Zander Mateo Cassierra Cabezas (born 13 April 1997) is a Colombian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Russian club

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Pr ...

and the Colombia national team.

Career

Deportivo Cali

Cassierra made his debut for

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful football t ...

in 2015. Despite having played at Deportivo Cali with a jersey displaying "Casierra", his official name is spelled "Cassierra" (with two s's).

Ajax

On 17 June 2016, Cassierra signed a five-year contract with Dutch club

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 ...

, lasting until 2021. The club paid Deportivo Cali €5.5 million to complete the transfer. Cassierra is the third Colombian player to play for Ajax after Daniel Cruz (2000–2003) and Davinson Sánchez. He scored a goal in his

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 ...

debut against Sparta Rotterdam in a 1–3 win. Cassierra spent the majority of the 2017–18 season playing for the reserves' team

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 ...

, in 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 finished as top scorer of the reserves team with 18 goals scored, helping his side to clinch their first championship since joining the professional ranks and competing in the second tier of Dutch football.

Groningen loan

On 2 June 2018,

announced its loan, for one season, to

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

. However, he returned after only half a season.

Racing loan

In January 2019, he joined

Racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

on loan until July 2020.

Sochi

On 26 August 2021, he signed a two-year contract with an additional one-year option with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

PFC Sochi Football Club Sochi (), is a Russian professional football club based in Sochi. The club is playing its home matches at the 47,000-capacity Fisht Stadium. History FC Sochi was founded on 4 July 2018 after the relocation of FC Dynamo Saint Pete ...

. Cassierra finished

2021–22 Russian Premier League The 2021–22 Russian Premier League (known as the Tinkoff Russian Premier League, also written as Tinkoff Russian Premier Liga for sponsorship reason) was the 30th season of the premier football competition in Russia since the dissolution of th ...

as the second-best goal scorer with 14 goals, behind Gamid Agalarov who scored 19, as Sochi finished in 2nd place, club's historical best position.

Zenit St. Petersburg

On 30 June 2022, Zenit St. Petersburg announced the signing of Cassierra to a three-year contract, with the option of an additional year. After scoring only twice in the

2022–23 Russian Premier League The 2022–23 Russian Premier League (known as the Mir Russian Premier League, also written as Mir Russian Premier Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 31st season of the premier football competition in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet ...

, Cassiera started the 2023–24 season with 6 goals in the first 6 games, taking the top spot in the scoring race. He went into the winter break of the season in December with 14 goals, 6 goals ahead of the second-highest scorers. On 2 February 2024, Cassiera extended his contract with Zenit to June 2027. On 19 May 2024, Cassiera scored 5 goals in a 5–1 victory over

Akhmat Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat (; ), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, and formerly as Terek Grozny from 1958 to 2017, is a Russian professional football club based in Grozny that plays in the Russian Premier League. History The club was foun ...

. He became the first player to score 5 goals in a game since

was formed in 2002, and the third overall player to do so in the history of the Russian top-tier championship (following Viktor Panchenko in 1994 and Oleg Veretennikov in 1998). He finished the season as league's top scorer with 21 goals as Zenit came back on the last match day to claim their sixth consecutive title.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Ajax *

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 ...

runner-up: 2016–17 Jong Ajax *

: 2017–18 Racing Club * Primera División: 2018–19 Zenit Saint Petersburg *

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 ...

, 2023–24 * Russian Cup: 2023–24 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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 ...

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 ...

Individual

Forward of the Season: 2021–22 *

Top scorer: 2023–24 (21 goals).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassierra, Mateo 1997 births Living people People from Barbacoas, Nariño Men's association football forwards Colombian men's footballers Categoría Primera A players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Primeira Liga players Russian Premier League players Deportivo Cali footballers AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players FC Groningen players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers B-SAD players PFC Sochi players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players Colombia men's international footballers Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Footballers from Nariño Department 21st-century Colombian sportsmen