Vaughan Azzurri | League1 Ontario | 2022[13] | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2023[27] | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | |||
| Total | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | ||
| York United FC (loan) | Canadian Premier League | 2022 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| Toronto FC II | MLS Next Pro | 2023 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| Career Total | 59 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 0 | ||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
