Sergio De Luca

Sergio De Luca (born September 8, 1982) is a Canadian professional soccer coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach with York9 FC.

For the Sammarinese Olympic weightlifter, see Sergio De Luca (weightlifter).
Sergio De Luca
De Luca with Oakville Blue Devils in 2005
Personal information
Date of birth (1982-09-08) September 8, 1982
Place of birth Toronto, Canada
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 York9 (assistant)
Youth career
1996–1998 Woodbridge Strikers
1998–1999 Prato
1999–2000 Telford United
2000–2001 Hereford United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002 Toronto Lynx 1 (0)
2003 Hamilton Thunder 17 (2)
2003 Pécs 3 (0)
2004 Arendal 4 (0)
2005 Oakville Blue Devils 22 (3)
2006–2007 Torgelower SV Greif 8 (1)
2007–2009 Toronto Lynx 17 (2)
2009 North York Astros 7 (0)
2010–2012 SC Toronto 31 (4)
Total 110 (12)
Teams managed
Vaughan Azzurri (academy)
2018– York9 (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 April 2019

De Luca began his career abroad in Europe, before returning to North America where he had several stints in the USL A-League, Canadian Professional Soccer League and USL Premier Development League. He would later return to Europe to have stints in Hungary, Norway, and Germany before concluding his career primarily in the Canadian Soccer League.

Playing career

Early career

De Luca began playing soccer at the youth level with Woodbridge Soccer Club in the year 1996. The following year he went abroad and signed with Italy club A.C. Prato where he featured in youth matches.[1] The following year he went across the English channel to play with Telford United F.C., becoming the first foreign player to play for the club. He was appointed youth team captain and had a successful season there scoring 13 goals out of 20 games at the youth level. In 2000, De Luca was transferred to Hereford United, where once again in his first season with the club he was named team captain. He had another effective season with Hereford where he continued his fine scoring rate with six goals out of 18 matches in the youth level.

Toronto Lynx

On July 10, 2002 the Toronto Lynx of the USL A-League signed him to a contract, and made his professional debut against the Rochester Rhinos on July 14, 2002.[2][3][4]

Hamilton Thunder

After failing to establish himself with the Lynx he signed with the Hamilton Thunder of the Canadian Professional Soccer League.[5] He was appointed team captain and helped the Thunder win the Western Conference title. In the postseason he led the Thunder to the semi-finals before losing out to Vaughan Shooters.[6]

Oakville Blue Devils

After a successful season in Hamilton, De Luca played one season in Hungary with Pécsi Mecsek FC, and the following season with FK Arendal in the 2. Divisjon.[7][8][9] De Luca returned to the CPSL for the 2005 season where he signed with expansion franchise Oakville Blue Devils.[10] There he experienced a tremendous season where he played a significant role in winning the CPSL Championship. On September 11, 2005 he recorded his first two goals for Oakville in a 2-0 victory over St. Catharines Wolves.[11] During the club's playoff run he contributed by scoring the third and winning goal in the 90' minute in the Western Conference semi-final match against the Windsor Border Stars.[12][13] In the Western Conference final match against his former club Hamilton he produced an assist in a 2-0 victory which advanced the Blue Devils to the finals.[14] In the final match against Vaughan he scored the equalizing goal to tie the game 1-1 in the 46' minute after a goal down, which sent the match into overtime where Ryan Gamble scored the golden goal to win the championship, making the Oakville the first expansion franchise to win the CPSL Championship in their debut season.[15][16][17]

Toronto Lynx

Following his success with Oakville he returned to Europe to play for Torgelower SV Greif in the NOFV-Oberliga Nord, after not featuring much in Germany due to sustaining a sports hernia injury received early on in the season he returned to the Toronto Lynx in 2007.[18][19][20] The Lynx finished the season with a 6-6-4 record, which placed the team in fourth place in the Great Lakes Division, and missed a playoff berth by six points. During the season he landed in Sweden with FC Hollviken signing a 2-year deal. However, after the first season De Luca decided to terminate his contract. In 2008, he returned to Toronto and assisted the club by reaching the playoffs for the first time since the 2000 season. Where they were defeated by the Cleveland Internationals by a score of 2-1.[21]

In the 2009 PDL season he recorded his first goal in Lynx uniform on June 6, 2009 in a match against Cincinnati Kings.[22] He would record his second goal on June 27, 2009 against the Indiana Invaders. Unfortunately the Lynx failed to reach the playoffs, and finished lasted in the Great Lakes Division.[23]

North York Astros

De Luca was among the new additional signings done by North York Astros head coach Vladimir Klinovsky midway through the 2009 CSL season; in order to strengthen his squad for the battle over the final playoff berth.[24] Though the Astros did overwhelmingly improve under Klinovsky leadership it was not enough to secure the final playoff spot. In total De Luca appeared in seven matches.

SC Toronto

The following season, he was transferred to Portugal FC, where head coach Carmine Isacco selected him the team captain.[25] He made his debut for the club on May 8, 2010 in a match against TFC Academy.[26] His biggest achievement with the club was finishing as regular season champions in the 2011 season.

Coaching career

After spending time coaching in Vaughan SC's development programme, De Luca joined Canadian Premier League side York 9 FC as an assistant coach in July 2018.[27]

Honours

Hamilton Thunder

  • CPSL Western Conference: 2003

Oakville Blue Devils

  • CPSL Championship: 2005

SC Toronto

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References
  1. "Sergio De Luca" (PDF).
  2. Glover, Robin. "July 14, 2002 A-League Toronto Lynx vs Rochester Raging Rhinos". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  3. Terra, Lino. "July 14, 2002 Toronto Lynx player ratings from Ontario Soccer Web". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  4. "Sergio De Luca | SoccerStats.us". soccerstats.us. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  5. "CPSL - Canadian Professional Soccer League". 2003-08-18. Archived from the original on 2003-08-18. Retrieved 2017-06-25.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  6. Glover, Robin. "October 4, 2003 CPSL Rogers Cup Semi-Final Hamilton Thunder vs Vaughan Sun Devils". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  7. "SoccerViza.com - De Luca makes it 4!". soccerviza.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  8. "FK Arendal". 2005-03-16. Archived from the original on 2005-03-16. Retrieved 2017-06-25.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  9. "Sergio de Luca til ÍA á reynslu" (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  10. "Canadian Professional Soccer League - Clubs". 2005-12-25. Archived from the original on 2005-12-25. Retrieved 2017-06-25.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  11. "September 11, 2005 CPSL details of today's games (from CPSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  12. Glover, Robin. "October 5, 2005 CPSL Oakville Blue Devils vs Windsor Border Stars (by Rocket Robin)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  13. "October 5, 2005 CPSL Oakville Blue Devils vs Windsor Border Stars (from CPSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  14. Glover, Robin. "October 8, 2005 CPSL Hamilton Thunder vs Oakville Blue Devils (by Rocket Robin)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  15. Glover, Robin. "October 10, 2005 CPSL Vaughan Shooters vs Oakville Blue Devils (by Rocket Robin)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  16. "October 10, 2005 CPSL Championship Final Vaughan Shooters vs Oakville Blue Devils (from CPSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  17. Kuiperij, Jon. "Blue Devils' Gamble pays in CPSL final" (PDF). "Oakville Beaver Sports.
  18. Glover, Robin. "May 9, 2007 Toronto Lynx, Toronto Lady Lynx press conference (by Rocket Robin)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  19. Kugel, Christoph. "FC Schönberg 95 - Torgelower SV Greif 0:0". fcschoenberg95.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  20. "Sergio DeLuca | SoccerStats.us". soccerstats.us. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  21. Irwin, Rob. "July 23, 2008 PDL Cleveland Internationals vs Toronto Lynx playoffs (from Lynx media release)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  22. "June 7, 2009 PDL Toronto Lynx vs Cincinnati Kings (from Lynx media release)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  23. Irwin, Rob. "July 22, 2009 PDL and W-League Toronto Lynx and Toronto Lady Lynx award winners (from Lynx media release)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  24. "North York Astros Soccer Club Powered by Goalline Sports Administration Software". 2010-08-31. Archived from the original on 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  25. "Canadian Soccer League". 2011-10-02. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2017-06-25.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  26. Glover, Robin. "May 8, 2010 CSL--TFC Academy vs Portugal FC (by Rocket Robin)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  27. Matthew Gourlie (27 July 2018). "Brennan ready to take on coaching role". June of 86. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
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