 Ralph as a trialist withNew York Red Bulls. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Damani Ralph | ||
| Date of birth | (1980-11-06)6 November 1980 (age 44) | ||
| Place of birth | Kingston, Jamaica | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1998 | Harbour View F.C. | ||
| 1999–2000 | Meridian Community College | ||
| 2001–2002 | University of Connecticut | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2003–2004 | Chicago Fire | 51 | (22) |
| 2005–2007 | Rubin Kazan | 26 | (2) |
| Total | 77 | (24) | |
| International career | |||
| 2002–2005 | Jamaica | 18 | (1) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Damani Ralph (born 6 November 1980) is a Jamaican retired footballer who played as aforward. His professional career spanned five years, two withChicago Fire S.C. (2003–2004) and three withFC Rubin Kazan (2005–2007). He also earned 18 caps with theJamaica national football team from 2002 to 2005. He has been a LicensedFIFA player agent withICM Stellar Sports since 2011 and is currently its vice president of soccer inNorth America.[1]
Ralph began playing football as a boy in Jamaica. This included time with Harbour View andSt. George's College before moving to the United States. Ralph began his career in America playingcollege soccer atMeridian Community College inMeridian, Mississippi, where he scored 59 goals in 45 games and was named MVP of theNJCAA Tournament. After two years with Meridian, Ralph left for theUniversity of Connecticut, where he continued his dominant play. During his two years at Connecticut he scored 28 goals and added 11 assists, and was aHermann Trophy finalist his senior year.
Ralph was drafted 18th overall by theChicago Fire in the2003 MLS SuperDraft. He quickly earned a spot in the starting lineup, and finished the season with 11 goals and 6 assists in 25 games. In scoring 11 goals, Ralph broke theMLS record for goals scored by a rookie, previously held byRodrigo Faria,Josh Wolff, andJeff Cunningham, and was namedMLS Rookie of the Year for his accomplishments. In his second year with the Fire, he scored 11 goals again and added 3 assists to lead the team in scoring. Ralph scored the game-winning goal in the2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final to win the Fire their third U.S. Open Cup.
Ralph got to contributing to the Fire almost immediately, which quickly caught the attention of European teams. In 2004, following his rookie season, there were rumors that Ralph would move to the Spanish club Malaga, but MLS turned down a reputed $1 million (U.S.) transfer offer. However, in 2005 Ralph finally secured his long desired transfer toEurope. The move was for undisclosed terms - thought to be $2 million (U.S.) - to Russian ClubFC Rubin Kazan.[2] The contract would run for three years with a starting yearly salary of $650,000.[3]
In his first season for Rubin, he scored only twice in 25 league games as his team gained a fourth-place finish.
In February 2006, before the new Russian season started, Ralph had surgery inGermany to repair damage to his left knee. Later that year he was treated for a second time and he was sidelined for over 2.5 years after undergoing a third consecutive knee operation at the start of 2008.[4]
After almost three years out of professional football due to injury, during which he finished his economics degree at theUniversity of Connecticut, Ralph reappeared on trial withMajor League Soccer clubNew York Red Bulls during their 2010 pre-season.[5] The trial ended without a contract offer from the club.
Ralph struggled to cement a starting place on theJamaica national team, largely because of competition from a number of naturalized Jamaican forwards from England. He made his debut in an August 2002 friendly match againstGrenada and earned 18 caps, scoring once. He played in 8FIFA World Cup qualification matches.[6]
His final international was an October 2005 friendly againstAustralia.
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Chicago Fire | 2003 | Major League Soccer | 25 | 11 | 3 | 2 | - | 4 | 1 | 32 | 14 | |
| 2004 | 26 | 11 | 4 | 2 | - | 30 | 13 | |||||
| Total | 51 | 22 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 62 | 27 | ||||
| Rubin Kazan | 2005 | Russian Premier League | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | 25 | 2 | |||
| 2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2007 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 26 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 26 | 2 | ||
| Career total | 77 | 24 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 88 | 29 | ||||
