Gaël Andonian (; born 7 February 1995) 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 a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

club EUGA Ardziv in Marseille. He began his career with hometown club

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, making one substitute appearance in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

and playing mostly for the reserves. Born in France, Andonian represented France at under-16 level in 2011. In 2015, he debuted at senior level for

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, his ancestral country.

Club career

Born in

, Andonian is a youth exponent from hometown club

. He was first called into a matchday squad for their 1–0 win away at Nancy on 16 September 2012, remaining an unused substitute. His only other call-up that season was on 6 December, again unused as Marseille lost 3–0 away to

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, both teams already eliminated. He made his professional debut in a 2–1

home win against

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

on 2 November 2014, replacing

Florian Thauvin Florian Tristan Mariano Thauvin (born 26 January 1993) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), right winger or forward (association football), forward and Captain (association footba ...

for the last 10 minutes. On 21 October 2015, having taken no part in Marseille's season, Andonian was loaned to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

club

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

for the remainder of the season. He made six appearances in Ligue 2 as the team from

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

won promotion, scoring his first professional goal as a last-minute equaliser in a 2–2 draw at

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

on 8 January 2016, and contributing to the

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

that was their other strike in the game. Additionally, Andonian made two appearances in the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

, and two appearances in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

. On 27 January 2017, Andonian was loaned to

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

club

Veria Veria (; ), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Beroea or Berea, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of Imathia. It is located north-nor ...

for the remainder of the season. He made 10 appearances for Veria, and was sent off on 12 March in a 1–0 loss at

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platani ...

. In September 2018 following his release from Marseille, Andonian had a spell on trial at

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, and played an under-23 match against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. Manager Jack Ross did not sign him due to wage issues, as the club were involved in protracted situations regarding Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong. On 18 July 2019, Andonian signed a one-year contract with

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

of Ligue 2. He was an unused substitute eight days later in a 2–2 home draw against

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

. Hampered by a shoulder injury, he took no part in the rest of the season and his contract was terminated at its midway point. Andonian signed for

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A ...

of the

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...

on 1 February 2020. That September, he signed for

Aubagne Aubagne (; according to the classic norm or according to the Mistralian norm) is a Commune in France, commune in the southern French Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône. In 2020, the commune was awarded three flowers by the ...

of the same league.

International career

In 2011, Andonian played two friendlies for France under-16, both goalless draws against Slovenia on 5 and 7 April. On 26 February 2015, the president of the Armenian Football Federation

Ruben Hayrapetyan Ruben Rafiki Hayrapetyan (, born 9 March 1963 in Yerevan, Armenia), also known by his nickname Nemets Rubo (''Rubo The German''), is an Armenian football official, a former member of the Armenian Parliament and a businessman. Between 2002-2018, ...

announced that Andonian would arrive in the Armenian capital

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

on 21 March to receive Armenian citizenship and officially join the

Armenia national football team The Armenia national football team () represents Armenia in men's international football, and is controlled by the Football Federation of Armenia, the governing body for football in Armenia. After gaining independence from the Soviet Union, ...

. Eight days later he received his first international cap, playing the full 90 minutes against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in a 2–1 defeat at the

Elbasan Arena Elbasan Arena (, formerly known as Ruzhdi Bizhuta) is a multi-purpose stadium in Elbasan, Albania. The stadium was completed in 1967 and has been the home ground of KF Elbasani ever since. The stadium was under reconstruction and was official ...

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andonian, Gael 1995 births Living people Armenian men's footballers Armenia men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Footballers from Marseille Men's association football defenders Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Super League Greece players Olympique de Marseille players Dijon FCO players Veria F.C. players AC Ajaccio players FC Martigues players French expatriate men's footballers Armenian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Greece Armenian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Aubagne FC players 21st-century French sportsmen