Rio Solomon Cardines (born 1 July 2006) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back or right wing-back for club Crystal Palace. Born in England, he plays for the Trinidad and Tobago national team.
Club career
Cardines is a quick athletic defender who was a youth product of the successful London Colney Colts under-12 and under-15 teams based in St Albans. He went on to join Stevenage Borough Juniors.
Cardines joined the youth academy of Crystal Palace at under-16 level in 2022. He was part of the team who won a pre-season tournament against Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Dundee United in August 2022. Though he has played predominantly as a right-back, Cardines has also slotted in anywhere across the defence if required and has also played on the wing. Cardines made his first start for the Under-18s side against Norwich City in November 2022 and managed to get on the scoresheet in a 2-2 draw. His performances for the young Eagles saw him earn a call-up in January 2023, to Trinidad and Tobago's Under-17s team for their participation in the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship. He helped the Crystal Palace U21s win the 2023–24 Premier League International Cup.
On 3 July 2024, he signed his first professional contract with Crystal Palace.
He played for the Palace U21s in a 1–0
EFL Trophy loss to Stevenage on 20 August 2024.
Cardines first competitive involvement with the first-team was as an unused substitute in the 2025 FA Community Shield in August 2025,
with his first appearance occurring two months later when he came on as a late substitute in an away match against
Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Conference League.
International career
Born in England, Cardines is of Trinidadian descent.
A dual-citizen, he gained Trinidadian citizenship on February 10th 2023.
He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago U17s that played at the 2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship.
In 2024, he was called up to the Trinidad and Tobago U20s for a set of 2024 CONCACAF U-20 Championship qualifying matches.
On 1 July 2023, Cardines was part of the preliminary 60-man squad for the senior Trinidad and Tobago national team for the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Career statistics
Club
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
!rowspan="2" | Club
!rowspan="2" | Season
!colspan="3" | League
!colspan="2" | FA Cup
!colspan="2" | EFL Cup
!colspan="2" | Europe
!colspan="2" | Other
!colspan="2" | Total |
|
| Crystal Palace U21 | 2024–25 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 2025–26 | Premier League | 0 |
|
International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and year |
|
| Trinidad and Tobago | 0 |
|
Honours
Crystal Palace
-
FA Community Shield: 2025
Crystal Palace U21
-
Premier League International Cup: 2023–24
External links
