Surafel Dagnachew Mengistu (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: ሱራፌል ዳኛቸው; born 11 September 1997) is an Ethiopian 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

club

Loudoun United Loudoun United FC is an American professional soccer team based in Leesburg, Virginia. The team was founded in 2018 as the reserve team of D.C. United and made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. After ownership changes, it ceased being t ...

and the Ethiopia national team. Debuting for

Adama City Adama City Football Club (Oromo: ''Garee Kubbaa Miilaa Magaalaa Adaamaa''; Amharic: አዳማ ከተማ እግር ኳስ ክለብ) is an Ethiopian professional football club based in Adama, Oromia Region. The club was founded in 1991 and current ...

in 2016, Surafel would join Fasil Kenema two years later. Scoring 10 goals in 97 appearances, he became a key player for the club. During his tenure with ''The Emperors'', Surafel won one

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

title, one

Ethiopian Cup The Ethiopian Cup is the top knockout tournament of the Ethiopian football. It was created in 1945. Winners *1945 : British Military Mission-BMME (Addis Abeba) *1946 : Army (Addis Abeba) *1947 : Polisportiva (Addis Abeba) *1948 : Body Guard (Add ...

title, and one

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

title.

Club career

Adama City

2016–17: Debut season

On 21 January 2017, Surafel scored a double in a 2–1 over Arba Minch City.

Fasil Kenema

2018–19: Debut season and Player of the Year

On 5 August 2018, Surafel joined Fasil Kenema from Adama City. On 11 February 2019, Surafel scored a brace in a 3–0 win over Shire Endaselassie. Then, on 21 April, Surafel scored in a 4–0 victory against Defence Force. Surafel was awarded the

Ethiopian Football Federation The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ እግር ኳስ ፌዴሬሽን) is the governing body of Football (soccer), football in Ethiopia. It organizes all tiers of the national football league and the Ethiopia nation ...

Player of the Year award for the 2018–19 season.

2020–21: First league title

On 20 January 2021, Surafel missed several scoring opportunities in a 4–0 win over Adama City. Surafel then won the

2020–21 Ethiopian Premier League The 2020–21 Ethiopian Premier League was the 74th season of top-tier football in Ethiopia (22nd season as the Premier League). The season started on 12 December 2020. The first round of matches were held at Addis Abeba and Jimma Stadiums, while ...

with the club.

2022–23: Contract extension

On 10 March 2023, Surafel was accused of insulting the referee and received a fine of 3 thousand birr.

2023–24: Final season and departure

On 22 February 2024, Surafel confirmed on social media that he would be leaving Fasil Kenema at the end of the season.

Loudoun United

On 5 June 2024, Surafel joined

from Fasil Kenema with a two-year contract. On 18 March 2025, Surafel made his debut for the club in the first round of the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

against West Chester United, where he provided an assist for Riley Bidois in a 3–2 win.

International career

Surafel made his international debut with the Ethiopia national team in a 4–3

2020 African Nations Championship qualification The 2020 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2020 African Nations Championship. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic leagu ...

win against

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

on 4 August 2019. On 25 December 2021, Surafel was named to Ethiopia's 25 man squad for the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's ass ...

in Cameroon.

Career statistics

International goals

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

Honours

Fasil Kenema *

Ethiopian Premier League The Ethiopian Premier League (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ፕሪምየር ሊግ), known as the BetKing Ethiopian Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the top tier association football league of Ethiopia run by the Ethiopian Premier League ...

2020–21 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 ...

: 2019 *

Ethiopian Super Cup The Ethiopian Super Cup (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ አሸናፊዎች አሸናፊ ዋንጫ) is a match competition in Ethiopian football, played between the Ethiopian Premier League champions and the Ethiopian Cup winners. Finals *1985 : Bre ...

: 2019 Individual *

Player of the Year Award: 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dagnachew, Surafel Ethiopian men's footballers 21st-century Ethiopian sportsmen 1997 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Fasil Kenema S.C. players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Loudoun United FC players