Blake Ashley Ricciuto Harriot (born 2 September 1992) is an Australian professional footballer who plays mainly as a central-midfielder for Rockdale Ilinden FC. Ricciuto was born in Sydney, Australia. He is of Uruguayan and Italian descent and speaks both English and Spanish fluently.[3]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Blake Ashley Ricciuto Harriot | ||
| Date of birth | 2 September 1992 | ||
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Central midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Rockdale Ilinden FC | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Sydney Olympic | |||
| APIA Leichhardt[1] | |||
| St George[2] | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2009–2011 | St George FC | 41 | (2) |
| 2014–2015 | Peñarol | 0 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | → Canadian (loan) | 27 | (0) |
| 2016–2018 | Rockdale City Suns | 66 | (7) |
| 2019 | DPMM FC | 29 | (9) |
| 2021– | Tanjong Pagar United | 67 | (12) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 30 September 2019 | |||
Career edit
St George FC edit
At the age of 15 Ricciuto made his debut for St George FC who played in which was then called the NSW Super League. He was a key part of the club for the 3 years he was there where he played in the 2010 Grand Final.
Danubio FC edit
Ricciuto went to try his luck in his fathers place of birth of Uruguay at the age of 19. He was lucky enough to get a trial with Danubio FC Reserves, which then consisted of current Atlético Madrid centre back José María Gimenez, he impressed on his trial and the club offered him a contract but 3 days later due to a dispute between the Agent that recommended Ricciuto and the head of football. Blake was left without a club.
Club Atlético Peñarol edit
Ricciuto went on trial to his and his family's childhood club of Peñarol after not sealing a deal with Danubio, he was in trial for over 3 months until Uruguayan and Juventus legend Paolo Montero took over as a manager of the reserves and decided to sign the Australian/ Uruguayan midfielder. This team consisted of the likes of current Cagliari and Uruguay national team player Nahitan Nandez. On Ricciuto’s second start for the reserves during the curtain raiser for first grade at Estadio Jardines del Hipódromo he scored a 94th minute winner against Danubio FC. After this goal and several good performances he started to train regularly with first grade. Unfortunately he couldn’t crack the first team and he decided to go to second division side Canadian Soccer Club.
Canadian S.C edit
Ricciuto was a key part in Canadian Soccer Club historic run to the play off finals, he played 27 games in Uruguayan Segunda Division where they lost in the play off final to get promoted to Uruguayan Primera Division which is Uruguays top tier.
Rockdale City FC edit
After an unsuccessful trial with Sydney FC following his stint in Uruguay even though impressing in a trial match against Belconnen Ricciuto signed at Rockdale City Suns FC where he became a household name and a cult hero because of his David Luiz like hair. The 3 years at the club he was named player of the year twice and also team of the year of the NPL twice as well. He was a stand out performer in the FFA CUP game against Sydney FC. He was very unfortunate to not be snapped up by an A league side.
Brunei DPMM edit
After having a great season with Rockdale City FC Ricciuto attended a trial at Brunei DPMM FC and was signed by the club for the 2019 season.[4] He played a major role in the Bruneian club's title-winning season as a starter, scoring nine goals from midfield. He was named in the Singapore Premier League and Straits times Team of the Year and received Player of the Month and Goal of the month award for April.[5][6] After leaving DPMM, he was poised to move to Vélez CF in Spain,[7] but due to administration delays in his native Australia he was not registered in time for the start of the season.[8]
Tanjong Pagar FC edit
After the Vélez CF deal fell through Ricciuto signed with Singapore Premier League club Tanjong Pagar United until the end of the season.
Ricciuto got off to a great start with Tanjong Pagar scoring on his debut for the club against Geylang in the opening 2021 fixture in round 1. He went to score another goal that season against Young Lions and finishing the season as the clubs leading assist taker with 6 assists next to his name.
After the 2021 season Ricciuto announced that he wouldn't be returning to Tanjong Pagar in search of a different challenge. He mentioned in a podcast that he had agreed to a deal at Indonesian club Persik Kediri but prior to travelling to Indonesia he contracted COVID and the club wasn't able to go ahead with the deal. With this happening Ricciuto announce his return to Tanjong Pagar as the last foreign signing for 2022, he once again got off to a great start by starting round 1 with a Man of the Match performance with future champions Albirex Nigata leading them to a 2-0 victory, He later went on to have a standout season finishing the season as second leading goalscorer for the club with 7 goals with 5 of those goals coming in 5 consecutive games.
He has been announced to return for a third straight year at Tanjong Pagar as one of their key players.
Career statistics edit
- As of 2 October 2021.[9]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Peñarol | 2014/15 | Uruguayan Primera División | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Canadian Soccer Club (loan) | 2014/15 | Uruguayan Segunda División | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | |
| Total | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | ||
| Rockdale City Suns FC | 2016 | National Premier Leagues NSW | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 23 | 3 | |
| 2017 | National Premier Leagues NSW | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2 | ||
| 2018 | National Premier Leagues NSW | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 21 | 2 | ||
| Total | 66 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 7 | ||
| DPMM FC | 2019 | Singapore Premier League | 23 | 9 | 6 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 29 | 9 | |
| Total | 23 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 9 | ||
| Tanjong Pagar United | 2021 | Singapore Premier League | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | |
| 2022 | Singapore Premier League | 26 | 6 | 3 | 1 | – | 0 | 0 | 29 | 7 | ||
| 2023 | Singapore Premier League | 21 | 4 | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 23 | 4 | ||
| Total | 67 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 13 | ||
| Rockdale Ilinden FC | 2024 | National Premier Leagues NSW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 183 | 28 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 194 | 29 | ||
- Notes
Honours edit
Club edit
Brunei DPMM
Individual edit
- National Premier Leagues NSW 2018 Team of the year.
- National Premier Leagues NSW 2016 Team of the year.
- Rockdale City Suns FC 2016 & 2017 Player of the year.
- Singapore Premier League Team of the Year: 2019
- Singapore Premier League Player of the Month: April 2019
- Singapore Premier League Goal of the Month: April 2019
- DPMM FC: Player of the year 2019.
References edit
- ^ "A-League reject living the dream in Uruguay". Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ^ Add in Blake Ricciuto, three years at St George between 2009 and 2011
- ^ Bossi, Dominic (21 March 2014). "Josip Simunic just one of a growing lost generation of Socceroos". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ "DPMM FC name new foreign imports for 2019 season". Borneo Bulletin. 30 December 2018. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- ^ "Blake Ricciuto enjoying life at DPMM as he spearheads title charge". Football Association of Singapore. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
- ^ "DPMM FC CELEBRATE SINGAPORE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE AFTER EDGING CHEETAHS". BruSports News. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019. He was named in the Singapore Premier League and Straits times Team of the Year and received Player of the Month and Goal of the month award for April. === Velez CF===
- ^ "El Vélez CF oficializó el fichaje de Blake Ricciuto". El Córner del Sur. 3 August 2020. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "Ricciuto will not play for Velez in 2020/2021 season". Borneo Bulletin. 3 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ Blake Ricciuto at Soccerway. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
External links edit
- Blake Ricciuto at Soccerway