Richard Garcia

West Ham United

Born in Perth, Garcia was a product of the West Ham United youth academy, moving from Australia to England to join the Hammers at the age of 15 after being spotted by a scout who had initially gone to watch his brother. He signed a professional contract with West Ham in September 1998. He was a key member of the team that won the FA Youth Cup and FA Premier Youth League double in 1998–99, scoring in every round of West Ham's run to the Youth Cup Final, eight in total. He went out on loan to local side Leyton Orient in August 2000, making 21 appearances in League and Cup competitions and scoring four goals. Injury to his knee ligaments ended his season and he returned to West Ham in November 2000. He made his first team debut for West Ham in a League Cup match away at Reading in September 2001, but failed to gain a regular place in the team. After West Ham were relegated to the First Division in 2003, Garcia featured a few more times for the first-team, but made only 16 league appearances for the club before moving on to Colchester United in 2004.

Colchester United

Garcia signed for Colchester United in September 2004 for an undisclosed fee, and made his debut in the same month against Swindon Town. He went on to make 30 appearances in the 2004–05 season, scoring six goals. The following season Garcia played an important part in helping the club to second place in League One and promotion to the Championship, and to the fifth-round of the FA…

In an interview with Australia's Sun-Herald newspaper in April 2008, Garcia said he had ambitions to play for the Socceroos, Australia's national team, and hoped that his good form for Hull in their push for promotion to the Premier League would help him to achieve this. On 19 August 2008 he received his first senior international cap when he came on as a second-half substitute in the friendly against South Africa at Loftus Road in London. That match ended in a 2–2 draw. His second cap came in a friendly match against the Netherlands, again as a substitute, where the match was won by the Socceroos 2–1. On 13 June 2010, Garcia became the first Hull City player ever to play in the World Cup, by starting as a forward in Australia's 0–4 defeat to Germany in the group stage. On 7 December 2012, he scored his first ever goal for Australia as they defeated Guam 9–0 in a 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup game.

Club

International

García speaks fluent Spanish since his parents are from Uruguay. He became close friends with Michael Carrick during their time at West Ham, and they were ushers at each other's weddings.