Giacomo Ratto

Giacomo Ratto (born 19 April 1986 in Varese, Italy) is an Italian footballer who currently plays for S.K. Victoria Wanderers of the Gozo First Division in Malta as of 2020. He is mostly known for his peregrinations through multiple countries, including Panama, Nicaragua, Fiji, Switzerland, Mongolia, Greece, Malta, and Iceland in order to pursue his football career.[1]

Giacomo Ratto
Giacomo Ratto with AC Taverne
Personal information
Date of birth 19 April 1986 (1986-04-19) (age 34)
Place of birth Varese, Italy
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 S.K. Victoria Wanderers F.C.
Number 1
Youth career
1999-2004 Varese Calcio
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005-2006 Luino Calcio
2006-2007 FC Tradate
2007-2008 A.S.D. Morazzone
2008-2009 ASD Malnatese Calcio
2009-2010 U.P. Gavirate Calcio
2010-2011 AS Castello
2011 FC Mendrisio-Stabio
2012 ASD Leggiuno 14 (0)
2013 S.K. Victoria Wanderers F.C. 11 (-10)
2014 UNAN Managua 2 (-0)
2015 Suva F.C.
2015 AC Taverne 2 (-2)
2016 Ulaanbaatar City FC 19 (-26)
2018 S.K. Victoria Wanderers F.C. 14 (-24)
2019 Vestri 2 (-3)
2019 Fgura United 0 (-0)
2020 S.K. Victoria Wanderers F.C. 8 (-14)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Early career: 2005-12

Ratto began playing football at the age of 8[2] with the US Bosto youth system, before moving to Varese Calcio at the age of 14. He then continued his career in the youths of a club that, at the time, played in Serie C, but failed to debut in the first team. He moved to Luino Calcio in 2005, where he made his senior debut in Promozione, helping the team to a second-place finish in the league and winning the play-offs. He won his first league in the following season at FC Tradate. In all the following 3 seasons he changes team, playing in Eccellenza and Promozione. In 2010 Ratto had his first experience abroad, in Switzerland at AS Castello[3] and, later, at FC Mendrisio Stabio. In 2012 he returned to Luino Calcio, team in which he had his senior debut.

Malta-Panama: 2013

Sending highlights packages and his resume to retired Maltese goalkeeper Mario Muscat,[4] he arranged a move to S.K. Victoria Wanderers for him[5] which happened in early 2013.[6] Arrived at the end of first round, Ratto made his debut in a 3-0 second round victory over Sannat Lions[7] and conceding three goals in his first five fieldings.[6] He finished the season with 5 clean sheets in 11 games helping to bring the team from seventh to third place. He leaves Gozo at the end of the contract and joined the preseason at Tauro FC[8] team of the Panamanian top league, during which he plays some friendly games before moving back to Italy for personal problems.

Nicaragua: 2014

Completing a transfer to UNAN Managua of Nicaragua in July 2014 through agent Carlos Francisco Fariñas[5] on the recommendations of Giampaolo Gronchi of Tauro and Brian Azzopardi of Victoria Wanderers,[1] Ratto recorded his maiden appearance when Los Universitarios were beaten by C.D. Walter Ferretti,[9] match in which he is chosen as one of the three players in the running for the man of the match award. After his last appearance against Real Madriz, he received an offer from Khoromkhon of the Mongolian Premier League to play the AFC Cup, which caused him to split ways with UNAN, also rejecting an offer from Costa Rica.[5] However, they were withdrawn from the AFC Cup 2015, the second-tier Asian competition, so the deal fell through.[5][4][10]

Fiji and Switzerland: 2015

Failing to land a deal in Albania, Ratto exchanged information with Suva coach Gurjit Singh,[5] sealing an agreement with them in spring 2015 with Spaniard Adrián Garrido Medina,[11] but was unable to take part in the OFC Champions League in view of the fact that there were registration issues.[5] In July of the same year he returned to Switzerland to AC Taverne, club of 2. Liga Interregional signing a 5-month contract. In October, after an injury, he terminated his contract due to non-payment of his salary.

Zimbabwe and Mongolia: 2016

Fielded at the preseason four-side Bulawayo Football Festival by Tsholotsho of the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League in 2016,[12] he played the tournament with the Zhwane Boys. Working toward a contract in South Africa,[5] the goalkeeper got in touch with Cape Town-based football instructor Hendrik Pieter de Jongh who got him a six-month deal in Mongolia with Ulaanbaatar City in 2016,[13] causing him to be the first Italian footballer in the country.[10] Arrived in April in the Mongolian capital[10] with the aim of winning the championship, Ratto played a good season helping the team, which in the league had some difficulties and finished in eighth place[14], to reach the third place in the Mongolian Cup. During the summer break he receives the opportunity to take part in the CONCACAF Champions League with Don Bosco in Haiti which fell through.[5]

Greece: 2017

Reported to contend for Philippos Alexandreia of the Greek Gamma Ethniki in 2017,[15] the custodian was fielded for the first time encountering Kilkisiakos[16] which ended 0-0.[17] Unfortunately, registration problems coupled with transfer deadline issues forced him to give up on the deal so he trained alone for several months.[18]

Malta: 2018

Ratto returned to S.K. Victoria Wanderers in the middle of the 2017-18 season, with the team at the last place in the standings. During the remaining 14 games Ratto achieve 4 clean sheets, helping the team to reach the salvation, obtained with the victory of play-outs against Sannat Lions.[19]

Iceland and Malta: 2019

At the end of March Ratto joins Vestri for a week trial in Spain. After having impressed the coach, he accepts the one-year contract offered by the club[20]. During the season he plays two cup games but leaves the club in July due to a difficulty setting.[21] After training alone for three months, he signed a contract with Fgura United[22], a Maltese First Division team, in which, however, he does not play official matches due to restrictions on the use of foreign players. With the Maltese team he played two friendly games against Floriana FC[23]and Marsaxlokk FC making a good impression before terminate the contract to return to S.K. Victoria Wanderers.

Malta: 2020

On 3rd January 2020 he signed for S.K. Victoria Wanderers for the third time in his career. Before the stop of the league caused by Covid-19 pandemic, he played 8 games achieving 3 clean sheets.[24]

Personal Life

The Italian's supports Deportivo de La Coruña in Spain[25] as well as Torino in his home country.[4]

Honours

Club
Luino Calcio
FC Tradate
S.K. Victoria Wanderers
Ulaanbaatar City FC
  • Mongolia Cup: 3rd Place, 2016[27]
Vestri

Individual
  • Corriere dello Sport: Top 100 Italian Players Abroad, 2016
gollark: Humans are better at this, with a little practice.
gollark: v1 literally had to have a hardcoded patch to stop it not noticing instant loss/win situations.
gollark: ?????
gollark: AI v2 is very depth constrained minimax with a simple heuristic I wrote.
gollark: AI v1 is a very naive algorithm which just randomly simulates games and sees how many it wins to evaluate position goodness.

References
  1. Giacomo Ratto, il giramondo che ora para nella serie A del Nicaragua VareseNews
  2. Intervista a Giacomo Ratto, “el portero filósofo” che ha parato in tutto il mondo Corriere di Malta
  3. Intervista a Giacomo Ratto, il portiere giramondo Calcio Gourmet
  4. "'BlackJack' Ratto, da Malta alle Fiji: "Io, italiano in Mongolia. Il freddo, l'Africa e lo spagnolo imparato grazie al Depor"". Gianluca Di Marzio.
  5. Dalle Figi alla Mongolia: Giacomo Ratto ed il suo incredibile viaggio calcistico Matteo Calautti
  6. Player Update S.K. Victoria Wanderers Official Website
  7. Kenneth scores twice as Sannat are beaten again S.K. Victoria Wanderers Official Website
  8. Tauro VS Atletico Naciònal Tauro Official Twitter
  9. Prime impressioni da Managua Calcio Estero News
  10. Giacomo Ratto, un italiano ad Ulaanbaatar l'opinions Public
  11. European imports join Suva Oceania Football Confederation
  12. Naughty Boys' Italian Job…Four foreign players at Byo Football Fest The Chronicle (Zimbabwe)
  13. Giacomo Ratto, portiere "Into the Wild", ora giocherà in Mongolia Eurosport
  14. Mongolian League 2016 Opinione Pubblica
  15. Η Αλεξάνδρεια καλωσορίζει το νέο Ιταλό γκολκίπερ Τζιάκομο Ράτο! Roumlouki.gr
  16. Τον Ιταλό τερματοφύλακα Ράτο έφερε η Αλεξάνδρεια, αίσιο τέλος με Μπαλαράμπε Pamebala.gr
  17. Φίλιππος Αλεξάνδρειας – Κιλκισιακός 0-0. Λευκή ισοπαλία στο πρώτο φιλικό στο ΔΑΚ. – Βίντεο – Φώτο Έμβολος
  18. Un portiere senza frontiere, para i tiri di tutto il mondo VareseNews
  19. 2017-18 Play-Outs Gozo FA
  20. Intervista a Giacomo Ratto: il portiere giramondo che gioca in Islanda Freezeland
  21. Calcio Islandese News Calcio Islandese
  22. Fgura United new signing Fgura United Facebook
  23. Floriana-Fgura United Floriana FC Facebook
  24. Gozo First Division 2019-20 soccerway.com
  25. Giacomo Ratto, la historia de un italiano de corazón blanquiazul Riazor.org
  26. Gozo First Division 2012-13 RSSSF
  27. MFF Cup 2016 RSSSF
  28. G. Ratto soccerway.com


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