Richard Porta

River Plate

Porta scored a record-breaking haul of 19 goals in 15 league appearances during the 2007–08 Primera División's Torneo Apertura. He was joint leading-goal scorer of the tournament along with Danubio's Christian Stuani, establishing a new domestic record which prompted Uruguayan agent Paco Casal to buy the rights of Porta's contract for $1.1 million. In January 2008 Porta was signed to Italian club A.C. Siena.

Siena

It was reported that Porta had signed a five-year contract with Siena for approximately €3 million. On 16 March 2008, Porta debuted for Siena in a 4–0 loss to Reggina Calcio when he was substituted onto the field for Tomas Locatelli on 62 minutes. The match proved to be his only appearance in the 2007–08 Serie A season.

Belenenses

In August 2008 Porta joined Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses for the 2008–09 Primeira Liga season. He debuted for the club on 21 September in a 2–0 loss to Sporting CP. Two weeks later Porta scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw against Naval 1º de Maio on 5 October, Porta had been substituted onto the field on 87 minutes for Gabriel Enrique Gómez Girón and scored the equaliser for Belenenses on 90 minutes. Porta appeared in 11 games for Belenenses during the 2008–09 season, having scored just one goal, his last appearance was on 24 May in a 3–1 loss to Benfica. Porta made four appearances for Belenenses during the 2008–09 Taça de Portugal after losing to Naval 1º de Maio in the fourth…

In 1999 Porta was called up to a one-week training camp for the Australia U17 national team in Montevideo but was not selected for the squad that went on to claim silver medals at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Cup in New Zealand. Porta then went on to represent the Uruguay U-20 squad at the 2003 South American Youth Championship held in Uruguay where he scored in Uruguay's 4–1 win against Bolivia on 13 January. During 2006 and 2007 Porta was twice drafted into a home-based squad for the Uruguay national team without being capped, first in March 2006 for a friendly against Saudi Arabia which was later suspended and then in September 2007 for a friendly against South Africa where he was an un-used substitute. On 21 December 2007, it was reported by The Age that Porta, despite not speaking English, had stated that if someone from Australia asked him then he would not rule out "wearing the green and gold" for the Australia national side under coach Pim Verbeek. By 16 January 2008 it was again reported by The Age that Pim Verbeek was poised to invite Porta to join the squad for Australia's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. On 3 April 2011, it was reported that Porta, having been ignored by Australia's former coach Pim Verbeek, declared that he would consider playing for Australia should someone ask him first. Despite a chronic shortage of strikers leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it was reported that Verbeek became increasingly agitated whenever questioned about Porta's claims to…

Porta was born at Fairfield Hospital in Sydney, New South Wales to Uruguayan parents. Porta subsequently lived in Australia before relocating to Uruguay at the age of 1. He spent his youth footballing career playing with River Plate.

Although Porta and his parents moved back to Uruguay shortly after his birth, Porta's maternal grandparents, cousins and his brother still live in Sydney. Porta declared his allegiance to Australia during the decisive 2006 FIFA World Cup CONMEBOL – OFC qualification play-off between Australia and Uruguay when he appeared as a television studio guest in Montevideo wearing a green and gold shirt. Porta is nicknamed 'El Canguro', translating to 'Kangaroo' in Spanish. During his period in Siena he thought to take the Italian citizenship because his maternal grandfather is Italian. He achieved the fourth place on the first celebrity spin-off of MasterChef Uruguay, in 2020.