Lesly Dumas de Sa (born 2 April 1993) is a Dutch former 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 played as a winger. He is currently the assistant coach of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

' under-14 team. A youth product of

, De Sa went on loan to

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

and Willem II before joining Slovak side Slovan Bratislava in 2016. After two years, including a loan spell at

FC Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

, he was released. In 2020, he moved to Swedish club

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish professional football club based in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching owne ...

, and later had a brief stint in Bulgaria with Tsarsko Selo in 2021. He then returned to Ajax' amateur team, where he retired in 2023. Following his retirement, De Sa transitioned into coaching, becoming assistant coach of Ajax's under-14 team under

Frank Korpershoek Frank Korpershoek (born 29 October 1984) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He holds the record for most appearances for SC Telstar, Telstar. He is the coach of the AFC Ajax, Ajax under-14 ...

Club career

Ajax

De Sa began his football career in the youth system of

SV Argon Sport Vereniging Argon is a football and basketball club from Mijdrecht, Netherlands. Its male first football squad plays in the Hoofdklasse. History 20th century The club was founded in 1971 as a merger of RKSV Stormvogels, VV Mijdrecht, and ...

before joining the

academy in 2002. He made his first-team debut on 21 September 2011 in a

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

match against

VV Noordwijk Voetbalvereniging Noordwijk is a Dutch football club founded in 1933, based in Noordwijk. It currently competes in the Tweede Divisie. History VV Noordwijk was founded on 4 March 1933. 1940s–1960s: Vierde, Derde, and Tweede Klasse During ...

, replacing

Aras Özbiliz Aras Özbiliz (; born 9 March 1990) is a former professional footballer who played as a winger. Born in Turkey, he represented the Armenia national team. Early life Özbiliz was born on 9 March 1990 in the Bakırköy district of Istanbul, Tu ...

and scoring in the 61st minute of a 3–1 away win. Although he was named in matchday squads for the 2011–12

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

season, he did not make a league appearance, instead featuring for

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax (; ), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2, is a Dutch association football team. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. Jong Ajax is the only reserve team to have won a title in Dutch professional foot ...

. He made his Eredivisie debut on 20 October 2012, coming on as a substitute for

Tobias Sana Tobias Tigjani Sana (born 11 July 1989) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Superettan club Örgryte IS. Club career Qviding FIF Sana began his professional football career in 2007–2008, playing for ...

in a 3–3 draw against

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

Viktor Fischer Viktor Gorridsen Fischer (born 9 June 1994) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger for clubs such as Ajax and Copenhagen as well as for the Denmark national team. Widely considered among the ...

also made his league debut in the same match. De Sa started the 2013–14 season with Jong Ajax, who had recently been promoted to the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

. He played in the team's first-ever second-tier match on 5 August 2013, starting on the right wing in a 2–0 home win against

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

, before being substituted in the 76th minute for Marvin Höner. He scored his first goal of the season on 26 August 2013 in a 1–1 draw against Emmen. On 28 August 2013, De Sa was included in the first-team lineup for an Eredivisie match against

, marking his first start for Ajax. He scored Ajax's second goal in a 6–0 win and provided an assist for

Kolbeinn Sigþórsson Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (; born 14 March 1990) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a forward. Kolbeinn came through Víkingur Reykjavik's youth program and made his professional debut with HK Kópavogur at 16 years of ...

. He was substituted in the 69th minute for Lucas Andersen. The following match, on 1 October 2013, he made his continental debut in the

2013–14 UEFA Champions League The 2013–14 UEFA Champions League was the 59th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 22nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was ...

group stage, starting in a 1–1 draw against

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

before being replaced by Andersen in the 64th minute.

Loan to Go Ahead Eagles

De Sa spent the 2014–15 season on loan at

, playing 16 matches and scoring once. He made his debut for the club on 10 August 2014 during the first round of the Eredivisie, at home against

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

. De Sa scored the 2–0 goal in the 50th minute, after which Groningen mounted a comeback to win 3–2. Partly due to injuries, De Sa was unable to play for large parts of the season. Go Ahead finished the season in seventeenth place in the Eredivisie, which followed by relegation via the 2015 play-offs. On 13 May 2015, it was announced that Ajax were considering transfer-listing De Sa. After the season, the Slovakian club

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its football department. The first team currently plays in the Slovak First Football League after winning the 2010–11 Slovak First League. The club plays its hom ...

showed interest in acquiring De Sa.

Loan to Willem II

On 22 June 2015, it was announced that De Sa was being sent on loan to Willem II together with

Ruben Ligeon Ruben Ewald Ligeon (born 24 May 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who last played as a right back for Derde Divisie club Ajax Amateurs. Before moving to Slovakia where he featured for Slovan Bratislava and AS Trenčín, he played for Aj ...

and Richairo Zivkovic. On 9 August 2015, De Sa made his official debut for the club in a match in the Eredivisie against Vitesse which ended in a 1–1 draw. He was in the starting lineup and was replaced by

Justin Mathieu Justin Mathieu (born 12 April 1996) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a attacking midfielder or winger for Bahraini Premier League club Al-Riffa. Career Willem II Born in Goirle, Mathieu began his football career at amateur club ...

ten minutes before the final whistle. In a

match against the amateurs of DOVO, he scored his first official goal for the ''Tricolores''. De Sa was responsible for the 3–0 final score just before time. He finished the season in sixteenth place with Willem II in the Eredivisie, after which the club forced survival in the league through the 2016 play-offs.

Slovan Bratislava

In May 2016, De Sa signed a four-year contract with Slovakian club Slovan Bratislava who incorporated him transfer-free after Ajax did not renew his contract. De Sa started the new season with Bratislava in a team with fellow countrymen

, Lorenzo Burnet,

Mitchell Schet Mitchell Schet (born 28 January 1988) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a right winger. Club career Schet signed with Feyenoord in 2005, from the youth academy of Utrecht. He played at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru, where the Netherlands re ...

and

Joeri de Kamps Joeri de Kamps (born 10 February 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Greek Super League club Volos. Club career Ajax De Kamps was born in Amsterdam, where he joined the youth ranks of his local neig ...

, among others. On 28 June 2016, De Sa made his official debut for Slovan. On that day, they played a match in the first qualifying round of 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 ...

against

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's home ground is the newly built sta ...

, which finished in a 0–0 draw.

Oss, Eskilstuna and Tsarsko Selo

De Sa was sent on loan to

on 31 August 2017 for a season. He suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his knee in December 2017, which meant that he saw limited playing time in the second half of his stint in Oss. After his loan period ended, De Sa returned to Slovan Bratislava, where he was allowed to leave on a free transfer. After being without a club for a year and a half, he joined the Swedish club

in February 2020, competing in the second-tier

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

. In February 2021, De Sa moved to Bulgarian club Tsarsko Selo Sofia, after maintaining his fitness levels by practicing with

SC Telstar Sportclub Telstar () is a Dutch professional football club based in the town of Velsen-Zuid, North Holland. The team competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in t ...

Retirement

In February 2023, De Sa returned to Ajax, joining their amateur team in the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede D ...

. He retired from professional football at the conclusion of the 2022–23 season.

International career

De Sa is of Angolan descent. On 27 November 2007, he made his international debut for the Netherlands at youth level playing for the Netherlands U-15 squad in a friendly match against Slovakia U-15. He scored his first international goal for Netherlands U15 two days later in another friendly match against Slovakia U-15 on 29 November 2007. That season De Sa went on two appear in three more friendly fixtures for Netherlands U-15. One against Belgium U-15, and two matches against Switzerland U-15. On 28 October 2008, he made his debut for the Netherlands U-16 in the 10th edition of the Tournoi de Val-de-Marne '08 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, against Italy U-16. After his second appearance, a 1–0 away victory over the host nation France U-16, he then scored his first goal for the under-16 team in a match against Uruguay U-16 in the same tournament. He later appeared in two more friendly matches for Netherlands U-16 against both Ukraine U-16 and Ireland U-16. De Sa made his debut for the Netherlands U-17 on 22 September 2009 in a friendly match against France U-17. He played a significant role for the under-17 teams

2010 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship The 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the ninth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship, held in Liechtenstein from 18 to 30 May 2010. The hosts decided not to field a team, fearing it would not be competitive enough ...

campaign, making a total of six appearances, while also competing in the

La Manga Cup La Manga Cup is a winter football tournament played in La Manga Club, La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia, Spain). Usual participants are clubs from countries with a summer football season: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Ukraine Ukr ...

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

, Spain, where he scored his first goal against Denmark U-17 in the 2–1 loss. On 27 November 2010, he made his debut for the under-18 team against Romania U-18, making two further appearances for the Netherlands U-18 that season. On 19 May 2011, he debuted for the Netherlands U-19 in a

2011 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the tenth edition of UEFA's UEFA European Under-19 Championship, European Under-19 Championship since it was renamed from the original under-18 event, in 2001. The tournament took place in Romania fr ...

qualification match against Israel U-19, making a total of six appearances in the Dutch U-19 qualifying campaign, also appearing in three friendly matches for the under-19 team that season.

Coaching career

After retiring from football in 2023, De Sa joined Ajax's under-14 team as an assistant coach under

Career statistics

Club

¹ Includes

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and

matches. ² Includes

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national football ...

and Play-off matches.

References

External links

Voetbal International profile
*
Netherlands U21 stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Sa, Lesley de 1993 births 21st-century Dutch sportsmen AFC Ajax (amateurs) players AFC Ajax non-playing staff AFC Ajax players AFC Eskilstuna players Derde Divisie players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Dutch football coaches Dutch men's footballers Dutch people of Angolan descent Eerste Divisie players Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Eredivisie players FC Tsarsko Selo Sofia players Footballers from Utrecht (province) Go Ahead Eagles players Jong Ajax players Living people Men's association football midfielders Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers People from Mijdrecht ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Slovak First Football League players Superettan players SV Argon players TOP Oss players Willem II Tilburg players