Yaikel Pérez Rousseaux (born February 17, 1985) is a Cuban

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 most recently played for

MASL The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

side Harrisburg Heat. He was terminated midseason for fighting

Career

Club

Perez played youth soccer for his local club, Ciudad Habana, and was part of the

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

national team which qualified for the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious ...

. Along with several of his teammates he

defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

to the United States during the final qualifying phase, and eventually signed for

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

expansion team Miami FC in 2006. After being released by Miami Perez briefly played for

Laredo Heat Laredo Heat is an American soccer team based in Laredo, Texas, United States. Founded in 2004, the team plays in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They were members of the USL Premier Devel ...

in the

USL Premier Development League 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 syste ...

before moving to Puerto Rico, where he played for

Atlético de San Juan Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

and Sevilla FC Puerto Rico in the new

Puerto Rico Soccer League The Puerto Rico Soccer League or PRSL is an association football league in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto ...

from 2007 to 2009, making 48 appearances and scoring 16 goals for Sevilla, and helping them to the league title in 2008. On March 9, 2010, Crystal Palace Baltimore announced the signing of Perez to a contract for the 2010 season. Perez played 17 games and scored 1 goal for Baltimore before the team ceased operations at the end of the season. He transferred to

River Plate Puerto Rico A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in the

USL Professional Division 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, pl ...

in 2011, but played just three games before the team was removed from USL Pro due to financial difficulties. He moved to

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

in June, and made his debut for his new team on June 1 in a 1–1 tie with the NSC Minnesota Stars. In January 2017, Pérez joined

side Harrisburg Heat.Harrisburg Heat Sign Yaikel Perez
- Harrisburg Heat

Career statistics

:''(correct as of 15 August 2010)''

References

External links

Official MySpace
1985 births Living people Footballers from Havana Defecting Cuban footballers Men's association football forwards Cuban men's footballers Cuba men's international footballers 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Fort Lauderdale Strikers (2006–2016) players Laredo Heat players Atlético de San Juan FC players Sevilla FC Puerto Rico players Crystal Palace Baltimore players Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico players Puerto Rico Islanders players Alianza F.C. footballers C.D. Águila footballers Fort Lauderdale Strikers players SHB Da Nang FC players Harrisburg Heat (MASL) players Cuban expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Puerto Rico Expatriate men's footballers in El Salvador Expatriate men's footballers in Vietnam Cuban expatriate sportspeople in the United States Cuban expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico Cuban expatriate sportspeople in El Salvador USSF Division 2 Professional League players USL First Division players USL League Two players USL Championship players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Major Arena Soccer League players {{Cuba-footy-bio-stub