Roland Sallai (born 22 May 1997) is a Hungarian 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

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

and the Hungary national team.

Club career

Puskás Akadémia

Sallai started his professional career at Puskás Akadémia where he played from 2014 until the summer of 2017. He made his debut on 1 August 2014 against

Pécs Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the countr ...

, and scored first goal in Hungarian league against

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

on 14 September 2014 in

Groupama Aréna Groupama an abbreviation for Groupe des Assurances Mutuelles Agricoles ( en , Group of Mutual Agricultural Insurances) is a French insurance group headquartered in Paris with operations in 10 countries. It is listed in the 2007 ICA Global 300 ...

Palermo (loan)

On 4 August 2016, Sallai joined Italian club

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

on a seasonal loan, until the end of the 2016–17 season with a loan fee of €300,000. Sallai completed 84 minutes on his debut for

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

's club on 10 September 2016 against

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. He scored his first official goal for Palermo on 19 March 2017 against

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

. He appeared in 21 Serie A matches (eleven in the starting line-up, ten as a substitute) and scored one goal.

APOEL

On 29 August 2017, it was announced that

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

had secured his signature on a four year contract until the end of May 2021, for an undisclosed transfer fee from Puskás, rumored to be around €2 million. On 9 September, he made his debut and scored his first goal against

Nea Salamina Nea Salamis Famagusta or Nea Salamina Famagusta ( el, Νέα Σαλαμίνα Αμμοχώστου) is a Cypriot sports club based in Ammochostos (also known by its romanized name, Famagusta), Cyprus. The club is named after Salamis (or Salam ...

. He appeared in 29

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

matches and scored 9 goals. He also appeared in six

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

matches against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

SC Freiburg

On 31 August 2018, Sallai signed a four-year deal with

club,

for a fee reported to be €4.5 million. On 22 September 2018 he scored and won a penalty on his debut against

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's hea ...

Volkswagen Arena Volkswagen Arena (; also known as the VfL Wolfsburg Arena due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a football stadium in the German city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It was opened in 2002 and named after the automotive group Volkswagen AG. The V ...

on the 4th match day of the 2018–19 Bundesliga in a 3–1 victory, and he was named in the team of the week following his performance. From middle of November 2018 he had an adductor problems, and was unable to play for the next five months. He returned as a substitute on 5 May 2019 against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. Sallai started his third season at the Freiburg with a goal and a assist against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

in a 3–2 victory. He scored two goals against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

in 2–0 victory in

Veltins-Arena Arena AufSchalke (), currently known as Veltins-Arena () for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It opened on 13 August 2001, as the new home ground for Bundesliga club FC ...

and was named in the team of the 12th match day by sports magazine

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

. On 16 April 2022, he scored twice against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...

at the

Europa-Park Stadion The Europa-Park Stadion, also known as the Mooswaldstadion () by fans, is a football stadium in Freiburg, Germany. It primarily serves as the home stadium of SC Freiburg, replacing the club's former home, the Dreisamstadion. It is located in a p ...

on the 30th game week in the 2021–22 Bundesliga season. Both assist were prepared by Jeong Woo-yeong. He was also voted for the best player of Game Week 30 by Kicker.

International career

Sallai was part of the Hungarian U-20 team at the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

, playing in two games. He made his debut for U-21 team against Italy U21 on 12 August 2015. He made his full international debut on 20 May 2016 in a friendly match against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

at the

Groupama Arena Groupama an abbreviation for Groupe des Assurances Mutuelles Agricoles ( en , Group of Mutual Agricultural Insurances) is a French insurance group headquartered in Paris with operations in 10 countries. It is listed in the 2007 International Co ...

, Budapest, Hungary. On 5 May 2016, Sallai was named in Hungary's preliminary

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

squad, but was left off of final squad for the tournament. On 11 September 2018, he scored his first goal for the national team against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

at the

, Budapest, in a 2018–19 UEFA Nations League C match. On 1 June 2021, Sallai was included in the final 26-man squad to represent Hungary at the rescheduled

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament. On 14 June 2022, he scored a brace in a 4–0 away win over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A, to be England's worst home defeat since the

Wembley Wizards The Wembley Wizards is the nickname for the Scotland national football team that crushed England national football team, England 5–1 at Wembley Stadium (1923), Wembley in the 1928 British Home Championship. Background Scotland had failed to w ...

match in 1928. He scored the first goal in a 2–1 victory against Greece on 20 November 2022. The match was also the farewell of

Balázs Dzsudzsák Balázs Dzsudzsák (; born 23 December 1986) is a Hungarian professional footballer who plays for Nemzeti Bajnokság I club Debreceni VSC. Dzsudzsák began his career at his hometown club Debreceni VSC, winning consecutive league titles in e ...

Personal life

Sallai's uncle is former Hungarian national team defender Sándor Sallai.

Career statistics

Club

International

. :''Scores and results list Hungary's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sallai goal.''

Honours

* 2021–22 Bundesliga: player of week 30

References

External links

*
MLSZ

Roland Sallai profile at magyarfutball.hu
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sallai, Roland 1997 births Living people Footballers from Budapest Hungarian footballers Hungary youth international footballers Hungary under-21 international footballers Hungary international footballers Association football forwards Puskás Akadémia FC players Palermo F.C. players APOEL FC players SC Freiburg players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Serie A players Cypriot First Division players Bundesliga players UEFA Euro 2020 players Hungarian expatriate footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany