Sidney Adam Rivera (born November 15, 1993) is a professional

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 plays for

United Premier Soccer League The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American for-profit soccer league that was founded in Santa Ana in Southern California, with teams in regionalized conferences throughout the United States, and recently Canada and Mexico. The leagu ...

side New York Braveheart SC. Born in the United States, he represents

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

internationally. Born and raised in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, Rivera moved to

Hampton, New Jersey Hampton is a borough in Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,438, an increase of 37 (+2.6%) from the 2010 census count of 1,401, which in turn reflected a decl ...

and played high school soccer at

Saint Benedict's Preparatory School St. Benedict's Preparatory School is a Catholic college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey run by the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey. The school serves boys and girls in kindergarten through twelfth grade on a urban campus. The s ...

and

North Hunterdon High School North Hunterdon High School is a four-year regional public high school serving students from six municipalities in northern Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is one of two high schools in the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regiona ...

Club career

College

Rivera spent his entire college career at

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (ODU) is a Public university, public research university in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Established in 1930 as the two-year Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, it began by educating people with fewer ...

. He made a total of 48 appearances for the Monarchs and tallied 11 goals and one assist. He led the team with nine goals in 2014, where he won the first ever Conference-USA tournament championship in Old Dominion University history while being named tournament offensive MVP. Rivera played for

Virginia Beach City FC Virginia Beach City Football Club is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Norfolk, Virginia playing in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in the Mid-Atlantic Conference of the Northeast Region. The club was ...

in the summer of 2014.

Professional

On January 20, 2015, Rivera was selected in the third round (63rd overall) of the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Janua ...

by Orlando City. While he earned a contract with Orlando, the team loaned him out on May 8 to

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

affiliate club

Louisville City FC Louisville City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the USL Championship, which is currently the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club was founded in 2014 after O ...

. He made his professional debut four days later in a 3–0 victory over the

Wilmington Hammerheads Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017. Histor ...

. Rivera went on to make 10 appearances for

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

before leaving the team under circumstances that neither

, nor

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

would comment on. On July 30, he was sent on loan to the

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1998 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American ...

along with teammate, Conor Donovan, in a bid to gain more experience. However, Rivera would only make 1 appearance for the Riverhounds and he was released by Orlando on November 25, 2015. On April 6, 2016, Rivera signed with NASL expansion side

Puerto Rico FC Puerto Rico FC was a professional football club based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2015, the team played in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team debuted in the 2016 fall seas ...

. In his first season with the club, Rivera found consistent playing time for the first time in his professional career, making 16 appearances and scoring 3 goals. After a successful first season with the club, Rivera appeared in 20 matches for

, however, he only started 6 matches and his minutes over the course of the season decreased. Due to the hiatus by both the NASL, due to operations reasons, and the team, because of the devastation caused by

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

, Rivera left the club at the end of the 2017 season. After leaving Puerto Rico, Rivera had a brief stint in the semi-professional

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

, making 7 appearances for

Atlantic City FC Atlantic City Football Club (ACFC) is an American soccer team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 2017, the team plays in the TLFC . The Club is headquartered inside Tilton Fitness Atlantic City at the Tropicana Hotel ...

. Then he had a brief stint with

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 ...

side,

Reno 1868 Reno 1868 FC was an American professional soccer team based in Reno, Nevada. Founded in 2015, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in March 2017 and ceased operations after the 2020 season. History Previously, northern Nevada has ...

, where he failed to make an appearance for the club. After leaving Reno, Rivera moved to

V.League 1 The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...

side Than Quang Ninh. However, despite playing and starting in the first two matches for the club, Rivera was dropped from the squad for undisclosed reasons. After leaving

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, Rivera returned to

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

where he began playing for

FC Motown FC Motown is an American soccer club based in Morristown, New Jersey. Founded in 2012, the team currently fields teams in both the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and USL League Two. In 2020, the team formed a U23 side that competes in t ...

in the

. After the NPSL season, Rivera signed with the Philadelphia Fury of the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is previously in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season for ...

, along with several of his FC Motown teammates, ahead of the league's inaugural season.

Post-professional

On April 26, 2021, Rivera signed with

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

side Morris Elite SC to compete in the clubs inaugural season. On May 24, 2021, he scored the first goal for the club in a 1–0 victory over F.A. Euro, the first victory in club history. Rivera joined New York Braveheart SC of the

in 2022.

International career

Rivera was born in the United States to a Colombian father and Cape Verdean mother. After a stint with

, he gained the option to represent the

Puerto Rico national football team The Puerto Rico national football team () represents Puerto Rico in men's international Association football, football, and are governed by the Federación Puertorriqueña de Fútbol (). The team's nickname is ''El Huracán Azul'' meaning The ...

. He made his debut for Puerto Rico on 24 March 2019 in a CONCACAF Nations League qualifier against Grenada, as a 58th-minute substitute for Héctor Ramos.

International goals

:''Scores and results Puerto Rico's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * *
Sidney Rivera
at uslleaguetwo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Sidney 1993 births Living people Puerto Rican men's footballers Puerto Rico men's international footballers American men's soccer players American sportspeople of Colombian descent American people of Cape Verdean descent African-American soccer players Old Dominion Monarchs men's soccer players Orlando City SC players Louisville City FC players Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players Puerto Rico FC players Reno 1868 FC players Men's association football forwards People from Hampton, New Jersey Soccer players from Hunterdon County, New Jersey Orlando City SC draft picks USL Championship players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players North Hunterdon High School alumni FC Motown players National Independent Soccer Association players Philadelphia Fury players American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Vietnam American expatriates in Bangladesh Expatriate men's footballers in Vietnam Expatriate men's footballers in Bangladesh Bangladesh Police FC players Morris Elite SC players 21st-century African-American sportsmen Bangladesh Premier League footballers 21st-century American sportsmen