Sunjoon Tenorio (born 20 May 2001) is a Northern Mariana Islander international

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 for Eleven Tiger and the Northern Mariana Islands national team.

College career

Tenorio began playing

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

in the United States for

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston, tenth-largest university ...

in 2019. In his first season, he scored ten goals in fifteen appearances. He was the team's highest scorer in addition to being named MVP and receiving several rookie honors. The following season he transferred to

Warner Pacific University Warner Pacific University is a Private university, private Christian university in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1937, the university is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on ...

and began playing for the Knights.

Club career

As a youth, Tenorio had played for the academy of MP United since at least 2011. That year the club had an undefeated season en route to winning the U12 division title. For the 2015 under-15 youth season, he scored the late game-winning goal off of a header for a 1–0 victory over Tan Holdings. MP United finished the season without a single loss thanks to the victory. Two years later, Tenorio scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

as MP United once again defeated Tan Holdings in the final to win the U17 championship. By 2017 Tenorio had joined Teen Ayuyu of the M-League Division 1. The club established itself as the top scoring team in the league early in the season and were the eventual runners-up. Tenorio continued to compete with MP United in the U17 Youth Division and was named NMSA/TSL Foundation Student Athlete of the Month for November. He also won the Golden Boot award for the youth division after scoring 19 goals throughout the season as MP United won the division crown in both the league and the FA Challenge Cup. In 2018 the player competed in the U18 division for MP United. He returned to the club's senior team in the first division in 2020 and 2021 during his college offseason.

International career

Tenorio represented the Northern Marianas Islands in

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

2016 AFC U-16 Championship The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship was the 17th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia. The tourna ...

. He scored a goal in NMI's final match, a 2–9 loss to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. He returned to the team in 2018 for the annual Marianas Cup. His two goals helped NMI take a late 4–3 lead over Guam. However, the team ultimately fell in the penalty shootout. The following year, he once again scored for NMI in the Marianas Cup but the team lost 2–6. Later that year he was part of the national side for

2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification The 2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification was an international men's under-19 football competition which was originally held to decide the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship. The AFC announced the cancellation of the final t ...

. He scored two goals in the team's opening match against

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. Tenorio went on to make his senior international debut on 2 September 2018 in a

2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship The 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship was the 8th edition of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, an international football tournament for East Asian countries and territories organized by the EAFF. The finals were held in South Korea in Decemb ...

match against

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

. Four days later he scored his first senior international goal, the game-tying strike in a 1–1 draw with

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list the Northern Mariana Islands' goal tally first.''

References

External links

Suffolk Rams profileWPU Knights profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tenorio, Sunjoon 2001 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Northern Mariana Islands men's footballers Northern Mariana Islands men's international footballers Soccer players from Boston People from Saipan Suffolk Rams 21st-century American sportsmen