Yohannes Harish (born 19 April 1993) is an Eritrean 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

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, pl ...

club

Oakland Roots Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. The club was formed in 2018 by a group of Oakland natives, and began play in the National Independent Soccer Association in the fall of 2019. In 2021, ...

Career

Born in Eritrea, Harish moved to the United States and settled in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

at the age of 14. After arriving in the country, Harish joined Soccer Without Borders Oakland (SWB Oakland) where he learned English while attending

Oakland International High School Oakland International High School opened in August 2007 with the support of The Internationals Network for Public Schools, Oakland Unified School District, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The school targets a population of students, ne ...

. In 2013, Harish began attending

Holy Names University Holy Names University is a private Roman Catholic university in Oakland, California. It was founded by and remains affiliated with the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. It was founded in 1868 and plans to close in 2023. History The ...

and played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

with the Holy Names Hawks from 2014 through 2017. He played 61 games for the Hawks across four seasons, with 4 goals. He also captained the side for his junior and senior seasons. In 2018, Harish joined

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental association football, soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United Stat ...

side

San Francisco Glens San Francisco Glens Soccer Club, commonly known as SF Glens, is an American soccer club based in San Francisco that was founded in 1961. Their men's first team currently competes in USL League Two and women's first team in the USL W League, both ...

, playing in seven matches through the 2018 season. He made his debut for the club on 5 May against Santa Cruz Breakers, starting in the 1–0 defeat. Harish played again with the Glens for the 2019

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 syste ...

season where he was eventually named captain.

Oakland Roots

In July 2019, it was reported that Harish had joined

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season format with a ...

club

. He made his debut for the club on 28 September 2019 against San Diego 1904, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute in the 4–3 defeat. Following the club's move to the

, Harish was re-signed by Oakland Roots. In the club's opening match of the season on 8 May 2021 against Phoenix Rising, Harish came on as a 63rd-minute substitute in the 3–0 defeat.

Career statistics

Personal life

Harish's mother moved to the United States when he was five years old, with Harish not being reunited with her until 11 years later when he moved to

. Harish is also a volunteer coach with Soccer Without Borders Oakland. In matches, Harish wears the number 91 in honor of the year his birth country

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

earning independence in 1991.

References

External links

Profile
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harish, Yohannes 1993 births Living people Eritrean footballers Association football midfielders Oakland Roots SC players National Independent Soccer Association players USL Championship players Soccer players from California Eritrean expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States