The Swope Park Rangers have signed defender Rennico Clarke, the club announced today. Clarke was most recently playing with Harbour View in his native Jamaica and will officially be added to the Rangers roster pending league and federation approval.
Clarke, 23, was developed in Harbour View’s Academy, eventually reaching the first team in 2014. He made seven appearances, tallying one goal, for Harbour View before joining Portland Timbers 2 in the USL Championship ahead of their expansion season in 2015.
In Portland, Clarke earned significant playing time with T2 from 2015-2017, making 46 combined total appearances and scoring twice. The Kingston, Jamaica native earned an MLS contract with the Portland Timbers ahead of the 2017 season but spent the majority of the campaign on loan with Timbers 2.
Clarke made his Timbers first-team debut in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, starting at center back and recording an assist as Portland fell to Seattle in the Fourth Round of the competition on June 13, 2017.
After being released by the Timbers during preseason in 2018, Clarke headed abroad and joined Icelandic outfit Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar. He made 15 appearances for FH, starting nine of the club’s final 12 games of the 2018 Úrvalsdeild karla (Iceland’s top division), helping the side to a fifth-place finish in the 12-team league and missing out on UEFA Europa League qualification on goal difference.
Clarke made four appearances for FH in 2018 Europa League qualifying, where HF fell 2-1 on aggregate to Hapoel Haifa in the Second Qualifying Round, and two appearances in the 2018 Mjólkurbikarinn, Iceland’s domestic cup competition.
At the conclusion of the 2018 campaign, Clarke returned to Jamaica and rejoined his hometown team Harbour View. Clarke made eight appearances in the latter stages of the 2018-19 Red Stripe Premier League season as Harbour View finished ninth and avoided relegation by five points.
On the international stage, Clarke made three appearances while representing Jamaica at the 2015 U-20 Concacaf Championship, having already played in three games for Jamaica’s U-21 side at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2014.
The Rangers (3-10-6) are back in action this Saturday, August 3 when the side takes on Nashville SC at Children’s Mercy Park. All USL Championship games are streamed live on ESPN+, while tickets for home games are available via SeatGeek.com.
VITALS
Rennico Clarke
Position: Defender
Born: 8/26/1995 (23 years old)
Height: 6-4
Weight: 195 lbs.
Hometown: Kingston, Jamaica
Birthplace: Kingston, Jamaica
Citizenship: Jamaica
Twitter: @ClarkeRennico
Instagram: @steppaz_clarke
