Esala Masi (born 9 March 1974) is a retired

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

an footballer, who played as a striker.

Club career

Masi began his football career at his hometown club Ba before he signed with

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

(NSL) club

Gippsland Falcons Falcons 2000 Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the regional Victorian city of Morwell. Founded in 1961 by the local Italian community, the club has participated in the Victorian state league system at multiple ...

in January 1996. The next year, Masi transferred to

Wollongong Wolves Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wat ...

and helped them win the 1999-2000 NSL title. He spent three seasons at Wollongong, gaining 77 appearances and 19 goals. After the NSL was disbanded in 2004, he played for several teams in Australia's state league and Malaysia. In 2006, Masi joined

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

side

Oakleigh Cannons FC Oakleigh Cannons Football Club is a soccer club based in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia. The club, established by members of Oakleigh's Greek Australian community, currently competes in the NPL Victoria. The cl ...

. In the 2007 season, he finished as the top scorer of the league, scoring 15 goals. In December 2008, Masi played against

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

in an exhibition match in New Zealand as part of an Oceania XI All-Star team. In December 2015, Masi was appointed the coach of

Mitchelton FC Mitchelton Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Everton Park, a suburb in Brisbane's inner-west, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1920, the club competes in the Football Queensland Premier League. Overview The club was founded ...

reserve team.

International career

Masi played international football for Fiji at Under-15,

Under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and Under-23 levels. He made his full international debut on 7 June 1997 in a 1–0 loss against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in qualification for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. However, his international career is not well documented. Therefore, his exact appearances and goals totals are unknown. According to an interview he gave to Queensland Soccer News, he appeared over 50 times for Fiji, and also won two

Melanesia Cup The MSG Prime Minister's Cup, formerly known as Melanesia Cup is an association football championship played between the Melanesian countries, it was used (along with the Polynesia Cup) for qualification to the Oceania Nations Cup. The original to ...

s. He was also captain for Fiji during the

2003 South Pacific Games The 2003 South Pacific Games were held in Suva, Fiji from 28 June to 12 July 2003. They are also known as the XII South Pacific Games. The Games were the 12th ''South Pacific Games'' to be held since the event's inception and were the 40th annive ...

. In the gold-medal match against

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, he scored Fiji's second goal from a 35-metre free-kick in a 2-0 victory. Fiji won the gold medal with Masi finishing as the tournament's top scorer with eleven goals.

International goals

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

Personal life

His uncle, the late Esala Masi Sr. was also a Fiji international football player in the 1960s; he died in 2010. His cousin, Manoa Masi has also played in Australia and the national team.

Honours

Wollongong Wolves *

: 1999–2000 Altona Magic *

: 2008 Mitchelton FC *

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2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Fiji *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently in 2019 in Apia, Samoa. The Games were ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Individual *

Golden Boot:

Golden Boot: 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masi, Esala 1974 births Living people People from Ba Province Fijian men's footballers Fiji men's international footballers Fijian expatriate men's footballers National Soccer League (Australia) players Navua F.C. players Wollongong Wolves FC players I-Taukei Fijian people Ba F.C. players Falcons 2000 SC players Sydney Olympic FC players Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. players Oakleigh Cannons FC players Frankston Pines FC players 1998 OFC Nations Cup players 2002 OFC Nations Cup players 2004 OFC Nations Cup players Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Fijian expatriate sportspeople in Australia