Killian Francis B Sardella (born 2 May 2002) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a

right-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

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

club

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

and the Belgium national team.

Career

Sardella went through the youth system at KVK Wemmel and FC Brussels before moving to RSC Anderlecht. At FC Brussels he played together with

Anouar Ait El Hadj Anouar Ait El Hadj (born 20 April 2002) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Union Saint-Gilloise in the Belgian Pro League. Club career He made his pro debut for Anderlecht in July 2019, coming on as a substitute ...

, who he would later play alongside in the Anderlecht first team. In the summer of 2019, Mauves coach

Vincent Kompany Vincent Jean Mpoy Kompany (born 10 April 1986) is a Belgian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Association football, player who played as a centre-back. He is currently the head coach of ...

transferred him to the Anderlecht first team, with Sardella making his debut in the Brussels side's third league game of the 2019-20 season in a 0-0 draw against

KV Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often called KV Mechelen (, KVM) or simply by their former French name Malinois /ˌmalɪˈnwɑː/, is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp (pr ...

as a starter. Sardella played the entire match. After his first season with the first team, in which he played 20 matches in all competitions, Anderlecht extended his contract until 2025. In his second season, he started eight games in a row from mid-December to late January, at the expense of more experienced players such as Bohdan Mykhaylychenko and Michael Murillo. Coach Vincent Kompany played Sardella, who played as a controlling midfielder in the youth team and later as a central defender, mainly as a wing defender that season. He was only posted in the centre of defence again in his last three games of the season. In the 2021/22 season, Sardella, just like the season before, made a mistake on the opening match day: against

Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (), also known as Union Saint-Gilloise, Union SG or simply Union, is a Belgian professional football club from Brussels based in Forest. Founded in 1897 in the neighbouring Saint-Gilles, the club has played its home ...

, he misjudged a cross-field pass from Jonas Bager to

Loïc Lapoussin Loïc Lapoussin (born 27 March 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Belgian Pro League club Sint Truiden. Born in France, he represents Madagascar at international level. Club career On 27 July 2018, the first matc ...

, allowing the latter to offer

Deniz Undav Deniz Undav (born 19 July 1996) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for club VfB Stuttgart and the Germany national team. Club career Early career (2002–2020) Undav, who grew up in Achim, played for TSV Achim before jo ...

the opening goal. Sardella was then taken to task by (part of) the Anderlecht crowd and was substituted by Michael Murillo during half-time. Sardella was given two more starting places against

KF Laçi Klubi i Futbollit Laçi is an Albanian professional football club based in Laç. The club competes in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is Laçi Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 2,271. Un ...

in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

shortly afterwards, but in the league he had to wait a while for another chance. On 30 March 2024, Sardella scored for the first time in his career in the top flight for the only goal in a 1-0 win over defending champions

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club (commonly referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp) is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Antwerp. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Founded in 1 ...

in the title play-offs. Anderlecht would finish the season in third, as they had also done in 2020-21.

International football

Sardella was Belgium captain for the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association fo ...

held in Ireland. Belgium were knocked out at the quarter-finals stage by the Netherlands 3-0 in Bray. Sardella made his debut for the

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

senior team on 17 November 2024, as he was subbed on in the 93rd minute in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

group stage match against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, which ended 1-0 in favour of the latter.

Personal life

Sardella was born in Belgium to an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

father and

Congolese Congolese or Kongolese may refer to: African peoples * Congolese people (disambiguation) * Kongo people, a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo) to Luanda, Angola, primarily defined by ...

mother.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * 2002 births Living people Belgian people of Italian descent Belgian sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Belgian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks R.S.C. Anderlecht players Belgian Pro League players Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's international footballers 21st-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-footy-midfielder-stub