Emiliano Tade (born March 3, 1988) is an Argentine 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

Auckland United Auckland United Football Club is a professional football club based in Mount Roskill, New Zealand. Formed in 2020 as an amalgamation between Onehunga Sports and Three Kings United, Auckland United currently competes in the Northern League, one ...

in the Northern League. Tade holds the record for number of consecutive participations in the FIFA Club World Cup, appearing for

Auckland City Auckland City () was a territorial authority area with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Au ...

at seven consecutive

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

tournaments from 2011 to 2017. He is currently the all-time leading goal scorer for Auckland City, as well as the all-time leading goal scorer in

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship () was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in ...

history; his exploits earned him a professional move to South Africa, eventually signing for league champions

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

in 2019.

Career

Early career

Born in

Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a sur ...

, Tade grew up playing for boyhood side

Club Atlético Mitre Club Atlético Mitre is an Argentina, Argentine sports club located in the Santiago del Estero. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, that currently plays in Primera B Nacional, the second division of Argentine footb ...

. Instead of pursuing a career in football, Tade was studying to become a lawyer before moving to

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 ...

in April 2010. After Martín Pereyra, a fellow Argentine playing in New Zealand, suggested he trial for local semi-pro side

Wellington United Wellington United AFC is an association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand, that competes in Capital 3, the 5th tier of Wellington football. History Wellington Diamond United Wellington Diamond United was the result of the merge ...

, Tade began a club football career. Tade's performances in the

Central Premier League The Central League, known as the Dettol Central League for sponsorship reasons, is a competition run by the Capital Football for association football clubs located in the southern and central parts of the North Island. It is a New Zealand top-t ...

impressed

Team Wellington Team Wellington Football Club was an association football club based in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, New Zealand. They competed in the ISPS Handa Premiership. Team Wellington had traditionally been one of the most successful football c ...

head coach Stu Jacobs, and Tade signed for the

ASB Premiership The New Zealand Football Championship () was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in ...

club prior to the 2010–11 season, scoring six goals in 16 appearances in his debut season in the New Zealand top flight.

Auckland City

The next season, Tade sealed a move to

, joining a Hispanic contingent that included

Andreu Guerao Andreu Guerao Mayoral (born 17 June 1983), known simply as Andreu, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Andreu made his professional debut with FC Barcelona B in the ...

Manel Expósito Manel Exposito Presseguer (born 29 November 1981) is a Spanish retired footballer who now works as an assistant coach at C.D. Guadalajara, Guadalajara. Career Exposito started his senior career with UE Vic. In 2013, he signed for K.A.S. Eupen ...

Albert Riera Albert Riera Ortega (born 15 April 1982) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former player who is the manager of Slovenian PrvaLiga club NK Celje, Celje. He played as a winger (association football), ...

Ángel Berlanga Ángel Luis Viña Berlanga (born 24 February 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back. Career Auckland City After playing in his native Spain for Rayo Majadahonda, Berlanga signed for Auckland City in 2010, joinin ...

and Luis Corrales. Tade won the golden boot in both the 2013–14 ASB Premiership and

2013–14 OFC Champions League The 2013–14 OFC Champions League was the 13th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 8th season under the current OFC Champions League n ...

. He also won his first league championship that season, scoring the only goal in the final as Auckland City beat former club Team Wellington on 16 March 2014. Due to Auckland City's dominance in the

OFC Champions League The OFC Men's Champions League is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been organised since 2007 ...

, winning the competition for seven straight seasons, Tade appeared at a record seven consecutive

competitions between 2011 and 2017. This included Auckland City's historic run in the

2014 FIFA Club World Cup The 2014 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2014 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club association football, football ...

, falling to Argentine giants

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

in the semifinal, before defeating

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

in the third-place playoff. His performances in the tournament earned him a move to

Torneo Federal A The Torneo Federal A () is one of the two professional leagues that form the regionalised third level of the Argentine football league system, along with Primera B Metropolitana. The competition was established in 2014 as a result of a change in t ...

side

ahead of the 2015 season; however, he lasted less than a season before returning to Auckland.

South Africa

AmaZulu

On 26 May 2018, Tade confirmed that he had completed a move to Absa Premiership club

AmaZulu FC Amazulu FC was a Association football, football club based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The club played in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League. The team was founded in 1996 by Charles Mhlauri and after nine years the club was dissolved. In 2003 the tea ...

following a successful trial. Tade made his debut for ''Usuthu'' in a 1−0 win over Baroka FC on 4 August 2018. He quickly began to impress during his time in South Africa, forming a strong partnership with Bongi Ntuli and becoming widely regarded as one of the most dangerous forwards in the league. After a productive first half of the season where Tade scored seven goals in all competitions and won Player of the Month honours for November and December, he drew interest from the league's larger clubs.

Mamelodi Sundowns

On 31 January 2019, reigning champions

announced the signing of Emiliano Tade for an undisclosed fee - believed to be around 6 million

rand The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

- which also included the permanent transfer of Bongi Ntuli, previously on loan to AmaZulu, in the other direction. Mamelodi went on to win the title that season, with Tade contributing two goals in 12 appearances for Sundowns. His next season in South Africa was plagued by injury and personal issues; Tade failed to make an appearance for Sundowns, and eventually requested a release from his contract, citing constant injury struggles, homesickness and a wish to cease playing professionally. Tade agreed a mutual termination of contract, and he was officially released on 11 December 2019, returning to his family in New Zealand.

Return to Auckland City

On 13 January 2020, Auckland City confirmed that Tade had returned to the club alongside

Tom Doyle Thomas Joseph Doyle (born 30 June 1992) is a New Zealand international footballer who plays as a left back for Bay Olympic in the Northern League. Doyle made his senior professional debut for Wellington Phoenix FC in the 2014 FFA Cup against A ...

Auckland United

On 6 March 2025, Auckland United announced the signing of Tade for the 2025 season.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Auckland City *

: 2013–14, 2014–15 *

New Zealand National League The New Zealand Men's National League (NZNL), known as the Dettol Men's National League for sponsorship reasons, is an amateur men's football league at the top of the New Zealand football league system. Founded in 2021, the New Zealand Nationa ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* Northern League:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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 ...

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

Charity Cup The Charity Cup, also referred to as the NZF Charity Cup (previously known as the ASB Charity Cup for sponsorship reasons), is New Zealand's association football super cup, which takes place on annual basis. The competition was founded in 19 ...

: 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

OFC President's Cup The OFC President's Cup was an association football competition organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) between clubs and national teams. A decision to create this competition was confirmed at the OFC's Executive committee in March 2 ...

3rd Place:

Central United *

Individual * Jack Batty Memorial Cup:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tade, Emiliano 1988 births Living people Argentine men's footballers Wellington United players Team Wellington FC players Auckland City FC players AmaZulu F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players New Zealand Football Championship players Men's association football forwards New Zealand National League players Footballers from Santiago del Estero Argentine expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand 21st-century Argentine sportsmen