Abdulkadir Abdi "Siad" Haji (born 1 December 1999) is a Somali 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 ...

who plays as a winger for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

club

FC Tulsa FC Tulsa is an American professional soccer team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma which competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. History The club was founded as Tulsa Roughnecks FC by Jeff and Dale Hubbard, bro ...

. Born a Somali refugee in Kenya and a former United States youth international, he plays for the Somalia national team.

Early life

Haji was born in a Kenyan refugee camp, his parents having fled Somalia. In 2004, they moved to

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

. Haji settled in a refugee community near downtown

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Ha ...

, played youth soccer for the New Hampshire Classics, and was offered a spot on the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

youth academy's under-16 team. However, the distance and financial logistics made it difficult for him to accept a spot in the academy. He would continue to play for the Classics through high school.

Career

Youth and college

Upon graduating, Haji did not have the eligibility to play in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

, so he played for

New England College New England College (NEC) is a private liberal arts college in Henniker, New Hampshire. As of Fall 2020 New England College's enrollment was 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate). The college is regionally accredited by the N ...

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...

during his first year. With the Pilgrims, he scored nine times in fourteen appearances. Between Haji's first and second years, he transferred from New England College to

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

where he was a starting midfielder for the

VCU Rams men's soccer The VCU Rams men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of Virginia Commonwealth University, an NCAA Division I member school located in the state's capital of Richmond. The team is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Sinc ...

team, and earned the Atlantic 10 Midfielder of the Year award in 2018.

Professional

Haji played two seasons in

USL League Two 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 syst ...

(then known as the ''Premier Development League'') with the

Portland Timbers U23s Capital FC is an American soccer team based in Salem, Oregon, United States. Although founded in 2008 as part of the development system for the Portland Timbers USSF D2 organization, beginning in 2011 they were part of the development system f ...

. He made 21 appearances over the two seasons, scoring five goals. On 3 January 2019, he signed a

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U. ...

contract with Major League Soccer and was eligible for the 2019 MLS SuperDraft. Haji, by many mock drafts, was considered a top five draft pick, and some cases, the first overall draft pick. He was ultimately drafted second overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by the San Jose Earthquakes, the highest ever drafted alumnus from VCU. Ahead of the

2019 USL Championship season The 2019 USL Championship season is the ninth season of the USL Championship and third under Division II sanctioning. This is the first season in which the league is operating under the name "USL Championship," having used the name "United Socce ...

, Haji went on loan to Reno 1868. He made his professional debut and his Reno debut on 16 March 2019, in a 2–1 win against Austin Bold, subbing on at halftime for Gilbert Fuentes. Haji was released by San Jose following the 2022 season. On 19 January 2023, he signed a contract with

side

International

He played for various youth teams for the United States. In 2020, he was called up by the Somalia national team ahead of their first games at home in Mogadishu. In March 2022, he was called up to the Somalia national team. Haji debuted with Somalia in a 3–0 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification loss to Eswatini on 23 March 2022.

References

External links

Siad Haji
at VCU * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haji, Siad 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Manchester, New Hampshire Soccer players from New Hampshire Somalian men's footballers Somalia men's international footballers American men's soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players American people of Somali descent Men's association football midfielders Somalian emigrants to the United States Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players New England College alumni New England College Pilgrims Capital FC players Reno 1868 FC players San Jose Earthquakes draft picks San Jose Earthquakes players Somalian refugees USL Championship players USL League Two players VCU Rams men's soccer players FC Tulsa players The Town FC players