Elisha Bruce Sam (born 31 March 1997) is a Belgian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Cypriot club

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club (, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou''; ), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the first division, it holds home games at the Paralimni Municipal Stadium "Ta ...

Career

Elisha made his

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

debut for Hapoel Acre on 20 August 2017 in a game against

Bnei Sakhnin Bnei Sakhnin F.C. (, , ) is an Israeli professional football club based at the Doha Stadium in Sakhnin. They are the most successful club among the Arab-Israeli clubs in the country, having won the State Cup in 2004. History Early years Bn ...

as a 71st-minute substitute for Fejsal Mulić. On 31 August 2018, he moved to the Netherlands, signing a one-year contract with

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

, with the club holding a one-year extension option. On 26 June 2019, he signed a contract with the newly promoted to the

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

team Arda Kardzhali. On 27 July, he scored two goals in a 3–1 home victory over Beroe, contributing to the historic first win for the team from

Kardzhali Kardzhali ( , ''Kărdžali''; ), sometimes spelt Kardžali or Kurdzhali, is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, a town in the Eastern Rhodopes in Bulgaria, centre of Kardzhali Municipality and Kardzhali Province. The noted Kardzhali Reservoir is ...

in the top division of Bulgarian football. On 31 August 2020, he signed for English

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. Sam scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw at

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

on 17 November 2020, before scoring again against

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

in a 3–0 win 10 days later. On 27 February 2021, Sam scored a stunning back-heel volley in the club's

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

quarter-final win over Oxford City, with many pundits already calling it the

Puskás Award Puskás is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ferenc Puskás (1927–2006), Hungarian football player and manager **FIFA Puskás Award, the player judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant and "most beauti ...

winner for the year. Sam was awarded the National League Player of the Month award for February 2022, scoring four goals across the month. On 1 June 2022, Sam had his contract terminated by mutual consent. On 23 June, Elisha signed a contract with the Belgian team Patro Eisden Maasmechelen, which plays in the

Belgian National Division 1 The Belgian Division 1 is a semi-professional division and the third-highest division in the Football in Belgium, Belgian football Belgian football league system, league system, one level below the Challenger Pro League. It was created by the Ro ...

Personal life

His two-year younger brother Ephraim Sam played in the youth of

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (; English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Gent or by their nickname ' (), is a Belgian professional sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football tea ...

, Merksemse Vlug Vooruit and Lierse S.K., as well as senior by Olympic Pirates Deurne Borgerhout and KVC Oostmalle Sport. Their father hails from

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, while their mother is from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Career statistics

References

1997 births Living people Belgian people of Israeli descent Footballers from Antwerp Belgian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Hapoel Acre F.C. players Hapoel Nof HaGalil F.C. players FC Eindhoven players FC Arda Kardzhali players Notts County F.C. players K. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen players Enosis Neon Paralimni FC players Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players Belgian people of Ghanaian descent Eerste Divisie players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players National League (English football) players Belgian National Division 1 players Cypriot First Division players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus 21st-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub