Paul Rachubka

Paul Stephen Rachubka is a American-born English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper, currently playing for Indian club Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League.

Paul was born on 21 May 1981 in San Luis Obispo, California and possesses dual nationality. He moved to England when he was seven years old.

A career that is highlighted by plenty of loan moves, Rachubka failed to attain stability at one club for a long time and failed to make his promising start a success.

Background

Paul Rachubka started playing football for Norbury Moor Rangers till the age of nine and was then invited to play for Manchester United by then coach Brian Kidd.

He turned professional only in 1999 and stayed with the English giants for a period of over two years, making just one appearance in the league, which was against Leicester City.

From there on, Rachubka’s career was mostly loan-based. His three appearances for Manchester United was all with clean sheets.

Rachubka has represented the following teams - Manchester United, Royal Antwerp, Oldham Athletic, Charlton Athletic, Burnley, Huddersfield Town, Milton Keynes Dons, Northampton Town, Peterborough United, Blackpool, Leeds United, Tranmere Rovers, Leyton Orient, Accrington Stanley, Crewe Alexandra, Bolton Wanderers, Bury, and Kerala Blasters.

Debut

Paul Rachubka made his professional debut for Manchester United in the 2000 FIFA Club World Cup final group match against South Melbourne on 11 January 2000.

Rise to Glory

After failing to break into the first team at Manchester United, Rachubka was loaned to Belgian club Royal Antwerp in 2001.

He made just one appearance there and was loaned out again to Oldham Athletic where he received his first meaningful spell.

Charlton Athletic were looking for a backup goalkeeper and bought Rachubka for a fee of 200,000 pounds, which ended his Manchester United career.

Rachubka was loaned out five times by Charlton Athletic in 2004, who did not see him as a first-choice goalkeeper. The teams included Burnley, Huddersfield Town, Milton Keynes Dons, and Northampton Town.

He made a total of 33 appearances in all the teams and was finally picked up by Huddersfield Town as a first-choice goalkeeper.

Huddersfield marked Rachubka’s first long stay at a club, making 63 appearances in 3 years. He was loaned out twice even at Huddersfield, to Peterborough United and Blackpool.

Blackpool were impressed by Rachubka and acquired his services in 2007 after a loan stay.

Blackpool marked Rachubka’s longest ever stay at a club, from 2007 to 2011 where he gathered over 110 appearances in the league itself. He was awarded the Blackpool player of the year in the 2007-08 season.

In 2011, Leeds United purchased Rachubka where he was loaned out another four times to Tranmere Rovers, Leyton Orient and Accrington Stanley. He made just 6 appearances for the club and was signed only as a backup goalkeeper.

He then moved to Oldham Athletic in 2013 where he made 32 appearances in the league. Crewe Alexandra came calling in 2015 and he went on to make 15 appearances for them in the league.

Rachubka currently plays for ISL side Kerala Blasters where he has made 11 appearances, making an impressive 32 saves and keeping 5 clean sheets.