FC Tucson forward Gio Calixtro has been named to USL League One’s annual watchlist of Top 10 Young Players to Watch in 2021. The Oregon native is age-eligible to win League One’s Young Player of the Year Award. To qualify for this list, players had to be born on or after January 1, 1999.
Calixtro is a product of the Portland Timbers Academy, and though only 20, already has more than 50 professional appearances and nine goals to his name from his time with Portland Timbers 2 in the USL Championship. Calixtro brings four years of USL Championship experience to FC Tucson since making his professional debut at 16-years-old for the Portland Timbers 2 on June 11, 2017, against Real Monarchs.
Calixtro is the youngest player in T2 history to score two goals in a game (18 years, 9 months, 3 days), registering a brace on March 30, 2019, against LA Galaxy II.