Gaël Andonian ( hy, Կաէլ Անտոնեան; born 7 February 1995) 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 a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

club EUGA Ardziv in Marseille. He began his career with hometown club

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, making one substitute appearance in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

and playing mostly for the reserves. Born in France, Andonian represented France at under-16 level in 2011. In 2015, he debuted at senior level for

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, his ancestral country.

Club career

Born in

, Andonian is a youth exponent from hometown club

. He was first called into a matchday squad for their 1–0 win away at Nancy on 16 September 2012, remaining an unused substitute. His only other call-up that season was on 6 December, again unused as Marseille lost 3–0 away to

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintain ...

in the

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 ...

, both teams already eliminated. He made his professional debut in a 2–1

home win against

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

on 2 November 2014, replacing

Florian Thauvin Florian Tristan Mariano Thauvin (born 26 January 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. He made his professional debut for Grenoble in 2011, moving on to Bastia where he won the Ligue 2 t ...

for the last 10 minutes. On 21 October 2015, having taken no part in Marseille's season, Andonian was loaned to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

club

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

for the remainder of the season. He made six appearances in Ligue 2 as the team from

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

won promotion, scoring his first professional goal as a last-minute equaliser in a 2–2 draw at

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; oc, Niòrt; la, Novioritum) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the u ...

on 8 January 2016, and contributing to the

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

that was their other strike in the game. Additionally, Andonian made two appearances in the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

, and two appearances in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

. On 27 January 2017, Andonian was loaned to

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

club

Veria Veria ( el, Βέροια or Βέρροια), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of I ...

for the remainder of the season. He made 10 appearances for Veria, and was sent off on 12 March in a 1–0 loss at

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platania ...

. In September 2018 following his release from Marseille, Andonian had a spell on trial at

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 ...

side

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, and played an under-23 match against

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 ...

. Manager Jack Ross did not sign him due to wage issues, as the club were involved in protracted situations regarding

Papy Djilobodji El Hadji Papy Mison Djilobodji (born 1 December 1988) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays for Turkish club Gaziantep F.K. and the Senegal national team. He is capable of playing at centre back and defensive midfield. After beginni ...

and Didier Ndong. On 18 July 2019, Andonian signed a one-year contract with

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

of Ligue 2. He was an unused substitute eight days later in a 2–2 home draw against

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

. Hampered by a shoulder injury, he took no part in the rest of the season and his contract was terminated at its midway point. Andonian signed for

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A dir ...

of the

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

on 1 February 2020. That September, he signed for

Aubagne Aubagne (, ''Aubanha'' in Occitan language, Occitan according to the classic norm or ''Aubagno'' according to the Mistralian norm) is a Commune in France, commune in the southern French Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône. In ...

of the same league.

International career

In 2011, Andonian played two friendlies for France under-16, both goalless draws against Slovenia on 5 and 7 April. On 26 February 2015, the president of the Armenian Football Federation

Ruben Hayrapetyan Ruben Rafiki Hayrapetyan ( hy, Ռուբեն Ռաֆիկի Հայրապետյան, born 9 March 1963 in Yerevan, Armenia), also known by his nickname Nemets Rubo (''Rubo The German''), is an Armenian football official, a former member of the Armenia ...

announced that Andonian would arrive in the Armenian capital

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

on 21 March to receive Armenian citizenship and officially join the

Armenia national football team The Armenia national football team ( hy, Հայաստանի ֆուտբոլի ազգային հավաքական, ''Hayastani futboli azgayin havak'akan'') represents Armenia in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of ...

. Eight days later he received his first international cap, playing the full 90 minutes against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in a 2–1 defeat at the

Elbasan Arena Elbasan Arena ( sq, Elbasan Arena, formerly known as Ruzhdi Bizhuta) is a multi-purpose stadium in Elbasan, Albania. The stadium was completed in 1967 and has been the home ground of KF Elbasani ever since. The stadium was under reconstruction a ...

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andonian, Gael 1995 births Living people Armenian men's footballers Armenia men's international footballers French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Footballers from Marseille Men's association football defenders Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Super League Greece players Olympique de Marseille players Dijon FCO players Veria F.C. players AC Ajaccio players FC Martigues players French expatriate men's footballers Armenian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Greece Armenian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Aubagne FC players