Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Luca Anthony Hoole[1] | ||
Date of birth | 2 June 2002 | ||
Place of birth | Newport, Wales[2] | ||
Position(s) | Full-back, centre-back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Bristol Rovers | ||
Number | 30 | ||
Youth career | |||
2014–2019 | Bristol Rovers | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2019– | Bristol Rovers | 78 | (3) |
2020 | → Taunton Town (loan) | 0 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2019 | Wales U19 | 1 | (0) |
2020 | Wales U20 | 1 | (0) |
2022– | Wales U21 | 7 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 08:17, 9 November 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:13, 13 October 2023 |
Luca Anthony Hoole (born 2 June 2002) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a full-back or centre-back for EFL League One club Bristol Rovers and the Wales national under-21 football team.
Hoole attended Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw, a Welsh language school in Pontypool.[3] In 2014, Hoole joined the Bristol Rovers academy.[4] In April 2018, Bristol Rovers confirmed Hoole had signed a scholarship with the club.[5] On 3 September 2019, Hoole made his debut for Bristol Rovers in a 1–1 EFL Trophy draw against Plymouth Argyle.[6]
On 30 October 2020, Hoole joined Taunton Town on a one-month loan deal.[7] Taunton played one match, a match that Hoole was not registered in time to feature in, before football was suspended on account of the lockdown measures brought in for COVID-19.[8]
After impressing for the club in pre-season, Hoole made his league debut on the opening day of the 2021–22 season, impressing in the right-back position during a 2–1 away defeat to Mansfield Town.[9] On 29 January 2022, Hoole received a first sending off of his career as he received two bookings in the space of five first-half minutes as ten-man Rovers scored a last-minute winner to defeat Walsall.[10] In February 2022, Hoole signed a new two-year extension to his contract.[11] Following a 4–0 thrashing of Stevenage, Rovers' manager Joey Barton said that Hoole had made the right-back position his own having dipped in and out of the team earlier in the season.[12] On 26 February 2022, Hoole scored a first senior goal with the opener in a 1–1 draw with Exeter City.[13] Hoole's first senior season ended with Rovers overtaking Northampton Town on the final day of the season to gain automatic promotion by goals scored, a dramatic 7–0 victory over Scunthorpe United securing this feat.[14]
Ahead of the 2022–23 season, Hoole featured for the club in pre-season in a less familiar centre-back role, impressing as Rovers defeated Championship side Stoke City.[15] For the first match of the new season, Hoole continued in this role with defensive partner James Connolly as Rovers fell to a late 2–1 defeat against Forest Green Rovers.[16] As the season developed, he began to find himself out of favour at the club and suffered from low confidence, however an impressive return to the first-team in December leading manager Barton to claim that he could one day captain the side.[17] His improvement in form continued into the second half of the season despite a rocky time for the team, impressing in a 3–0 victory over Oxford United that saw the team claim a first victory in seven weeks, Hoole scoring the third goal.[18]
On 13 November 2019, Hoole made his debut for Wales under-19's in a 3–0 win against Poland U19.[19]
In May 2022, Hoole was called up to the Wales U21 team for the first time for the final 2023 U21 European Championship qualifiers against the Netherlands and Gibraltar.[20][21] Hoole made his debut in the second of the two matches, coming off of the bench with fifteen minutes left as Wales finished their campaign with a 2–0 win.[22]
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Bristol Rovers | 2019–20[24] | League One | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 1 | 0 |
2020–21[25] | League One | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
2021–22[26] | League Two | 29 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 32 | 1 | |
2022–23[27] | League One | 37 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6[a] | 1 | 44 | 3 | |
Career total | 66 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 77 | 4 |