Jelani Akil Smith (born January 1, 1991) is former

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 serves as team manager of

Forge FC Forge FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadian soccer. The club plays its home matches at Tim Hortons Field. Forge FC joined the CPL in 2019 as ...

. Born in Canada, he represented

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

at international level.

Club career

Smith began playing football at the youth level with the Ontario U-16 Provincial team, and at the National Training Center. In 2007, he became one of the youngest players to play in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

with the Canadian Lions. The following season he was transferred to the

Italia Shooters York Region Shooters is a Canadian soccer team, that plays in the Canadian Soccer League. The Shooters played their home games at the St. Joan of Arc Turf Field in the City of Vaughan, Ontario. The team's colours were blue and white, mirroring t ...

, where he clinched the International Division title. In 2009, he pursued

College soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

by enrolling with

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (also FGCU) refer to the fifteen intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Florida Gulf Coast University, located in Fort Myers, Florida in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross ...

, and during the off season he played in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

with the

Toronto Lynx Toronto Lynx was a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1997, the team last played in the 2014 season of the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Great Lakes ...

for two seasons. In 2013, he went abroad to sign with

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

, where he mostly featured in the

Regionalliga Mitte The Austrian Regional League Central (german: Regionalliga Mitte) is a third-tier division of Austrian football, established in the 1994–95 season. It covers the Austrian states of Carinthia (with East Tyrol), Styria and Upper Austria and is on ...

. In 2016, he played in the

Niedersachsenliga The Oberliga Niedersachsen ( en, Upper League Lower Saxony), sometimes referred to as ''Niedersachsenliga'' (Lower Saxony league), is the fifth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state of Lower Saxony (ge ...

with SSV Jeddeloh, and returned to Canada to play with

Sigma FC Sigma Sports is a Canadian youth soccer development academy and player management company based in Mississauga, Ontario. They also operate a senior academy soccer team that currently competes in League1 Ontario, as Sigma FC. Over 140 Sigma player ...

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's 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 in the Canadian so ...

International career

On May 25, 2010, he was called to a Canada U-20 camp in Netherlands by head coach Valerio Gazzola. Smith made his international debut for the

Guyana national football team The Guyana national football team, nicknamed the ''Golden Jaguars'', represents Guyana in international football and is controlled by the Guyana Football Federation. It is one of three South American nations to be a member of the Caribbean Foot ...

on November 14, 2017 in a friendly match against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

Managerial career

Initially brought on as a player for

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

side

, Smith was instead signed as the club's team manager.

Personal

He is the younger brother of Jamaal Smith, who was also a soccer player for Guyana.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jelani 1991 births Living people Association football defenders Canadian soccer players Guyanese footballers Soccer players from Mississauga Canadian sportspeople of Guyanese descent Black Canadian soccer players Florida Gulf Coast Eagles men's soccer players Brampton United players York Region Shooters players Toronto Lynx players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players USL League Two players Austrian Regionalliga players Oberliga (football) players League1 Ontario players Guyana international footballers Forge FC non-playing staff Sigma FC players Canadian expatriate soccer players Guyanese expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Austria Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Germany Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany