
DETROIT — Today, Detroit City Football Club announced the signing of forward Darren Smith, Smith has signed a two-year guaranteed contract to join the club ahead of the 2025 season and will wear #7 for Le Rouge this season.
The Cape Town, South Africa native has spent the last two seasons of his career in Finland for Veikkausliiga side FC Inter Turku. Throughout those two seasons in the Finnish top division, Smith played 72 matches for the Sinimustat (Black and Blues) and finished his time in Finland with 28 goals.
Smith would play an integral part in Turku’s run in the 2024 Finnish League Cup, scoring five goals in six cup matches, including converting a penalty in the final minutes of normal time and covering in penalties against KuPS, helping Turku lift their second Finnish League Cup. Smith would also score five goals in six cup matches in the 2024 Finnish Cup campaign, in which the club reached the final to face KuPS once again, but Turku would fall in extra time this time.
Prior to joining Turku, Smith spent a season in the Moroccan top division with AS FAR Rabat, becoming the first South African football player to sign with a Moroccan club. Smith made only nine appearances with the club, scoring one goal and helping the club win the COVID-19-postponed 2019–20 Moroccan Throne Cup.
Smith’s first stint in Finland would see him spend the 2020 and 2021 seasons across two teams. He would spend 2020 with Finish third-tier side Ekenäs IF and 2021 with FC Honka. Smith would score 31 goals and register nine assists in 61 games across all competitions over the two seasons. He would take home the Ykkönen Player of the Year and Top Goalscorer award in 2020 with EIF. Smith would also feature in four matches in the UEFA Conference League with Honka.
Before heading to Europe, Smith spent the first six seasons bouncing around clubs in his home country of South Africa. Throughout those six seasons, Smith played for AmaZulu FC, Vasco da Gama, Santos FC, SuperSport United, and Ubuntu Cape Town FC, making a total of 41 appearances.
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Primary Media Contact: Jarrett Maki
(Sports Information Director, Jarrett.Maki@detcityfc.com)