Derek Austin Cornelius (born 25 November 1997) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

and the Canada national team.

Early life

Cornelius was born in

Ajax, Ontario Ajax (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population: 126,666) is a waterfront town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Southern Ontario, Canada, located in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area. The town is named for , a Royal N ...

to a Barbadian father and a Jamaican mother. Cornelius started playing when he was selected as a younger player for the 1996 House League All-Star team.Experience And Accomplishments
at derek-cornelius.com, Retrieved 5 November 2017 He was then selected by the Ajax Thunder under-8 team at six years old. In the season after that, he was the Unionville Milliken Challenge Cup Champions Most Valuable Player. At the U11 level, he won the C.O.V.I. Championship and was proclaimed the Most Valuable Player. In 2012, he played in the Oviedo Cup with

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English language, English: ''Central Sports Club of the Army''), commonly referred to as CSKA Moscow or ''CSK ...

in Spain, then he played in the Milk Cup by CSKA Moscow in Northern Ireland where he led the team scoring four goals in the tournament. He ended that year by being invited to the CSKA Moscow Reserve Camp and by playing in the U21 Provincial and Men's Regional leagues, scoring 22 goals in 30 games. In 2013, he was selected for the Canada national under-17 team for camp in Florida and Costa Rica, and was later selected for the CONCACAF World Cup U17 Qualifier pre-camp in Florida. He was also selected for the Canada national under-16 Team for the Torneo delle Nazioni tournament in Italy. That same year he was invited to Hungary for trials with

Nyíregyháza Spartacus FC Nyíregyháza Spartacus is a professional football club from Nyíregyháza, Hungary. Formed in 1928, it has had brief stints in the Nemzeti Bajnokság III. It set to play in the NB I from 2024–25 after promotion from NB II in 2023–24. The te ...

and

Győri ETO FC ETO FC Győr (''Egyetértés Torna Osztály Futball Club Győr''; ''Concordance Gymnastics Department Football Club of Győr'') or just ETO is a Hungarian professional football club from the city of Győr. They are best known for reaching the se ...

in March.

Club career

Early career

In January 2014, he moved to Germany. He began training with

VfB Lübeck VfB Lübeck is a German association football club playing in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, in the country's north. It is most known for reaching the semifinals of the German Cup in the 2003/2004 season. They played in the 2. Bundesliga from 199 ...

U19 team. He spent two seasons with the main team,Derek Cornelius
at thefinalball.com but was unable to play due to

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

rules for underaged players. He became eligible to play effective on 1 January 2016. With VfB Lübeck he won the Schleswig-Holstein Cup two consecutive seasons and made an appearance in the

2015–16 Regionalliga The 2015–16 Regionalliga was the eighth season of the Regionalliga, the fourth under the new format, as the fourth tier of the German football league system. The champions of Regionalliga Nord – SV Werder Bremen II, the champions of the Re ...

Nord.Derek Cornelius
at Soccerway In the summer of 2016, he moved to VfR Neumünster playing with them the first half of the season.

Javor Ivanjica

During the winter break of the 2016–17 season, Cornelius was signed by

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

side

FK Javor Ivanjica FK Javor Ivanjica () is a professional football club based in Ivanjica, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian First League, the second tier of the national league system. History In 1912, a student named Milan Radojević brought the first football ...

after successful trials. He made his league debut on 29 April 2017, in an away game against

FK Radnički Niš FK Radnički Niš () is a professional football club based in Niš, Serbia. The club competes in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of Serbian football. One of the most successful clubs in the former Yugoslavia, the club spent a total of 29 ...

. Javor head coach Srđan Vasiljević converted Cornelius from a forward into a

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

On 18 January 2019, Cornelius returned to his native Canada and signed with

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

side

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

. He made his debut for the Whitecaps on 2 March in their 2019 MLS season opener against Minnesota United. Cornelius scored his first goal for the club on 18 May against

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

. In July 2021 the Whitecaps announced Cornelius had been loaned to

Panetolikos 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 Agrini ...

of the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

until December 2022.

Malmö FF

In December 2022 Vancouver announced Cornelius had been transferred to

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

side

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

. He signed a contract through 2026 with the Scandinavian club. Cornelius made his competitive debut for his new club against

Skövde AIK Skövde AIK is a Swedish football club from Skövde. It was founded on 21 June 1919. The club plays in the third-tier Ettan Fotboll, Ettan after relegation from Superettan in 2024. Background Skövde AIK was founded on 20 June 1919. The club ...

in the

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

on 19 February 2023. He scored his first goal for Malmö on 5 March against

Degerfors IF Degerfors IF is a Swedish professional association football, football club located in Degerfors. The club, formed 13 January 1907, is currently playing in the highest tier in Swedish football, Allsvenskan. Background Degerfors IF first played ...

, winning the match. His first season with Malmö was a success, with the club winning the

2023 Allsvenskan The 2023 Allsvenskan was the 99th season of Sweden's top-level football league, Allsvenskan. A total of 16 teams participated. BK Häcken were the defending champions after winning the title in the previous season. IF Brommapojkarna and Halmstad ...

Marseille

In August 2024, Cornelius was transferred to

club OM on a four-year deal. He made his debut for his new club on August 17, starting their first match of the season against Brest.

International career

Youth

Cornelius was part of a Canadian U17 camp in February 2013. He was called up to a U23 camp in January 2018. In May 2018, Cornelius was named to Canada's under-21 squad for the

2018 Toulon Tournament The 2018 Toulon Tournament (officially ) was the 46th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 26 May to 9 June 2018. England won the tournament for the third successive year beating Mexico 2–1 i ...

and would earn rave reviews for his performance at the tournament. At the end of 2018, he was named the Canada Soccer Youth International Player of the Year. In March 2021 Cornelius was named to the Canadian U-23 roster for the

2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fifteenth and final edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship, CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted association footbal ...

. He served as captain throughout the tournament, and scored a goal against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

in Canada's final group stage match.

Senior

In March 2018, Cornelius received his first call up to the Canadian senior side for a friendly against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

to be played on 24 March. He would make his debut for Canada on 9 September 2018, starting and playing the entire match in an 8–0 victory over the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

. Cornelius was named to the 23-man squad for the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's association football, soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was p ...

on 30 May 2019. In November 2022, Cornelius was named to Canada's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In June 2023 Cornelius was named to the final 23-man squad for the

2023 CONCACAF Nations League Finals The 2023 CONCACAF Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League, 2022–23 edition of the CONCACAF Nations League, the second season of the international Association football, football competition involvi ...

, but after suffering an injury with his club side

, he was withdrawn from the squad and replaced by

Moïse Bombito Moïse Bombito Lumpungu (born March 30, 2000) is a Canadian professional association football, soccer player who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club OGC Nice, Nice and the Canada men's national soccer team, Canada national team. Early life B ...

. In June 2024, Cornelius was named to Canada's squad for the

2024 Copa América The 2024 Copa América was the 48th edition of the Copa América, the quadrennial international men's association football, soccer championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in the United Sta ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

VfB Lübeck * Schleswig-Holstein Cup: 2015, 2016 Malmö FF *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: 2023–24 Individual * CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Best XI: 2020 * Canadian Men's Youth International Player of the Year: 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius, Derek 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Ajax, Ontario Canadian sportspeople of Jamaican descent Canadian sportspeople of Barbadian descent Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Men's association football forwards VfB Lübeck players FK Javor Ivanjica players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Panetolikos F.C. players Malmö FF players Olympique de Marseille players Regionalliga players Oberliga (football) players Serbian SuperLiga players Serbian First League players Major League Soccer players Super League Greece players Allsvenskan players Ligue 1 players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in France Canadian expatriates in Serbia Canadian expatriates in Greece Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Black Canadian men's soccer players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2024 Copa América players 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Soccer people from Ontario Canada men's international soccer players Unionville Milliken SC players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen