Lesly Fellinga (born September 29, 1985) is a

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, who played at left defense position.

Playing career

Club

Fellinga was born in the Cité Soleil commune of

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, but adopted when he was a baby and grew up in

Zuidlaren Zuidlaren (Noordenvelds: ''Zuudlaoren'') is a village in the province of Drenthe in the Northern Netherlands. Zuidlaren has just over 10,000 inhabitants and is situated on natural heightened land which is called the Hondsrug. The village is part ...

in the Netherlands. He played youth soccer for local teams ZVZ and ZFC Zuidlaren. In 1996, he was scouted by

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

and started to play in the youth teams. In 2006, he joined Eerste Divisie club Veendam, and was a regular feature for the club in the 2007–2008 season. Eredivisie club Heerenveen picked him up in a summer 2008 transfer. He made his first team debut for Heerenveen on September 18, 2008 in a European match against Vitória in Portugal . He also played the return leg on October 2, 2008 in Heerenveen. On August 12, 2009, Fellinga signed with Toronto FC following a successful trial. Fellinga made his debut for Toronto as a sub in a home game against Colorado Rapids on September 12, 2009, and played four MLS games before being released in December of the same year, after

Preki Predrag Radosavljević ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Радосављевић; born June 24, 1963), better known by the nickname Preki (), is a Serbian-American former soccer player and coach. He is currently an assistant coach with Seattle Sounde ...

became head coach. He joined Groningen amateurclub Gronitas halfway season 2009–2010 and since start season 2010–2011 he played for Frisian amateurclub Harkemase Boys in the Topklasse League, the highest amateur league of the Netherlands, while simultaneously studying communication in Groningen. In 2012 he moved on to fellow amateurs Oranje Nassau.

International

Fellinga was selected for the Dutch U15, U17 and U19 national teams while playing with Groningen, and played for the Dutch national U15 team against Spain during the international Walker tournament in England in 2001, but was never called up by the senior Dutch national team. Sensing that opportunities with the Dutch national team would be limited, Fellinga accepted a call up to the Haiti national football team for a friendly against Panama in March 2007. He made his debut for the Haiti U21 selection in a game against the United States in Dallas, Texas, a few days later. After that he played four games with the Haitian Olympic team to qualify for the Olympic of Beijing 2008. His made his senior debut came in a World Cup qualifier against the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

in June 2008.Reportage over Lesly Fellinga
/ref> He played five games in the qualification for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, and was a member of the Haitian team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2009.

References

External links

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Fellinga: Let’s put Haiti on the map
(fifa.com) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fellinga, Lesly 1985 births Living people Footballers from Port-au-Prince People from Tynaarlo Dutch people of Haitian descent Men's association football fullbacks Dutch men's footballers Haitian men's footballers Haiti men's international footballers 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players FC Groningen players SC Veendam players SC Heerenveen players Toronto FC players Eerste Divisie players Major League Soccer players Footballers from Drenthe Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Canada Haitian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Haitian emigrants to the Netherlands Naturalised citizens of the Netherlands Dutch adoptees