Donovan Ricketts

Early career

Ricketts attended Cornwall College where he played on the Dacosta Cup team. After high school, he played for teams such as Wadadah, Seba United, Galaxy F.C. and Village United in his native Jamaica. Ricketts attracted the attention of English clubs after an impressive performance for Jamaica against Brazil in a match played in Leicester in 2003. He failed to join fellow Reggae Boys Onandi Lowe and Paul Hall at Rushden & Diamonds FC after an unsuccessful trial, and signed instead for English Premier League side Bolton Wanderers in 2004.

Bradford City

Ricketts never played a game at Bolton and instead moved to Bradford City initially on a year-long loan in July 2004. He spent most of his first season in English football as understudy to Australian Paul Henderson before he finally made his debut in April 2005 and played in the final four games. During the season break he signed permanently on a two-year deal keeping him at City until 2007. He missed nine games because of a broken foot early in the 2005–06 season and was replaced by Russell Howarth. He regained his place against Port Vale, before he again missed a game in December 2005 after he was sent off for celebrating a City goal in a game at Southend United. He was immediately recalled to the side following his suspension, and played the following 80 league games, including as ever-present in the 2006–07 season. His run of games came to an end when he was dropped in October 2007 after a poor…

On 3 June 2006 he captained Jamaica in an international friendly against England at Old Trafford. Jamaica went on to lose the game 6–0. Ricketts has been a big part of the Reggae Boyz programme, dating back to the days of former Technical Director Renê Simões. Ricketts has not only kept goal for Jamaica at the senior level, but has also done it at various junior levels for his country. He came through the national ranks under the guidance of goalkeeping coach, Paul Campbell. Ricketts is a World Cup veteran, being named to the Jamaican squad that played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. However, with Warren Barrett and Aaron Lawrence ahead of him in the pecking order, the opportunity never presented itself for him to see any game time. Ricketts represented Jamaica in all eight of their 2010 World Cup qualifying matches, where they were eliminated in the third round stage.

After retiring from his playing career, Ricketts joined the full-time coaching staff of FC Tulsa in 2019. On June 17, 2022, Ricketts was named interim coach of Tulsa after the club parted ways with Michael Nsien. Ricketts was named head coach of MLS Next Pro side Carolina Core in October 2024.

Ricketts received his U.S. green card in 2011 which qualified him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.