Nicky Cleșcenco (born 23 July 2001) is a

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 lea ...

who plays as a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Moldovan Super Liga The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldova became independent ...

club

Zimbru Chișinău Zimbru is the Romanian word for the European bison. Zimbru may also refer to: * FC Zimbru Chișinău, a football club from Moldova * FC Zimbru-2 Chișinău, the second team of the club mentioned above * Zimbru Stadium, the official stadium of the ...

. Born in Ireland, he plays for the Moldova national team.

Club career

Cleșcenco played for

Dacia Buiucani Fotbal Club Dacia Buiucani, commonly known as Dacia Buiucani is a Moldovan football club from the Buiucani sector of Chișinău. The club competes in the Liga, the top tier of Moldovan football. The academy of the club is called CSCT Buiucani. C ...

in his youth, before moving to Portugal in 2014 to play for the academies of

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

and

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Está ...

. During the 2019–20 season, he made six senior appearances for União de Leiria in the Campeonato de Portugal. In February 2021, he joined the reserve team of Swiss club Sion, playing in the

Promotion League The Promotion League, named the Hoval Promotion League for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Swiss football league system. Eighteen clubs compete in the league, playing each other twice over course of the season. The champions are prom ...

. On 17 February 2025 he signed for

International career

Cleșcenco made his international debut for

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

on 3 June 2021, coming on as a substitute in the 87th minute for

Dan Spătaru Dan George Spătaru (; 2 October 1939, Aliman, Constanța County – 8 September 2004, Bucharest) was a Romanian singer, the songs "Drumurile" ("The roads", 1984), "Să cântăm, chitara mea!" ("Let's sing, my guitar", 1970), and "Măicuță, î ...

in a friendly match against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The match in

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

finished as a 2–0 loss.

Personal life

Cleșcenco was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland, and is the son of former footballer and manager Serghei Cleșcenco, the manager of the Moldova national team.

Career statistics

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clescenco, Nicky 2001 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Moldovan men's footballers Moldova men's international footballers Moldova men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Irish people of Moldovan descent Men's association football wingers U.D. Leiria players FC Sion players FC Petrocub Hîncești players FC Zimbru Chișinău players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Swiss Promotion League players Moldovan Super Liga players Moldovan expatriate men's footballers Moldovan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Moldovan expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland 21st-century Irish sportsmen