Canada Soccer has announced that former National Team stars Richard Hastings and Carmelina Moscato have been named to the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame. The two former international stars will be inducted as honoured members of the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023.
“Canada Soccer is honoured to welcome Richard Hastings and Carmelina Moscato to the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023,” said Ken MacLean, Chair of the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame Committee. “Hastings was a Concacaf champion and Men’s National Team hero while Moscato was a London 2012 bronze medal winner, Concacaf champion and Women’s National Team hero. The Canadian stars are deserving of this great honour in recognition of their careers as professional and international footballers.”
Richard Hastings
Richard Hastings was a Concacaf champion, a two-time Concacaf semi-finalist, and FIFA Confederations Cup participant across his international career with Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team. He represented Canada in two cycles of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and five editions of the Concacaf Gold Cup, in all making 59 international “A” appearances across 13 years from 1998 to 2010. A tournament all-star in 2007, he was the Concacaf Gold Cup top rookie in 2000 when Canada won gold, with famously Hastings also the golden goal hero in Canada’s quarter-finals victory over Mexico.
At the professional level, Hastings played in Scotland, England, Austria and Netherlands, with appearances in UEFA Champions League Qualifying and UEFA Cup. He was a hero at Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC where he won the Scottish Third Division (1996-97) and twice won promotion to a higher division (1996-97 to the Second Division; 1998-99 to the First Division). In all, he played 12 seasons for the Caleys across two stints including five of those years in the Scottish Premier League.
Carmelina Moscato
Carmelina Moscato was an Olympic bronze medal winner, Concacaf champion and three-time FIFA World Cup participant with Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team, including a fourth-place finish at USA 2003. In all, she won four Concacaf medals and made 94 international “A” appearances across 14 years from 2002 to 2015. As of the stars of Canada’s magical bronze medal run at the London 2012 Olympic Games, she was part of the squad named Canadian Press Team of the Year, Postmedia Team of the Year, and inducted to the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.
At the club level, Moscato played football in Canada, USA, Italy, Sweden and Australia, notably winning a USL W-League Championship with Vancouver Whitecaps FC in 2004 and then an Australia W-League Premiership title in 2015. At the youth level, she won a Canada Games gold medal at the domestic level in 2001 and a FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship silver medal at the international level in 2002.
Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours Canadian players that have played the game with excellence at the international and club level. With the three new selections for 2022, the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame now features 207 honoured members: 142 players, 13 coaches/managers, 10 referees, and 42 builders.
Since 2022, the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame’s Modern Canadian Players category features an even balance of former Men’s National Team and Women’s National Team players. With this year’s class, there are now 30 former Men’s National Team Players and 30 Women’s National Team players since the 1980s/90s. This balance reflects the modern era during which international football at the very highest level has featured both a men’s and women’s FIFA World Cup as the pinnacle of the sport (since the inauguration of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991).
