Mauro Biello

Personal information
Full name	Mauro Biello
Date of birth	August 8, 1972 (1972-08-08) (age 37)
Place of birth	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Forward
Youth career
	Vanier Cheetahs
	Concordia Stingers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1991–1992	Montreal Supra	16	(1)
1993–1998	Montreal Impact	108	(32)
1995–1997	Buffalo Blizzard (indoor)	57	(48)
1999	Rochester Raging Rhinos	28	(8)
1997–2000	Montreal Impact (indoor)	116	(133)
2000–2009	Montreal Impact	235	(40)
2000–2001	Toronto Thunderhawks (indoor)	39	(44)
Total		599	(306)
National team‡
1995–2000	Canada	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 November, 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 May, 2009

Mauro Biello (born August 8, 1972 in Montreal, Quebec) is a retired Canadian soccer player.

He spent the majority of his soccer career in the Canadian and American lower division, playing for teams such as Montreal Supra and the Rochester Raging Rhinos; he spent a total of 16 seasons with Montreal Impact, for whom he is the all-time statistical leader in goals and appearances, with over 80 goals and over 300 games for the team.

Biello also played several seasons of professional indoor soccer, and was capped four times by the Canada men's national soccer team, prior to his retirement.

Biello announced his retirement from competitive soccer on November 19, 2009.^[1]

Career

Youth and College

Biello attended St. Monica's Elementary School and Marymount Academy, and played college soccer at Vanier College and Concordia University.

Professional

Biello began his professional soccer career in 1992 when he was drafted by the Montreal Supra. A year later, the team folded and Biello signed with the newly formed expansion team, the Montreal Impact of the American Professional Soccer League. Biello helped the Impact capture the League Championship for the first time in 1994, but Biello played a small part in capturing the Championship. In 1997, Biello helped the Impact win the regular-season title by scoring 8 goals and recording 10 assists. He was awarded the Giuseppe-Saputo Trophy as the Impact's Team MVP. In addition to playing for Montreal during the outdoor season, Biello also spent two seasons, 1995-1997, with the Buffalo Blizzard in the National Professional Soccer League. In 1997, the Impact entered the NPSL. Consequently, Biello played both indoor and outdoor seasons with Montreal.^[2]

During the 1998 outdoor season, Biello played a major part for the Impact, scoring 11 goals and amassing 35 points (a team record which stood until the 2002 season, when Eduardo Sebrango came up with 18 goals and 36 points). At the end of the season he was awarded the Giuseppe-Saputo Trophy for the second straight year.

In 1999, Biello left the Impact because the new ownership decided not to play the 1999 outdoor season in order to better prepare the 1999-2000 indoor season, which left him to sign with rivals the Rochester Raging Rhinos. With Rochester, Biello enjoyed much success; he was Rochester’s leading scorer with eight goals and four assists. He also helped the Rhinos win the U.S. Open Cup for the very first time and helped reach the championship game, which Rochester lost to the Minnesota Thunder.

In 2000, Biello returned to the Impact, but the Impact didn't qualify for the playoffs that season. As the Impact was no longer playing indoor soccer, Biello spent the winter of 2000-01 with the Toronto Thunderhawks in the NPSL.^[3] In 2001, Impact coach Valerio Gazzola chose Biello to be the captain of the Montreal Impact. That year, the Impact had a struggling season both on and off the field. The team missed the playoffs for the second straight year. Biello lead the team in scoring with 8 goals and again was awarded the Giuseppe-Saputo Trophy.

In 2004, Biello led the Impact to win the club's second league championship, beating the Seattle Sounders. That same year, he helped the Impact win the Voyageurs Cup for the third straight year.

In 2005, he helped the Impact play a 15 game streak without a loss (10-0-5), setting a new league record. He was the Impact's leading scorer in 2005, following a production of nine goals and three assists for a total of 21 points. Biello also was a finalist for League MVP honors, losing to Jason Jordan, and for the fourth time in his career he was awarded the Giuseppe-Saputo Trophy. Mauro also helped the Impact capture the Voyageurs Cup for a fourth straight year. On December 7, 2005 Biello signed a 2 year deal with the Impact.

On July 13, 2007 he played his 300th career game with the Impact against the Carolina RailHawks, making him the first Impact player to reach that milestone as well as the first player in USL history to play 300 games with the same team.

On January 5. 2009 the Montreal Impact announced that Biello and veteran midfielder Patrick Leduc had both accepted contract extensions for the 2009 season^[4]. During the 2009 USL season Biello contributed by helping the Impact clinch a playoff spot under new head coach Marc Dos Santos. He helped the Impact reach the finals where Montreal would face the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, this marking the first time in USL history where the final match would consist of two Canadian clubs. In the final Biello helped the Impact win the series 6-3 on aggregate. The victory gave the Impact their third USL Championship and also the victory marked Biello's third USL Championship. Once the season came to a conclusion Biello announced his retirement from competitive soccer on November 19, 2009.^[1]

International

Biello played in two of Canada's three games at the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship in Scotland.^[5]

He made his senior debut for the Canadian national team in May 28, 1995 in a match against Chile. He eaned a total of 4 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a January 2000 friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago.

Honors

Montreal Impact

• APSL Championship : 1993
• USL First Division Championship (2): 2004, 2009
• USL First Division Commissioners Cup (5): 1995, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2006
• Voyageurs Cup Champions (7): 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• APSL Championship (1): 1994

Rochester Raging Rhinos

• Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (1): 1999

Career

Last Update: October 17, 2009

1) Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (American Based Clubs) - Nutrilite Canadian Cup (Canadian Based Clubs)
2) Concacaf Champions League

References

External links

• Montreal Impact bio
• Career stats - National Football Teams