Darren Dimitri Mattocks (born 2 September 1990) is a Jamaican 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 lea ...

who last played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Phoenix Rising FC Phoenix Rising Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2014 as Arizona United Soccer Club, the team is a member of the USL Championship. They won the league championship in 2023, defeating the ...

and the

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "''Reggae Boyz''", represents Jamaica in men's international Association football, football. The team's first match was against Haiti national football team, Haiti in 1925. The squad is under ...

College career

Mattocks played for the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

where he made 47 appearances and scored 39 goals over two years. He was nominated for several awards during his tenure, including one to the first-year All-American teams by several different media outlets.

Professional career

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Mattocks was selected by

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

with the second overall pick in the

2012 MLS SuperDraft The 2012 MLS SuperDraft was the thirteenth annual SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. It was held on January 12, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. (ET). The draft was reduced from three rounds to two with the 19 MLS clubs selecting a total of 38 ...

. He made his club debut on opening day against the Montreal Impact coming off the bench. Soon after his club debut he suffered severe burns from a cooking accident and missed almost two months before returning to the line-up on 9 May against

FC Edmonton FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (2011–2017), North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 t ...

when he scored his first goal for the Whitecaps in the 93rd minute. Mattocks scored his first

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional 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 sanctioned by the United ...

goal on 26 May 2012 against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

. Mattocks scored six goals in his first nine MLS appearances in 2012. In the Whitecaps' first ever playoff game versus the LA Galaxy, Mattocks scored the first ever playoff goal for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the fourth minute of play. He earned the team's Golden Boot award that year with seven goals, and MLS listed him as the best young player in the league in its 2012 "24 under 24" list. For the 2013 season, MLS listed Mattocks at no. 12 on its annual "24 under 24" list of best young players.

Portland Timbers

Mattocks was traded in March 2016 to

in exchange for targeted allocation money and general allocation money.

D.C. United

On 10 December 2017, Mattocks, after having his contract option rejected by Portland, was traded to

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

in exchange for an international roster slot. D.C. United exercised Mattocks' option for 2018, but he lost his starting role after

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

arrived in the mid-summer as a Designated Player. On 11 March 2018, Mattocks scored his first MLS regular season goal for D.C. United. He scored the only goal for D.C. United in the 3–1 loss against

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won o ...

. In his time with DC United, he appeared in 25 games and scored 10 goals.

FC Cincinnati

In December 2018, Mattocks was drafted by

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

in the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft.

Al-Merrikh

After nearly a year without a club, Mattocks joined

Sudan Premier League Sudan Premier League () is the top division of the Sudan Football Association, it was created in 1965. It starts on August 1 and ends May 31. Sudan Premier League Clubs (2024–25) Championship history Performance by club Double Titles ( ...

side

Al-Merrikh Al-Merrikh Sporting Club () is a Sudanese professional football club based in the city of Omdurman. Their home stadium is Al-Merrikh Stadium, which is locally known as The Red Castle. Founded in 1908, Al-Merrikh is one of the oldest football cl ...

in February 2021, ahead of their

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

campaign.

Phoenix Rising FC

Mattocks signed with

of the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

on August 18, 2021.

International career

Mattocks made his international debut for Jamaica in 2012, coming on in the 55th minute in a 2–0 win over

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. He scored three times during the

2014 Caribbean Cup The 2014 Caribbean Cup was the 18th edition of the Caribbean Cup, an international Association football, football competition for national teams of member nations affiliated with the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) of the CONCACAF region. The fin ...

, making him the tournament's joint top scorer, as Jamaica won the tournament for the sixth time. In 2015, Mattocks was included in Jamaica's squads for the

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

and

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

tournaments. On 22 July 2015, Mattocks scored the opening goal in the 2–1 semi-final victory over the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, as the ''Reggae Boyz'' qualified for their first ever Gold Cup final. He also scored in the 3–1 defeat to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Personal life

Mattocks received his U.S. green card in May 2014, which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

: ''Score and result list Jamaica's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* *
Akron Zips bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mattocks, Darren 1990 births Living people Jamaican men's footballers Jamaican expatriate men's footballers Jamaica men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Akron Zips men's soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Portland Timbers players D.C. United players Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Major League Soccer players FC Cincinnati players Vancouver Whitecaps FC draft picks Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Canada 2015 Copa América players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Al Merrikh SC players Sudan Premier League players Phoenix Rising FC players USL Championship players Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Sudan Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States People from Portmore, Jamaica Footballers from Saint Catherine Parish