Enes Sali (born 23 February 2006) is a 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or a winger for

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

club

Al-Riyadh SC Riyadh F.C. or Al-Riyadh () is a professional football club based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It currently plays in the Saudi Pro League (the first tier of professional football in Saudi Arabia). It was established in 1953 as Ahli Al-Riyadh, then ...

, on loan from

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, 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 sanc ...

club

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

. Born in Canada, he represents

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

at international level.

Early life

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Sali played youth football for

Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home g ...

until the age of 11. In 2017, he was scouted by

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

during an international tournament and moved to the Catalans for two seasons, before they encountered issues with

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 ...

and had to release him. Former Romanian international

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in ...

then persuaded Sali's father to move back to Romania with his son, in order for the youngster to join

Viitorul Constanța ''Viitorul'' ("The Future") was a daily newspaper published in the Kingdom of Romania, out of Bucharest, as a central organ of the National Liberal Party (PNL). It was formed just months after peasants' revolt of March 1907, being originally li ...

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Club career

Sali registered his senior debut for the now-renamed Farul Constanța on 9 August 2021, aged 15, in a 1–0

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

victory over Sepsi OSK. On 13 September that year, he became the youngest player to score in the Liga I at 15 years, six months and 21 days, after netting the last goal in a 5–0 defeat of

Academica Clinceni Club Sportiv LPS HD Clinceni, commonly known as Clinceni and formerly as ''Academica Clinceni'', is a Romanian Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Clinceni, Ilfov County, currently playing in the Liga IV - Ilfov Cou ...

. On 11 October 2023, he was named by English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as one of the best players born in 2006 worldwide. Sali signed a multi-year contract with American

club

on 4 December 2023. He began the season with their second team,

North Texas SC North Texas Soccer Club is a professional soccer club that competes in MLS Next Pro, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club FC Dallas. North Texas SC currently ...

, in

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 ...

, scoring his first goal in his third appearance on 14 April. He made his FC Dallas debut on 1 August 2024, in a

2024 Leagues Cup The 2024 Leagues Cup was the fourth edition of the Leagues Cup, an international club soccer tournament contested by Major League Soccer (MLS) and Liga MX clubs in North America. It was held from July 26 to August 25, 2024, with all 77 matches ...

match against Mexican side Juárez.

International career

Born in Canada to Romanian-Turkish parents, Sali was eligible to represent both Canada, Turkey and Romania at international level. On 3 November 2021, aged 15, Sali was selected by the Romania national team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. Romanian newspaper ''

Gazeta Sporturilor Gazeta Sporturilor () is a Romanian sports website, originally founded in 1924 as a daily newspaper. It was the third-oldest daily newspaper in Europe, with 99 years of uninterrupted publication, before issuing its last edition on 31 October 2023. ...

'' later reported that

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

had also approached him for a possible call up. Sali made his senior debut on 14 November by coming on as an 82nd minute substitute for Andrei Ivan in the latter match, and became the youngest European player to appear in a competitive game at 15 years and 264 days (

Lucas Knecht Lucas Paul Knecht (born 30 March 1993) is a footballer who holds the record as the youngest ever player in a men's international match. He made his debut for the Northern Mariana Islands national team aged 14 years and 2 days. Early life Knech ...

holds the record for any player in any match type).

Personal life

Sali's parents met in

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

, Romania, and are both of Turkish descent. After getting married, they relocated to Canada where his mother's family had been living for several decades. In 2019, Sali's father moved back to Romania with his son.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Farul Constanța *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

runner-up:

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 ...

North Texas SC * MLS Next Pro Championship:

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 ...

* MLS Next Pro Regular Season Title:

References

External links

*
Enes Sali
at

Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

Farul Constanța official profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sali, Enes 2006 births Living people Soccer players from Toronto Romanian men's footballers Romanian Muslims Romania men's international footballers Romania men's youth international footballers Romanian people of Turkish descent Canadian people of Romanian descent Canadian people of Turkish descent Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Liga I players FCV Farul Constanța players Romanian expatriate men's footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia FC Dallas players North Texas SC players Al-Riyadh SC players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Saudi Pro League players 21st-century Romanian sportsmen