Gregory Nelson (born 31 January 1988) is a Dutch 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 last played for

Chennaiyin FC Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural sea ...

in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

, as a winger.

Early and personal life

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Nelson is of Surinamese descent.

Club career

Nelson began his career with AZ and RBC, playing for the latter after a loan deal was made permanent. After being released by RBC following their bankruptcy, he was without a club until he signed for Bulgarian club

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

in June 2010. In January 2012, he signed for Ukrainian club

Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk (, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football came to the Donetsk region in the time of the Russian Empire when the industr ...

on a three-and-a-half-year contract. During his time in Ukraine, a war with Russia began, and the club had to relocate to Kyiv for safety. In October 2015, after Metalurh Donetsk went bankrupt, he returned to Bulgaria to sign for

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

. On 23 October 2015, on his debut for the club, Nelson scored the winning goal against

Pirin Blagoevgrad Football club Pirin (), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the Second League, the second division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 2008, after a merger ...

. In January 2017 he signed for

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

side

FC Kaisar FC Kaysar (, ''Qaisar Futbol Kluby'') is a Football in Kazakhstan, Kazakh professional association football, football club based in the Gany Muratbayev Stadium in Kyzylorda. They are founding members of the Kazakhstan Premier League and have miss ...

. After his contract was terminated shortly afterwards for personal reasons, he joined

Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main domestic football competition in the kingdom of Bahrain. Currently known as the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, the first season was held in 1956-1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify f ...

side

Al-Muharraq Muharraq () is Bahrain's List of cities in Bahrain, third most populous city and served as its capital until 1932 when it was replaced by Manama. The population of Muharraq in 2020 was 263,373. Muharraq served as the country’s capital until ...

. After his contract with Al-Muharraq expired, in September 2017 he signed for

in the

. He left the club in April 2019.

International career

In June 2011, Nelson expressed interest in representing

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

at international level.

Honours

Chennaiyin FC *

: 2017–18

References

1988 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers AZ Alkmaar players RBC Roosendaal players PFC CSKA Sofia players FC Metalurh Donetsk players Botev Plovdiv players FC Kaisar players Al-Muharraq SC players Chennaiyin FC players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ukrainian Premier League players Bahraini Premier League players Indian Super League players Men's association football wingers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Expatriate men's footballers in Bahrain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate men's footballers in India {{Netherlands-footy-midfielder-stub