Justin Smith (born February 4, 2003) is a soccer player who plays as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

for Ligue 2 club

US Quevilly-Rouen Métropole Union Sportive Quevillaise-Rouen Métropole, known as US Quevilly-Rouen, US Quevilly, QRM, Quevilly-Rouen, or simply Quevilly, is a football club based in Le Petit-Quevilly in the Métropole Rouen Normandie, France. The club plays in Ligue 2 an ...

, on loan from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

. Born in France, he has represented Canada at youth international level.

Early life

Born in France to Canadian parents, Smith began playing soccer at age seven with Voisins FC. After his U14 season, he departed Voisins and joined the

Paris Saint-Germain Academy The Paris Saint-Germain Academy, commonly known as the PSG Academy, is the youth system of both Paris Saint-Germain (men's team) and Paris Saint-Germain Féminine (women's team). Established in 1970, the academy is managed by the Associa ...

, where he played until the U17 level. In 2019, he joined the

youth system. At the Tournoi National U17 de QRM, he helped Nice finish fourth, being named the second best player of the tournament.

Club career

In June 2021, he signed his first professional contract with

. After featuring extensively in their preseason, during the 2021–22 season, he played with Nice II in the fifth-tier Championnat National 3. On August 14, he was called up to the first team for the first time, for a match against

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, where he was an unused substitute. That season, he featured as a unused substitute for the first team in ten Ligue 1 matches and one

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 ...

match, but did not make an appearance. On July 1, 2022, he joined Ligue 2 side Quevilly-Rouen on loan for the season. He debuted for the second team in the Championnat National 3, scoring a goal in the team's first game of the season on August 28 against SU Dives-Cabourg. Smith made his first league appearance for the first team against

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 6,895 as of 2017, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Gui ...

on February 3, 2023.

International career

In April 2022, Smith accepted a call-up to a Canada U20 camp ahead of two friendlies against Costa Rica. In June 2022, he was named to the roster for the

2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2022 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship will be the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (28th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It will be hosted in Honduras, ...

. Smith served as team captain during the tournament, appearing in all four of the team's matches.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Justin 2003 births Living people Footballers from Paris Canadian soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players French footballers French people of Canadian descent Association football defenders Association football midfielders Championnat National 3 players OGC Nice players US Quevilly-Rouen Métropole players