Alex Saniel (born 8 November 1996) is a Vanuatuan

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 le ...

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) ** Sm ...

for New Zealander Club

Franklin United Franklin United is a football club based in Drury, New Zealand. They currently play in the NRFL Northern Conference. History The club were formed in 2016 after a merger between Pukekohe AFC and Waiuku. In 2021, Franklin finished 4th, just mis ...

and the Vanuatu national team.

Club career

Saniel started his career with the

Teouma Academy Teouma is a major archaeological site from Teouma Bay on the island of Éfaté in Vanuatu. The site contains the oldest known cemetery within the Pacific Islands, and has been important in the gathering of information relating to the Lapita pe ...

, the national academy of Vanuatu. After stints with Yatel and Spirit 08 he went to New Zealand to play with the Fencibles United. In the end of 2016 after the season with Fencibles he returned home, where he immediately joined Ifira Black Bird for the Super League. In 2017 he returned to the Fencibles with whom he won the 2017 Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 2. After that he joined

Shepherds United Shepherds United is an association football club from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Formed in the 1980s, it is a club affiliated to the Port Vila Football Association and currently plays in the league's First Division after being relegated from the Pr ...

in August 2017 to make a chance for the Vanuatu national football team. In 2019 he played for

Papatoetoe AFC Papatoetoe AFC is an amateur football club based in Papatoetoe, New Zealand. They currently compete in the NRF Championship, however, have enjoyed successful spells at the top of the New Zealand game, namely in the former National League, and ha ...

in Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Conference League. He also defended Fijian club

Lautoka Lautoka () is the second largest Local government in Fiji, city in Fiji. It is on the west coast of the island of Viti Levu, in the Ba Province of the Western Division, Fiji, Western Division. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane-growing r ...

in 2019 Pacific Cup. In November 2019, it was announced that Alex Saniel is going to play for

in 2020. In January 2020 he joined Fijian club Lautoka. In 2021 he moved to Suva.

National team

In 2017 Saniel was called up for the Vanuatu national football team. He made his debut on November 23, 2017, in a 1–0 loss against Estonia when he played the whole 90 minutes.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Vanuatu's goal tally first.''

References

Vanuatuan men's footballers Men's association football defenders Vanuatu men's international footballers Living people 1996 births Vanuatu men's youth international footballers Vanuatu men's under-20 international footballers Yatel F.C. players Spirit 08 F.C. players Shepherds United F.C. players 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup players {{Vanuatu-footy-bio-stub