Youssouf Hersi (born 20 August 1982) is a retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Born in Ethiopia, Hersi represented the Netherlands at youth international level.

Club career

Hersi has played in the Netherlands for

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Div ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

, Vitesse,

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Ge ...

and

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium ...

. He has also played for the Greek side

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

. On 11 September 2012, Hersi signed with

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in the Sydney Derby on 15 December 2012. In February 2013, Hersi re-signed with the Wanderers for another season. On 10 March 2013, against

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

Hersi broke the Australian football record for most consecutive wins for a player (14) beating

Matt Horsley Matt Horsley (born 9 June 1972 in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian retired footballer. Club career He last played as a right full back for the Australian A-League club Perth Glory in 2005, which he joined in 2001. Hors ...

's 13 wins for the

Wollongong Wolves Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wat ...

from April to December 2001. Hersi was sent off with a second yellow card in the Wanderers' Grand Final qualifier against

Brisbane Roar FC Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

and subsequently missed the

2013 A-League Grand Final The 2013 A-League Grand Final was the eighth A-League Grand Final, which took place at the Sydney Football Stadium (1988), Sydney Football Stadium on 21 April 2013. The match was won by Central Coast Mariners FC, Central Coast Mariners, who beat ...

in which the Wanderers lost 2–0 to

Central Coast Mariners FC Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

. In May 2014 Hersi signed with

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

. He requested a release from the club in May 2015, which was granted despite having another year to run on his contract. Hersi was set to sign for the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The ...

in February 2016 but the deal was scuppered at the last minute after he travelled to Australia on the wrong type of visa.

International career

Hersi played with the Dutch under-21 team at the

2001 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between 17 June and 8 July 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar del ...

. He was never capped for the Dutch full national side, although he had expressed an interest in representing the nation of his birth Ethiopia at the international level,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hersi, Youssouf Living people 1982 births Sportspeople from Dire Dawa Association football midfielders Association football forwards Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Ethiopian footballers Ethiopian emigrants to the Netherlands AFC Ajax players SC Heerenveen players NAC Breda players NEC Nijmegen players SBV Vitesse players FC Twente players De Graafschap players Eredivisie players AEK Athens F.C. players Super League Greece players Footballers from Amsterdam Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Perth Glory FC players A-League Men players Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate soccer players in Australia Dutch people of Ethiopian descent