Eljif Elmas ( mk, Елиф Елмас; born 24 September 1999) is a Macedonian 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 ...

who plays as a

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 ...

for club

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and the North Macedonia national team.

Club career

Early career

Elmas started his career at

FK Rabotnički FK Rabotnichki ( mk, ФК Работнички) or more commonly Rabotnički (old transliteration) and Rabotnicki is a football club that plays at the Toshe Proeski Arena in Skopje, North Macedonia. They currently compete in the Macedonian First ...

in his native Macedonia. After a stand-out season in which he scored 6 league goals and lead Rabotnički to a third-place finish in the

Macedonian First Football League The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competiti ...

in 2016–17, he joined Turkish giants Fenerbahçe on a deal until 2022, with Fenerbahçe paying the former €300,000 for his services. The attacking midfielder went on to score four goals in over 40 appearances for the Yellow Canaries in all competitions before moving to Italy in July 2019.

Napoli

On 24 July 2019,

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

side S.S.C. Napoli announced the signing of Elmas from Fenerbahçe. The deal was worth a reported €16 million, which could rise to €19 million in total with bonuses – including a €1.5 million sell-on fee clause. He was disciplined by his new club after speaking to reporters while away on international duty in November 2019 for breaching a club media blackout. Elmas scored his first Napoli goal on 3 February 2020 to help the club to a 4–2 victory over

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

, and secure their third win in a row in all competitions. On 19 December 2021, Elmas scored the winner for Napoli in a narrow away win against

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 season ...

, taking over second place in Serie A.

International career

Elmas was born in Macedonia to a family of Turkish descent. In July 2017 it was reported that the then coach of the

Turkey national football team The Turkey national football team ( tr, Türkiye Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Turkey in men's international football matches. The team is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation ( tr, Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu), the governing bod ...

, Fatih Terim, had tried to call him up, but Elmas decided to represent his birth country. On 11 June 2017, at the age of 17, Elmas made his debut for the Macedonia national team in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

by coming in at halftime as a substitute for Ostoja Stjepanović. Elmas was also included in the Macedonia U21 squad for the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 n ...

in Poland, and he was in fact the youngest one in the 23-player squad. On 31 March 2021, he scored the winning goal for Macedonia in a 2–1 away win over

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification. On 14 November 2021, Elmas scored a brace in a 3–1 win against Iceland, and helped the team secure a runners-up spot in Group J, and a World Cup play-off.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list North Macedonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Elmas goal''.

Honours

Rabotnički *

Macedonian Football Cup The Cup of Macedonia ( mk, Куп на Македонија, ''Kup na Makedonija'') is the top knockout tournament and the second most important football competition in North Macedonia, Macedonia after the First Macedonian Football League, Macedo ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Napoli *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...

: 2019–20 Individual * Macedonian Footballer of the Year:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

Profile at Macedonian Football

sport.de
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elmas, Eljif 1999 births Living people Footballers from Skopje Macedonian people of Turkish descent Association football midfielders Macedonian footballers North Macedonia youth international footballers North Macedonia under-21 international footballers North Macedonia international footballers FK Rabotnički players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers S.S.C. Napoli players Macedonian First Football League players Süper Lig players Serie A players UEFA Euro 2020 players Macedonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Italy Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Italy