Finn Isaac Azaz (born 7 September 2000) 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 le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

for club

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 ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team. Azaz was a product of the

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

academy and spent the 2020–21 season on loan at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

. He moved to

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 ...

in July 2021 and was immediately loaned out to Newport County for the 2021–22 season. He spent two loan spells with

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

before signing for

in January 2024. Born in England, Azaz made his senior debut for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

national side in March 2024.

Early and personal life

Born in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, Azaz is of mixed Irish and Israeli heritage. His family moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

when he was 15 months old. He attended Kings Heath Primary School and King Edwards School, where he achieved 9 A*s at GCSE, and 2 A-Levels in French and Business, which he completed as a scholar at West Bromwich Albion. He continued his studies in French and Spanish after his A levels, for his own personal development.

Club career

West Bromwich Albion

Azaz joined

at the age of 9. Azaz moved on loan to

in August 2020. He made his professional debut in September 2020 in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

1–0 win over Peterborough United, and his first professional goal came in the same competition in the same month in a second round 3–1 loss to Championship side Millwall.

Aston Villa

On 26 July 2021, Azaz joined

and was immediately loaned out to Newport County for the 2021–22 season. He made his Newport debut on 10 August 2021, in a 1–0 EFL Cup victory over

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, in which he provided an assist for the winning goal. Azaz scored his first goal for Newport on 24 September 2021 in the 2–1 League Two defeat to Barrow. Azaz was awarded the

EFL Young Player of the Month The EFL Young Player of the Month is an award for young players in all three divisions of the English Football League. To be eligible players must be under-21 or turn 21 during the current season. It was first awarded in December 2009. Victor Mose ...

award for January 2022 after three assists as his side picked up thirteen points from six matches. At the 2022 EFL Awards, Azaz was awarded the League Two Young Player of the Season award as well as being named in the League Two Team of the Season with teammate Dom Telford. On 11 July 2022, Azaz signed a contract extension with Aston Villa, and joined

on a season-long loan. Azaz made his first appearance for Plymouth on 30 July 2022, scoring a debut goal in 1–0 victory over

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. On 25 October, Azaz suffered a "serious" ankle injury during a 2–1 victory over Shrewsbury Town which was expected to keep him sidelined for over two months. Azaz made his return to the Plymouth starting line-up on 21 January 2023 - with two assists in a 4–2 league victory over Cheltenham Town. On 2 August 2023, Azaz signed another contract extension with Aston Villa and re-joined Plymouth Argyle on another season-long loan. The loan was terminated in January 2024 after Azaz was recalled by Villa.

Middlesbrough

On 5 January 2024, Azaz signed for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Azaz was called up the Republic of Ireland under-21 side for the first time in September 2022. He made his under-21 debut on 27 September 2022, in a 0–0 draw against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in a UEFA Under-21 Championship qualification play off that Ireland lost in a penalty shootout. His first call up to the senior Republic of Ireland squad came in March 2024, ahead of their friendly games against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He made his senior debut for the country on 26 March 2024, coming off the bench in a 1–0 defeat against

at the Aviva Stadium.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Cheltenham Town *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

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 ...

Plymouth Argyle *

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

2022–23 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 ...

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 ...

runner-up:

Individual *

January 2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

*EFL League Two Young Player of the Season: 2021–22 *EFL League Two Team of the Season: 2021–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azaz, Finn 2000 births Living people Footballers from the City of Westminster People from Westminster Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers English men's footballers Irish people of Israeli descent English people of Israeli descent English people of Irish descent West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Men's association football midfielders English Football League players