Renny Piers Smith (born 3 October 1996) is an English-born Austrian 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 plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Oxford City. He has also represented

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

internationally at under-18 and under-19 level.

Career

Smith was born in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and attended the

Whitgift School Whitgift School is an independent day school with limited boarding in South Croydon, London. Along with Trinity School of John Whitgift and Old Palace School it is owned by the Whitgift Foundation, a charitable trust. The school was prev ...

South Croydon South Croydon in south London is the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon and running as far south as the former Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is bounded by Waddon to the West and Selsdon and Sanderstead to the E ...

. He started his career in the youth team at Chelsea where he stayed until early 2013, before he made the decision to leave following a difference in opinion over his playing position. He subsequently joined

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

rivals

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on a two-year scholarship, a move which followed him being on trial at clubs

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

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 ...

. He featured regularly for Arsenal's youth team over various competitions including the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

, but he failed to make the breakthrough to the first team. He failed to earn a professional deal and was released in the summer of 2015 following the end of his scholarship. In August 2015, he signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

on a three-year contract, following a successful trial against

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. He was placed immediately into the Development Squad. In February 2016 he joined Swedish

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

side

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

on a season-long loan, following a successful two-week trial. During his time with the club he made ten league appearances, however, he was predominantly used as a substitute or remained on the bench. In August 2016, he was recalled early from his loan with GAIS and was sold to Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

for a nominal fee. He made his professional debut for the side in November 2016, replacing Francesco Signori as a substitute in the 1–0 league win over

Trapani Calcio Football Club Trapani 1905, commonly referred to as Trapani, is an Italian football club based in Trapani, Sicily. They are nicknamed the ''Granata'' (the Maroons), after their kit colour. History Foundation The club's roots can be traced bac ...

. On 31 January 2017, Smith joined

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

side

Mantova Mantua ( ; ; Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2017, it was named as the "European C ...

on loan. On 5 July 2018, Smith joined Dutch side

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

on a three-year deal. On 15 September 2020, Smith joined

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

side

WSG Tirol Wattener Sportgemeinschaft Tirol (), commonly known as WSG Tirol, is a professional association football club based in the town of Wattens, Tyrol, Austria, that competes in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top tier of the Austrian footb ...

on a free transfer. He left the club at the end of the 2021-22 season. On 26 September 2023, Smith signed for Oxford City.https://twitter.com/OxCityFC/status/1706734612062650672

International career

Despite being born in England, Smith qualifies to represent

through his maternal grandfather. His father, Renny Sr., alerted the

Austrian Football Association The Austrian Football Association (; ÖFB) is the governing body of football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as well as its female equivalent. It is b ...

of his eligibility, and in April 2014 he received his first call-up to the under-18 side for a friendly against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, after the Association had scouted him in Arsenal youth team fixtures. He made his debut in the 2–1 win.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Profile
at

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Renny 1996 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Epsom English men's footballers Austrian people of English descent Burnley F.C. players GAIS players LR Vicenza players Mantova 1911 players FC Südtirol players FC Dordrecht players WSG Tirol players Oxford City F.C. players Superettan players Serie B players Serie C players Eerste Divisie players National League (English football) players Austria men's youth international footballers Austrian men's footballers People educated at Whitgift School Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands 21st-century English sportsmen 21st-century Austrian sportsmen