Emiliano Díaz Brienza (born 9 May 2002) is a Mexican-Canadian 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 ...

. He has been called-up to the Canada under-17 national team but has never appeared for Canada.

Early life

Brienza was born in

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican resort city near the Bahía de Banderas on the Pacific coast of the Mexico, Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalajara ...

, Mexico, with his family moving to

Coquitlam, British Columbia Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the sixth-largest city in the province, with an estimated population of 174,248 in 2024, and one of the 21 municipalities comprising Metr ...

in Canada in 2015 when he was 13-years old. He was part of the Mountain United FC team at club level before joining the

Whitecaps FC Academy Whitecaps FC Academy ( sponsor name Whitecaps FC BMO Academy) is the youth system of the professional soccer club Vancouver Whitecaps, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It fields a men's and women's team in the semi-professional League1 ...

in September 2018. In 2019, Brienza started 18 matches with the under-17 team, including three playoff matches, scoring six goals. He also made three appearances with the under-19 team

Club career

On 25 February 2022, it was announced that Brienza had signed with

Whitecaps FC 2 Whitecaps FC 2 is a professional association football, soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the reserve team of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer. History Prior to the MLS Next Pro iteratio ...

, Vancouver's reserve team who would compete in the newly formed

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

. It was also announced he would join the

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 ...

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 ...

roster on a short-term deal. On 26 February, Brienza made his professional debut, appearing as an 88th-minute substitute during a 4–0 loss to

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

on the opening game of the season.

International career

Brienza was first called up to a Canada under-17 national camp for the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

. He appeared on the bench for three matches without making an appearance.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brienza, Emiliano 2002 births Living people Sportspeople of Mexican descent Canadian people of Mexican descent Mexican emigrants to Canada Soccer people from British Columbia Canadian men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Canada men's youth international soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Whitecaps FC 2 players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen