Rio Cardines

Crystal Palace

Cardines spent his early childhood at Arsenal's academy before being released at the age of 10. He then joined the successful London Colney Colts under-12 and under-15 teams based in St Albans, and went on to join Enfield Borough F.C. and Stevenage Borough Juniors. Cardines was signed by the Crystal Palace academy at under-16 level in 2022, and was part of the team who won a pre-season tournament against Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Dundee United in August of that year. Cardines made his first start for the Under-18s side against Norwich City in November 2022 and managed to get on the scoresheet in a 2–2 draw. He helped the Crystal Palace U21s win the 2023–24 Premier League International Cup. On 3 July 2024, he signed his first professional contract with the club. Cardines played for the Palace U21s in a 1–0 EFL Trophy loss to Stevenage on 20 August 2024. Cardines first competitive involvement with the first-team was as an unused substitute in the 2025 FA Community Shield in August 2025, with his first appearance occurring two months later when he came on as a late substitute in an away match against Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Conference League. He made his league debut on the final day of the 2025–26 season against Arsenal.

2026–27: Bristol City (loan)

On 11 August 2026, Cardines joined EFL Championship club Bristol City on a season-long loan.

Although Cardines could have represented England, his country of birth, he instead chose Trinidad and Tobago, as he was eligible through his grandparents and gained Trinidadian citizenship on 10 February 2023. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago U17s that played at the 2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship. On 1 July 2023, Cardines was part of the preliminary 60-man squad for the senior Trinidad and Tobago national team for the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup. In 2024, he was called up to the Trinidad and Tobago U20s for a set of 2024 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying matches. Cardines was formally called up to the senior Trinidad and Tobago national team for the 2025 Unity Cup and debuted in that tournament in a 3–2 loss to Jamaica on 27 May 2025.

Cardines is a quick athletic full-back capable of playing on either side of the defence and has also played as a wing-back.

Club

As of match played 18 September 2026

International

As of match played 1 October 2026