Kler Heh (born 21 October 1996) is a Thai-Burmese former 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 winger. Born in a refugee camp near the Myanmar border in

Tak Province Tak ( th, ตาก, , Burmese: တာ့ခ် pronounced ak is one of Thailand's seventy-seven provinces (''changwat'') and lies in lower northern Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, he came through the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

at Sheffield United before signing a professional contract. The 19-year-old Sheffield United winger was born and raised in a refugee camp for the

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

, a minority group facing oppression in Myanmar, before being resettled to Sheffield with his family under the British government's

Gateway Protection Programme The Gateway Protection Programme was a refugee resettlement scheme operated by the Government of the United Kingdom in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), offering a ...

in 2006.

Early life

Kler Heh was born in a refugee camp on the

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

border, to

parents from

. He was resettled in the UK with his family under the government's Gateway Protection Programme in 2006. In March 2015, he signed a professional contract to play for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Club career

After signing his first professional contract with the Blades in Summer 2015, he joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

side

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

on loan in January 2016. He made his senior debut as an 84th-minute substitute in a 1–0 victory over

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

. Heh joined Lithuanian

I Lyga The I Lyga, LFF I Lyga, Pirma Lyga, is the second tier of professional Lithuanian football championship. Format Organized by the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF), I Lyga is contested by 14-16 teams, with the top team gaining promotion to ...

club

DFK Dainava Alytus Dainavos Futbolo Klubas Dainava, in short, DFK Dainava, is a Lithuanian football club from Alytus. The club was established in 2016 as a phoenix club after FK Dainava Alytus was dissolved in 2014. History Modern DFK Dainava was established after ...

in March 2017 and became an important part of the team, before being signed by

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is Op ...

side

FK Jelgava FK Jelgava is a Latvian football (soccer), football club that is based in Jelgava. The club plays its home-matches at the Zemgales Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs stadium with capacity of 1,560 people. Early years Until 2004 two Jelgava football clubs ...

in the 2017 summer transfer window. In January 2018, he signed for FK Jonava.

International career

Kler Heh is eligible to represent

football team. In the summer of 2015 he announced that he would represent Myanmar internationally. The

Myanmar Football Federation The Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) ( my, မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ဘောလုံး အဖွဲ့ချုပ်) is the governing body of association football, football in Myanmar. The MFF oversees the Burmese Myanmar nat ...

has stated that it is interested in having him play for the national team but that it would be difficult due to Myanmar's strict laws forbidding dual citizenship, in effect meaning that Heh would have to renounce his Thai and British passports to play for the national team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heh, Kler 1996 births Living people Kler Heh Kler Heh English men's footballers Kler Heh Thai emigrants to the United Kingdom English people of Karen descent Men's association football wingers English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Sheffield United F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players FK Dainava Alytus players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Lithuania English people of Burmese descent