Ryan Gyaki (born 6 December 1985) is a Canadian former professional

soccer player 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 ...

and professional

soccer coach In association football, the manager is the person who has overall responsibility for the running of a football team. They have wide-ranging responsibilities, including selecting the team, choosing the tactics, recruiting and transfer (associa ...

. He was last signed with

FC Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Currently, he is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

men's soccer team in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, Canada, called The Cougars. Awarded "Canadian U20 player of the Year" in 2005, Gyaki was a creative

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 ...

who usually played in a forward playmaking role as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He represented the Canada national team in 2005 as captain of the U20 soccer team. Gyaki, a former standout in the Calgary youth soccer scene, made his transition to the professional ranks at only 17 years old. He played for

Sheffield United F.C. Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's histor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, before a knee injury sidelined him for the remaining part of the season. The following season, he signed a contract with

F.C. Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

in the German first

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. After continuing knee problems, Gyaki decided to retire his professional career as a player and focus on this coaching career instead. In 2014, Gyaki became

assistant coach An athletic coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''Coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ul ...

of the men's soccer team at

and in 2015 he succeeded as head coach. In his first season as manager, Gyaki guided the

Mount Royal Cougars The Mount Royal Cougars are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Cougars field eight varsity teams with four men's teams and four women's teams that compete in the Canada West ...

to the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

for the first time in University history, finishing third in the Prairie Division.

Career

Gyaki started his career with

Calgary Storm The Calgary Mustangs (formerly the Calgary Storm and Team Calgary) were a soccer team in Calgary, Alberta, that played in the semi-professional Premier Development League, USL Premier Development League in 2001 and the professional A-League (199 ...

and was discovered at 17 years old, by

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

while touring with a Calgary select team. He signed with Sheffield United F.C. in the English Premier League. Unfortunately, after just one game with United's reserves in August 2005, he damaged knee ligaments and missed the entire 2005–06 promotion campaign. After five years with the Premiership and Championship outfit, he left United in 2007 and signed with F.C. Hansa Rostock in the German first Bundesliga. After a continuing battle with knee problems, he was released by

on 27 May 2009.

International career

In 2004–05 season, after recovering from torn abdominal muscles, Gyaki captained the Canadian U20 national team and scored all four of their goals during qualifying for 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 ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He played 90 minutes in all three of Canada's games in the tournament against Colombia, Syria and Italy. He was named Canada Youth Player of the Year in 2005. Gyaki presented Canada in Seventeen games on Under-20 Level and scores four goals. He was rated as one of the top 10 players to watch at the under 20 world cup in 2005.

Personal life

Gyaki holds an Austrian and a Canadian passport and his girlfriend Vivienne Gliesche was Miss Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2007. His father is from

Burgenland Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...

and his mother is from

Wien Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, his grandparents raised in

Oberwart Oberwart (; ; ) is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the Oberwart (district), same name. With almost 8,000 inhabitants it’s the third largest town in Burgenland, after E ...

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gyaki, Ryan 1985 births Men's association football midfielders Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Canadian people of Austrian descent Canadian men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany FC Hansa Rostock players Living people Sheffield United F.C. players Soccer players from Calgary Soccer players from Toronto Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Canadian sportsmen