Emilio Estevez Tsai (Chinese: 蔡立靖 ''Tsai Li-ching''; born 10 August 1998) is a 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 ...

who currently plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Hong Kong Football Association. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inaugural seaso ...

club

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

. Born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Estevez represents Chinese Taipei internationally.

Early life

Estevez began playing youth soccer with the Etobicoke Energy before switching to Clarkson SC in Mississauga as well as playing

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

. In 2016, when he was 18, he spent a year training with the lower teams of

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

club Levante. He then spent a week on trial with

Queen's Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football, football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home ...

before returning to Canada. In 2017, he attended

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west- Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

, making seven appearances and scoring one goal for the Bruins.

Club career

Early career

In 2018, Estevez played for

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's association football, soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league ...

side

North Mississauga SC North Mississauga Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Mississauga, Ontario. The club was founded in 1982 as a youth soccer club and added its men's semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2016. The team plays ho ...

, making eight appearances in league play. He also played in the Canadian Soccer League with

SC Waterloo Region SC Waterloo Region is a professional Canadian soccer team that plays in the Canadian Soccer League, a non-FIFA-sanctioned league. The club was formed in 2011 under the name KW United FC and competed in the Second Division of the CSL. The following ...

York9

In October 2018, Estevez participated in the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league compe ...

Open Trials in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, where he was highly rated by scouts. On 8 February 2019, Estevez signed with CPL side York9. On 4 May 2019, he made his professional debut as a starter in a match against

Cavalry FC Cavalry Football Club, is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches a ...

and assisted York's lone goal in a 2–1 loss. Estevez scored his first goal for York on 27 July against HFX Wanderers, netting the final goal in a 6–2 victory. On 10 December 2019, it was announced that Estevez had re-signed for the upcoming season.

ADO Den Haag

On 12 May 2020, York9 announced the sale of Estevez to Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club ADO Den Haag for an initial fee in the range of $100,000 CAD, plus add-ons and a sell on clause. He agreed to a one-year contract with the club, with an option to extend for a further year. Estevez became the first player to move from the Canadian Premier League to a top-flight club in Europe, and was to be the first ever Taiwanese player to ply his trade in the Dutch Eredivisie, and the third overall to play in a top European League. He made his first appearance in a pre-season friendly against

Almere City FC Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, and hosts home matches at the Yanmar Stadion. The club builds on former c ...

on 8 August, playing the second half. Initially joining the first team, he was moved to begin the season with the U21 side. On 29 January 2021, he and the club agreed to terminate his contract by mutual consent, after he appeared in only two substitute appearances for the U21 side.

Ourense CF

In 2021, he joined

Ourense CF Ourense CF is a Galician football club from the city of Ourense. It was founded in 1977 as Ponte Ourense Club de Fútbol, and changed its name in 2014, after the dissolution of CD Ourense, and currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Grou ...

, playing in the Spanish fourth tier

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...

. After departing Spain, he returned to Canada and trained (but did not sign) with his former club

York United FC York United Football Club (formerly known as York9 FC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at York University's York Lions Stadium. Histor ...

(who had since changed their name from York9 FC).

Eastern

In the summer of 2022, he trained with

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

side Guangxi Pingguo. In October 2022, Estevez signed a contract with

club

. He made his debut on 16 October against

Resources Capital FC Resources Capital Football Club () is a Hong Kong professional football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. It was known as Tai Chung Football Club for the first 34 years of its existence before rebranding in 2016. Th ...

. He scored his first goal on 23 October in a 3-1

Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only the teams in the Hong Kong ...

match, also against

. He scored his first league goal in a match against

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

on 29 October 2022.

International career

Born in

to a Spanish father and a Taiwanese

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

mother, Estevez was eligible to represent

, Chinese Taipei or

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

internationally. In 2018, Estevez was invited to train with the Chinese Taipei national team. In February 2019, shortly after signing for York9, Estevez received another call-up from Chinese Taipei for a friendly against the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

, but did not appear in the match due to injury. He made his debut as a starter in their loss to Australia during

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tourn ...

on 15 October 2019.

Personal life

Despite the similarity in name to actor

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen. Emilio Estevez started his career as an actor and is known for being a member of the acting Br ...

, he was actually named after former Real Madrid player

Emilio Butragueño Emilio Butragueño Santos (; born 22 July 1963) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker. He was best known for his spell with Real Madrid. Nicknamed ''El Buitre'' (The Vulture), he was a member of the '' La Quinta del Buitre'' ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

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Emilio Estevez Tsai
at La Preferente {{DEFAULTSORT:Estevez, Emilio 1998 births Living people Association football midfielders Soccer players from Toronto People with acquired Taiwanese citizenship Taiwanese footballers Canadian soccer players Taiwanese people of Spanish descent Canadian people of Spanish descent Canadian people of Taiwanese descent Taiwanese expatriate footballers Canadian expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Taiwanese expatriates in the Netherlands Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Sheridan College alumni North Mississauga SC players SC Waterloo Region players York United FC players ADO Den Haag players CD Ourense footballers Eastern Sports Club footballers League1 Ontario players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Canadian Premier League players Eredivisie players Tercera División players Hong Kong Premier League players Chinese Taipei international footballers