Andrea Daniele Lombardo (born May 23, 1987) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player.

Youth career

Lombardo began his youth career playing for

Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home g ...

and North York Hearts. He then went on trials with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, and

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

being offered places in Manchester City and Modena's Academy at the age of 15. He joined Manchester City and trained with them for four months until his work permit was denied. Through a connection from a friend of his father, he was offered a two-day trial with

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. After scoring two goals in a scrimmage, he was offered a contract and joined the club's academy.

Club career

Lombardo began his professional career with

in 2004. In 2005 and 2006, he was loaned to

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

and to

Rieti Rieti (; , Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region. T ...

. He joined

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

in their inaugural season of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

in 2007. He scored his first goal in an exhibition match against

English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English foot ...

He played two seasons with the club before being released.

University career

After departing TFC, Lombardo went on to play 4 games for the

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

soccer men's team. However, he was found to be violation of

Ontario University Athletics Ontario University Athletics (OUA; ) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providing contact information, schedules, results, ...

rules because he did not maintain amateur status, having played professionally within the past year. All 4 games were overturned. He re-joined the Lions for the 2009/2010 CIS season. He became an assistant coach with York in 2017.

Semi-pro career

On 28 April 2010 he signed a one-year contract for

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

club SC Toronto/Portugal FC which was later extended for the 2012 season. He made his debut for the club on May 8, 2010, in a match against

TFC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the Youth system, youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC, which competes in MLS Next. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 ...

. The following week he would score his first goal for the club on May 16, 2010, against

Brantford Galaxy Brantford Galaxy Soccer Club was a semi-professional Canadian soccer club based in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, with their home venue located in Hamilton, Ontario at the Heritage Field Turf. The club competes in the Canadian Soccer League, a league ...

. He helped Portugal FC finish fifth in the overall standings and as a result qualified for a postseason berth. He featured in the quarterfinal match against Milltown FC, and scored a goal which resulted in a 2–2 draw. In the semi-finals Lombardo recorded his second playoff goal in a 5–3 loss to Brantford Galaxy. In the 2011 season he helped SC Toronto capture the Regular Season Championship, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals after their opponents the

York Region Shooters York Region Shooters is a Canadian association football, soccer team, that plays in the Canadian Soccer League. The Shooters played their home games at the St. Joan of Arc Turf Field in the City of Vaughan, Ontario. The team's colours were blue ...

won the penalty shootout by a score of 4–2. After playing with SC Toronto, he decided to retire. He later came out of retirement to play for

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

in the newly formed

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

, making his debut against

. He took up an assistant coaching role with the same team as well as the youth teams in 2018.

International career

Lombardo started playing for the Canadian youth national team at the age of 14. Lombardo has played for the Canadian under-20 national side. He was part of the squad in 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 ...

and the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the scor ...

References

External links

*
archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lombardo, Andrea 1987 births Living people Atalanta BC players Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Italian men's footballers Italian people of Canadian descent Soccer players from North York AC Perugia Calcio players Toronto FC players SC Toronto players Serie B players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Major League Soccer players League1 Ontario players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Vaughan Azzurri players 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Canadian sportsmen University and college men's soccer players in Canada