Mikaël Gabriel "Miki" Cantave (born 25 October 1996) 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

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 boundarie ...

for

Vancouver FC Vancouver Football Club, commonly known as Vancouver FC, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club in Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier Le ...

. Born in Canada, he represents the Haiti national team.

Early life

Born in Ottawa, Cantave began playing soccer at age five with FC Capital United. At age 13, he moved to France joining the

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, a ...

academy, after a couple of trials over the previous two years, formed through a relationship between Capital United and Nantes. Afterwards he went to Nacional in France before joining

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

's U19.

Club career

In January 2016, he signed with Spanish club

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

in the third tier

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

. He made his debut on March 13 against La Roda. In August 2016, he left the club after making only three appearances for a total of 56 minutes. Later in 2016, he joined RSD Alcalá B, followed by playing for Albacete B, Lorca FC B, and

Deportivo Rayo Cantabria Deportivo Rayo Cantabria is a Spanish football team based in Santander, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1993 it last played in Tercera División – Group 3, holding home games at the Campo Municipal Mies de Cozada sports gr ...

. Later in 2018, he joined

CD Tropezón Club Deportivo Tropezón is a football team based in Tanos, Torrelavega in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1983, it plays in the Segunda División RFEF – Group 2. Its stadium is '' Santa Ana'' with a capacity of 1,500 seats. ...

. In 2019, he joined

CD Lealtad Club Deportivo Lealtad de Villaviciosa (English: Loyalty Sporting Club of Villaviciosa) is a Spanish football team based in Villaviciosa, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1916, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 2 ...

. He scored his first goal in a preseason friendly against

Sporting de Gijón B Real Sporting de Gijón B is a Spanish football club based in Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is loca ...

on July 31. He scored his first official goal on August 25, on a penalty kick, against Lenense. He scored a brace on January 12, 2020 against Lenense. In 2020, he joined

CD Olímpic de Xàtiva Club Deportivo Olímpic de Xàtiva is a Spanish football team based in Xàtiva, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1932 it currently plays in Regional Preferente, holding home games at Campo de Futbol La Murta. History Football in Xàtiv ...

. He scored his first goal on November 21 against UD Benigàmin. He departed the club at the end of 2020. In January 2021, he joined

CP Villarrobledo Club Polideportivo Villarrobledo is a Spanish football club based in Villarrobledo, Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1971 as a replacement for folded CD Villarrobledo, it currently plays in Segunda Divisi� ...

in the

. He scored his first goal for Villarrobledo on February 10 against

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

in the 94th minute to earn a 1-1 draw. In August 2021, he joined Romanian club

AFC Chindia Târgoviște Asociația Fotbal Club Chindia Târgoviște (), commonly known as Chindia Târgoviște or simply Chindia, is a Romanian professional football club based in Târgoviște, Dâmbovița County, which competes in the Liga I. In 2010, as a result of ...

in the top tier

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

. In July 2022, he returned to his native Canada and signed a multi-year deal with

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

Cavalry FC Cavalry Football Club, is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches at ...

. He made his debut for Cavalry on July 28 against

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 ...

. In the reverse fixture on August 12, Cantave scored his first goal, a late winner in a 2-1 victory over the Hammers at

ATCO Field ATCO Field is a soccer stadium at Spruce Meadows in Foothills County, Alberta, Canada. It is home to Cavalry FC of the Canadian Premier League. The venue (formerly known as Meadows on the Green) also serves as the home for several equestrian ev ...

. On June 29, 2023, he joined

in an inter-league swap for Maël Henry. On July 7, 2023, he scored his first goal for Vancouver, netting the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over the

HFX Wanderers HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer le ...

. In January 2024, he signed an extension through the 2025 season, with a club option for 2026.

International career

Born in Canada, Cantave's father is from Haiti and his mother is from

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

. Cantave played with Canada U17 at the

2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was a North American international association football tournament that determined the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup participants from the CONCACAF region. The 2013 edition of the competition was held in Panama. Qu ...

, where he won a bronze medal, and also at the

2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates between 17 October and 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, cla ...

. In 2018, he switched allegiance to Haiti. He made his international debut on 29 May 2018, in a friendly match against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He scored his first goal on November 17, 2018, in his official competitive debut, against

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualifying The qualifying phase of the 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League was a one-off tournament that took place from 6 September 2018 to 24 March 2019. The qualifying determined the seeding for the group phase of the inaugural tournament, as well as determ ...

. At the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in th ...

, he helped Haiti reach the semi-finals.

Personal life

His father is from

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 ...

, while his mother is from the French overseas department of

Career statistics

International stats

International goals

:''Haiti score listed first, score column indicates score after each Cantave goal.''

Honours

Club

CD Lealtad *

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

: 2019–20

National

Haiti *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

bronze:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cantave, Mikael 1996 births Living people Citizens of Haiti through descent Haitian people of French descent Canadian people of Haitian descent Canadian people of French descent Black Canadian men's soccer players Soccer players from Ottawa Haitian men's footballers Canadian men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Haitian expatriate men's footballers Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Haitian expatriate sportspeople in France Haitian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Canadian expatriate sportspeople in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Canada men's youth international soccer players Haiti men's international footballers 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players FC Nantes players USJA Carquefou players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Liga I players Canadian Premier League players Getafe CF footballers CD Guadalajara (Spain) footballers Atlético Albacete players Deportivo Rayo Cantabria players CD Tropezón players CD Lealtad players CD Olímpic de Xàtiva footballers CP Villarrobledo players AFC Chindia Târgoviște players Cavalry FC players Vancouver FC players