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{{short description|Jamaican footballer (born 1980)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Damani Ralph
| image = Damani Ralph Army vs NY Red Bulls cropped.jpg
| image_size = 240
| caption = Ralph as a trialist with [[New York Red Bulls]].
| fullname = Damani Ralph
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1980|11|06}}
| birth_place = [[Kingston, Jamaica]]
| height = {{height|m=1.84}}
| currentclub  = 
| clubnumber =
| position = [[Forward (association football)#Striker|Forward]]
|  youthyears1 =   1998
| youthyears2 =  1999–2000
| youthyears3 =  2001–2002
|  youthclubs1 =   [[Harbour View F.C.]]
| youthclubs2 =  [[Meridian Community College]]
| youthclubs3 =  [[University of Connecticut]]
|  years1 =   2003–2004
| years2 =  2005–2007
|  clubs1 =   [[Chicago Fire Soccer Club|Chicago Fire]]
| clubs2 =  [[FC Rubin Kazan|Rubin Kazan]]
| caps1 =    51
| caps2 =  26
| goals1 =  22
| goals2 =  2
| totalcaps = 77
| totalgoals = 24
| nationalyears1 =   2002–2005
| nationalteam1 =   [[Jamaica national football team|Jamaica]]
| nationalcaps1 =    18
| nationalgoals1 =   1
| pcupdate =
| ntupdate = 
}}

'''Damani Ralph''' (born 6 November 1980) is a Jamaican retired footballer who played as a [[Striker (association football)|forward]]. His professional career spanned five years, two with [[Chicago Fire Soccer Club|Chicago Fire S.C.]] (2003&ndash;2004) and three with [[FC Rubin Kazan]] (2005&ndash;2007). He also earned 18 caps with the [[Jamaica national football team]] from 2002 to 2005. He has been a Licensed [[FIFA]] player agent with [[ICM Stellar Sports]] since 2011 and is currently its vice president of soccer in [[North America]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jamaica-star.com/article/sports/20200615/ralph-never-imagined-becoming-football-agent |title=Ralph never imagined becoming a football agent {{!}} Sports {{!}} Jamaica Star |access-date=28 April 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428150259/http://jamaica-star.com/article/sports/20200615/ralph-never-imagined-becoming-football-agent |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Early life and career==
Ralph began playing football as a boy in Jamaica.  This included time with Harbour View and [[St. George's College, Jamaica|St. George's College]] before moving to the United States. Ralph began his career in America playing [[College soccer in the United States|college soccer]] at [[Meridian Community College]] in [[Meridian, Mississippi]], where he scored 59 goals in 45 games and was named MVP of the [[NJCAA]] Tournament. After two years with Meridian, Ralph left for the [[University of Connecticut]], where he continued his dominant play. During his two years at Connecticut he scored 28 goals and added 11 assists, and was a [[Hermann Trophy]] finalist his senior year.

==Professional==

===Major League Soccer===

Ralph was drafted 18th overall by the [[Chicago Fire Soccer Club|Chicago Fire]] in the [[2003 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 the [[Major League Soccer|MLS]] record for goals scored by a rookie, previously held by [[Rodrigo Faria]], [[Josh Wolff]], and [[Jeff Cunningham]], and was named [[MLS 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 the [[2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup]] final to win the Fire their third U.S. Open Cup.

===Europe===

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 to [[Europe]]. The move was for undisclosed terms - thought to be $2 million (U.S.) - to Russian Club [[FC Rubin Kazan]].<ref>[http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/03/09/leaves.shtml Jamaican Damani Ralph leaves Chicago for Russia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527150621/http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/03/09/leaves.shtml |date=27 May 2008 }} - Caribbean Net News</ref> The contract would run for three years with a starting yearly salary of $650,000.<ref>[http://www.thereggaeboyz.com/news1205.htm Ralph To Join Russian Club] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102081503/http://www.thereggaeboyz.com/news1205.htm |date=2 January 2007 }} - The Reggae Boyz</ref>

In his first season for Rubin, he scored only twice in 25 league games as his team gained a fourth-place finish.

==Injury and retirement==
In February 2006, before the new Russian season started, Ralph had surgery in [[Germany]] 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.<ref>[http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080302/sports/sports8.html Damani still battling knee injury] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214202343/http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080302/sports/sports8.html |date=14 December 2008 }} - Jamaica Gleaner</ref>

===Attempted Return to MLS===
After almost three years out of professional football due to injury, during which he finished his economics degree at the [[University of Connecticut]], Ralph reappeared on trial with [[Major League Soccer]] club [[New York Red Bulls]] during their 2010 pre-season.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20100301&content_id=8640176&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp |title=MLSNet  |access-date=2010-03-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306063326/http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20100301&content_id=8640176&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp |archive-date=6 March 2010}}</ref> The trial ended without a contract offer from the club.

==International career==
Ralph struggled to cement a starting place on the [[Jamaica national football team|Jamaica 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 against [[Grenada national football team|Grenada]] and earned 18 caps, scoring once. He played in 8 [[FIFA World Cup qualification]] matches.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120908075246/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=213847/index.html Record at FIFA Tournaments] - FIFA</ref>

His final international was an October 2005 friendly against [[Australia men's national soccer team|Australia]].

==Career statistics==
===Club===
{{updated|match played 20 May 2007}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Damani Ralph |url=https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/damani-ralph |website=mlssoccer.com/ |publisher=Major League Soccer |access-date=8 March 2020 |archive-date=4 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904112801/https://www.mlssoccer.com/players/damani-ralph |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ральф Дамани |url=https://premierliga.ru/players/Ralf-Damani |website=premierliga.ru/ |publisher=Russian Premier League |access-date=8 March 2020 |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812013452/https://premierliga.ru/players/Ralf-Damani |url-status=live }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|National Cup
!colspan="2"|Continental
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="3"|[[Chicago Fire FC|Chicago Fire]]
|[[2003 Major League Soccer season|2003]]
|rowspan="2"|[[Major League Soccer]]
|25||11||3||2||colspan="2"|-||4||1||32||14
|-
|[[2004 Major League Soccer season|2004]]
|26||11||4||2|| || ||colspan="2"|-||30||13
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!51!!22!!7!!4!! !! !!4!!1!!62!!27
|-
|rowspan="4"|[[FC Rubin Kazan|Rubin Kazan]]
|[[2005 FC Rubin Kazan season|2005]]
|rowspan="3"|[[Russian Premier League]]
|25||2||0||0||colspan="4"|-||25||2
|-
|[[2006 FC Rubin Kazan season|2006]]
|0||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0
|-
|[[2007 FC Rubin Kazan season|2007]]
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!26!!2!!0!!0!!0!!0!!-!!-!!26!!2
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!77!!24!!7!!4!! !! !!4!!1!!88!!29
|}

==Honors==

===Club===
;[[Chicago Fire Soccer Club|Chicago Fire]]
*'''[[Supporters' Shield]]''': [[2003 Major League Soccer season|2003]]
*'''[[Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup]]''': [[2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup|2003]]

;[[FC Rubin Kazan|Rubin Kazan]]
*'''[[La Manga Cup]]''' (2): 2005, 2006

===Individual===
*'''[[MLS Rookie of the Year]]''': 2003
*'''[[MLS Goal of the Year Award]]''': 2003

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{MLS player|damani-ralph}}

{{Jamaica squad 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup}}
{{navboxes colour
|title=Awards
|bg=gold
|fg=navy
|list1=
{{Major League Soccer Rookie of the Year Award}}
{{MLS Goal of the Year}}
{{Big East Conference Men's Soccer Player of the Year navbox}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ralph, Damani}}
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Men's association football forwards]]
[[Category:Jamaican men's footballers]]
[[Category:21st-century Jamaican sportsmen]]
[[Category:University of Connecticut alumni]]
[[Category:Harbour View F.C. players]]
[[Category:UConn Huskies men's soccer players]]
[[Category:Chicago Fire FC players]]
[[Category:FC Rubin Kazan players]]
[[Category:Major League Soccer All-Stars]]
[[Category:Major League Soccer players]]
[[Category:Chicago Fire FC draft picks]]
[[Category:Russian Premier League players]]
[[Category:Jamaica men's international footballers]]
[[Category:2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players]]
[[Category:Jamaican expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States]]
[[Category:Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Russia]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Russia]]
[[Category:People educated at St. George's College, Jamaica]]