Anthony David Junior Elanga (born 27 April 2002) is a Swedish 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 le ...

who plays as a winger for club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and the Sweden national team. Elanga joined the Manchester United youth system aged 12 and won the

Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year Manchester United Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Manchester United F.C., Manchester United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. They play in the Premier League 2, the highest tier of the Professional Development Leag ...

award in 2020. He made his senior debut for the club in a Premier League game against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in May 2021. He represented Sweden at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels, before making his senior national team debut in 2022.

Biography

Elanga was born in Sweden; his father is the former Cameroon international footballer Joseph Elanga. He was born in the

Hyllie Hyllie () is an area and former city district ( sv, stadsdel) in the central of Malmö Municipality, Sweden. On 1 July 2013, it was merged with Limhamn-Bunkeflo, forming Väster. In 2012, Hyllie had a population of 32,998 of the municipality's ...

ward of

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

(now part of Väster), when his father was playing for Malmö FF.

Club career

Manchester United

Youth

After playing for

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

and

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

in Sweden, Elanga's family moved to England and settled in Manchester. Elanga briefly played for local club Hattersley, and was scouted by both

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

before joining United at the age of 12. Elanga made his debut for the Manchester United under-18s at the age of 15 in a 2–1 away defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in April 2018. He signed as an academy scholar at Manchester United in July 2018, and scored four goals in 22 appearances in his first full season playing for the Under-18s. The following season, Elanga played twice for the Under-21s in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

, both as a substitute. He finished the COVID-shortened season as the Under-18s' top scorer in the league with 7 goals in 9 appearances, and won the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award. He played four times for the club's under-21 side in the

2020–21 EFL Trophy The 2020–21 EFL Trophy, known as the Leasing.com Trophy before 28 October 2020 and later the Papa John's Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 38th season in the history of the competition, a knock-out tournament for English football clubs in ...

, scoring twice.

2020–21 season

Elanga made his first-team debut for United in a pre-season friendly against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

ahead of the

2020–21 Premier League The 2020–21 Premier League was the 29th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992 and the 122nd season of top-flight English football overall. The season w ...

season; he came on as a substitute for

Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Manchester United and the England national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is known for his explosive ath ...

in the 75th minute of a 1–0 defeat. After signing a new long-term contract with the club in March 2021, Elanga was called up to the first team for the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

quarter-final matches against

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

in April 2021, but was an unused substitute in both legs, as well as in the second leg of the semi-final against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

on 6 May. He made his competitive debut for the club on 11 May in a Premier League match against

. Elanga was replaced by

in the 66th minute as United lost 2–1. Elanga started once again, away to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on the final day of the league season and scored his first senior Manchester United goal after just 13 minutes.

2021–22 season

Manchester United v Southampton, 12 February 2022 (26)

Elanga scored his second league goal for Manchester United on 19 January 2022 in a 3–1 away win against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, his first of the season. On 4 February that year, Elanga missed his team's last penalty in a 8–7 shootout against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

during their

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie, knocking Manchester United out of the Cup for the season. In the aftermath of the game, Elanga was subjected to racially abusive messages on social media. On 20 February, in a game against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

, Elanga was hit on the head by an object thrown at him by a spectator. Minutes before the end of the game Elanga scored his second league goal of the season. On 23 February, Elanga scored his first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

goal against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

in the Round of 16 first leg, the final score was 1–1.

International career

Elanga was eligible to play for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at international level. He has represented Sweden at under-17, under-19, under-21 and senior levels. Elanga played five times for the Sweden under-17 team and scored two goals, both against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football cham ...

. He played his first game for the Sweden under-21 team and scored one goal in a friendly against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on 3 June 2021. Elanga chose to represent Sweden at a senior level, citing being born and having spent the majority of his life there, as well as the country meaning a lot to him as the reasons behind his decision. He was named in the international squad of

Janne Andersson Jan Olof "Janne" Andersson (; born 29 September 1962) is a Swedish football coach who manages the Sweden national team. He is also a former player, with his playing career lasting 14 years between 1979 and 1993 playing for different Swedish cl ...

for the

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in March 2022, where he also made his debut as a late-game substitute. Elanga scored his first goal at senior international level on 5 June 2022 in a 1–2 loss against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in a 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B game.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Elanga goal.''

Honours

Manchester United *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

runner-up:

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 b ...

Individual *

: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the Manchester United F.C. website
Profile
at the Swedish Football Association website {{DEFAULTSORT:Elanga, Anthony 2002 births Living people Footballers from Malmö Swedish footballers Sweden youth international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Association football wingers Manchester United F.C. players Premier League players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish people of Cameroonian descent Swedish sportspeople of African descent