Cyril Kali (born 21 January 1984) is a 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, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Born in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, Kali represented

Saint Martin national football team The Saint Martin national football team () is the Association football, football team of the Collectivity of Saint Martin, the French half of the island of Saint Martin (island), Saint Martin which was previously part of the French overseas depar ...

on four occasions.

Club career

Besançon-born Cyril Kali played in his youth years for French side

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or by the abbreviation AJA, is a French professional association football, football club based in the Communes of France, commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club plays in L ...

and

OSC Lille Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. Lille have played thei ...

, while making his professional debut for Norwegian side

Lillestrøm SK Lillestrøm Sportsklubb is a Norwegian professional football club based in the city of Lillestrøm, just outside of the capital Oslo. Lillestrøm SK is a Norwegian football club based in Lillestrøm, playing in Eliteserien. The club was founde ...

. In 2006, Kali began his senior career at the Norwegian side

. Since 2007, he has played professional football in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

for PS Kalamata (2007),

Asteras Tripolis F.C. Asteras Tripolis Football Club (), currently known as Asteras AKTOR for sponsorship reasons, commonly referred to as Asteras, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in the city of Tripoli, Greece, Tripoli in Arcadia (re ...

(2007–08),

Panetolikos F.C. Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrinio ...

(2008–10), Veria F.C. (thrice in 2010–11, 2012–13 and 2014–17 season) Athlitiki Enosi Larissa (2011) and

Apollon Pontus F.C. Apollon Kalamarias F.C. () is a Greek football club based in Kalamaria, a suburb of Thessaloniki. It was founded in 1926. History Formation and early years 1926–1960 Apollon Kalamarias was founded on 24 January 1926, in Kalamaria, by Pontian ...

in the 2017–18 season. As a central defender, Kali has spent more than a decade in the Greek football league where he had turned out for clubs like Asteras, Tripolis and AEL. With

Veria FC Veria Football Club () was a Association football, football club based in Veria, Imathia, Greece. Veria FC was founded in September 1960 when two local teams (Hermes and Vermion) merged. History 20th century 1960s In 1960 two local tea ...

, he played 42 league matches and finished Runners-up in the 2011–12 Greek Football League

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

side

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian association football, professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in Indi ...

have announced the signing of Cyril Kali for the 2018–19 season. He made 14 appearances and 23 interceptions for the club before moving to

Panserraikos F.C. Panserraikos Football Club (), the ''All-Serres Football Club'', is a Greece, Greek Association football, football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and well-supported clubs in northern G ...

in 2019. He has also played for

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

side

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

Career statistics

Kerala Blasters

On 3 July 2018, Kali joined

top division club

International career

He made his debut for

on 5 September 2019 in a

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League (, ) is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament takes pla ...

Group-A match against

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, as a starter. He appeared in 4 international matches for his country in 2019.

Honours

Veria *

Football League Greece The Football League () was the second highest professional football league in Greece since its inception in 1962 as ''Beta Ethniki'' and until 2019. It then served as a third tier after the creation of the Super League 2 as the new second tier ...

runners-up: 2011–12

References

External links

*
Cyril Kali player profile
at ''the-aiff.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kali, Cyril 1984 births Living people French men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Lillestrøm SK players Kalamata F.C. players Panserraikos F.C. players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Panetolikos F.C. players Veria F.C. players Eliteserien players Super League Greece players Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Norway French expatriate sportspeople in Greece Footballers from Besançon Men's association football defenders Indian Super League players Kerala Blasters FC players Saint Martinois men's footballers Saint Martinois expatriate men's footballers Saint Martin men's international footballers French expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate men's footballers in India AJ Auxerre players Lille OSC players 21st-century French sportsmen