Bolton Wanderers’ Jamacan defender Ricardo Gardner (R) celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the English Premier league football match against Newcastle United at The Reebok Stadium, Bolton, north-west, England, on March 1, 2009. (AFP PHOTO)

Jamaica’s national captain Ricardo “Bibi” Gardner will be one of the top players to watch when he arrives in the Cayman Islands later this month to participate in two friendly international games, part of the Cayman Islands Football Association’s (CIFA) continuing efforts to raise funds for the Centre For Excellence. Gardner, a Bolton Wanderers player, started his football career while attending Wolmers High School.

At age fourteen he exploded as a football sensation playing for the renowned Jamaica Premier League team Harbour View Football Club in Kingston, Jamaica.

As Gardner continued to take the football fraternity by storm he ascended into the realm of the national team (the Reggae Boyz) during the 1998 Reggae Boyz campaign, and was on the historic team which made it to the World Cup Finals in France 1998. His spectacular performance at this level drew the attention of football scouts; this discovery took him to another level and since July 1998 he has been a permanent fixture on the Bolton Wanderers team and the Jamaica National team, playing in the position of defender for both teams.

In 2000 Gardner suffered a serious set back, resulting from ligament and knee injury. He was sidelined for a few months, but determined as he has always been, he managed to rebound from that restriction and became stronger and more lethal in his role on the football pitch. At age 33 he is physically fit and patrols the field in an overlapping role and is regarded by many as one of Bolton’s most loyal assets.

In 2006, Ricardo Gardner became the first Barclays Premiership player to be voted ‘Player of the Round’ and joined the season’s Team of The FA Cup. Gardner was among five players nominated for the award after his sterling performance against Arsenal who lost to Bolton 1-0 in the fourth round.

Gardner will always be remembered in the role he played alongside Jamaica’s National team’s Head Coach Theodore Whitmore in World Cup Finals 1998. Their performance brought Jamaica into the game to defeat Japan 2-1. Jamaica finished third in group H behind Argentina and Croatia but could not advance. Jamaica was the 47th team to win a World Cup final game in their 3rd attempt in that event.