Sainey Nyassi (born January 31, 1989) is a Gambian 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

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 ...

Club career

Sainey Nyassi began his career in the Gambia, playing in the

GFA League First Division The GFA League First Division is the highest division of football in The Gambia. The league began play in 1965. 2021—22 season clubs Previous champions *1965–66 : Augustinians (Bathurst) *1966–67 : Augustinians (Bathurst) *1967–68 ...

for Gambia Ports Authority. Nyassi was scouted by

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 compet ...

head coach

Steve Nicol ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

while playing in the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score ...

, and signed with the Revolution shortly thereafter along with his Gambian teammate, Kenny Mansally. He made his MLS debut on September 9, 2007 against D.C. United as a substitute, playing the final eight minutes on the right wing. He made his first start and scored his first MLS goal on March 29, 2008 in the Revs' 3-0 opening day victory over Houston Dynamo. Nyassi was released by New England on May 16, 2013. On May 27, 2013, Nyassi signed with D.C. United. On June 9, 2014, Nyassi signed for Finnish Club

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club ...

. Nyassi signed with

FC Edmonton FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (2011–2017), North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 to ...

in February 2015. He spent three seasons in Edmonton. After the 2017 season, with the future of FC Edmonton and the NASL in doubt, Nyassi was released by the club.

International career

Nyassi has represented his nation at various youth levels. He played for the Gambian U-17 national team in the 2005 U-17 world championships, and for the U-20 national team in the 2007 U-20 FIFA Championships. He scored his first goal for the Senior national team on September 4, 2010 in the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification This page details the process of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification phase. Forty-six African nations, including hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, entered the competition. Gabon and Equatorial Guinea automatically qualified as host cou ...

match against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Gambia's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Sainey is the twin brother of fellow professional footballer

Sanna Nyassi Sanna Nyassi (born 31 January 1989) is a Gambian professional footballer who plays as a forward. He played for the Gambia national team from 2010 to 2015, making fourteen appearances. Club career Gambia Ports Authority Nyassi began his p ...

. Nyassi received his U.S green card on January 31, 2012, which qualified him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nyassi, Sainey 1989 births Living people Association football midfielders Gambian footballers The Gambia international footballers The Gambia youth international footballers New England Revolution players D.C. United players Rovaniemen Palloseura players FC Edmonton players Gambian twins Identical twins Gambian expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Finland Expatriate soccer players in Canada Major League Soccer players Veikkausliiga players North American Soccer League players Gambian expatriates in the United States Gambia Ports Authority FC players