Luca Robert Gasparotto (born 9 March 1995) is a retired Canadian

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 who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He has played for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at youth level and has been called into the senior squad.

Club career

Early career

Gasparotto began playing soccer with local club Ajax SC, coached by his father, and then moved to

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 ...

side

SC Toronto SC Toronto is a Canadian soccer team, founded in 1994. The team was a member of the Canadian Soccer League, and played its final home games at Lamport Stadium in the city of Toronto, Ontario. The club found success early on since its incepti ...

Rangers

In 2011, he went overseas to sign with

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and made his debut in 2013, coming on for

Emílson Cribari Emílson Sánchez Cribari (born 6 March 1980) is a Brazilian footballer who played as a centre back. Career Cribari started his career in his home state of Paraná, with Londrina Esporte Clube. From Londrina, he moved to Italy where he bega ...

in a 2–0 win over Clyde at Ibrox on 13 April 2013. Gasparotto made his second Rangers appearance in a 1–2 defeat to

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

at Ibrox on 20 April. Gasparotto made his first start for Rangers on the final day of the 2012–13 season in a 1–0 win over Berwick Rangers. Gasparotto did not play for Rangers during the 2013–14 season but was loaned out to

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

. He joined

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club ...

on 1 September 2014, initially until January, however, this was extended until the summer of 2015.

Greenock Morton

Following a serious injury to Frank McKeown, Gasparotto was signed by

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

on a short-term deal until January 2016. After impressing in his loan stint, Gasparotto's loan with Morton was extended to the end of the 2015–16 season. After the conclusion of his loan spell with Greenock Morton, Gasparotto announced that he would not be returning to Rangers for the

2016–17 Scottish Premiership The 2016–17 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016. The sea ...

season.

Falkirk

In June 2016, Gasparotto joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

side

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Second spell at Morton

In November 2017, Gasparotto returned to Greenock Morton on an emergency loan deal until the start of January 2018, whereupon he signed a permanent deal until the end of the 2017–18 season. He was released at the end of the season.

York9

On 14 February 2019, Gasparotto returned to Canada, signing with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

side York9. He made his first appearance for York9 in their inaugural match against

Forge FC Forge FC, also known as Forge Football Club, Forge FC Hamilton, or Hamilton Forge FC, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadia ...

on 27 April 2019. He scored his first goal for the Nine Stripes in a

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

match 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 ...

on 5 June 2019. Gasparotto ended up playing every single minute for York9 in 2019, 28 league games and 6 in the Canadian Championship, the only CPL player to do so. On November 3, 2020, he announced his retirement from professional football, citing a desire to pursue a career outside of football.

Later career

In 2021, he began attending

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

, where he joined the men's soccer team. In his debut season, Gasparotto was named to the 2021 OCAA League All-Star team. He also helped the Hawks win the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

by defeating the Douglas Royals.

International career

He was called into a training camp for the Canada national team in January 2014 whilst on loan at Stirling. Gasparotto was again called into the squad for a training camp in March 2015. He has also played for Canada at U17 (including three games at the U17 World Cup in Mexico) and

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

level. In August 2015, Gasparotto was called up for

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

qualifiers against

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

. In May 2016, Gasparotto was called to Canada's U23 national team for a pair of friendlies against

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

and

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

. He saw action in both matches. Gasparotto was called up to the senior

squad for a

qualifier against

in September 2015.

Personal life

Gasparotto was born in

North York North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the northern area of Toronto, centred around Yonge Street, north of Ontario Highway 401. It is bounded by ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, to a Canadian mother and an Australian father. When he was one year old, his family moved to

Ajax, Ontario Ajax (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population: 126,666) is a waterfront town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Southern Ontario, Canada, located in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area. The town is named for , a Royal N ...

. His father was born in

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Career statistics

Honours

Humber Hawks *

Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA, ) is the national governing body for organized sports at the college level in Canada. National championships CCAA members currently compete for national championships in the following sports: ...

: 2021 *

Ontario Colleges Athletic Association The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) is the governing body of all intercollegiate sports in the Canadian province of Ontario. The OCAA is a part of the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association. The OCAA, with Ontario University Athletics, ...

: 2021–22 ;Individual *Airdrieonians Young Player of the Year: 2014–15 *Airdrieonians Player of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gasparotto, Luca 1995 births Living people Men's association football defenders Canadian men's soccer players Soccer players from Ajax, Ontario Soccer players from North York Canadian people of Australian descent Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland SC Toronto players Rangers F.C. players Stirling Albion F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players York United FC players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish Football League players Canadian Premier League players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Humber College alumni 21st-century Canadian sportsmen University and college men's soccer players in Canada