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Kenny Saief

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Kenny Saief
Saief with the United States in 2017
Personal information
Full name Kenneth Hasan Saief
Date of birth (1993-12-17) December 17, 1993 (age 30)
Place of birth Panama City, Florida, U.S.[1]
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.76 m)[2]
Position(s) Left midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Maccabi Haifa
Number 15
Youth career
2005–2006 Maccabi Haifa
2006–2008 Hapoel Haifa
2008 Maccabi Netanya
2008–2010 Beitar Nes Tubruk
2010–2011 TSV 1860 München
2011 Bnei Sakhnin
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2011 Bnei Sakhnin 6 (1)
2011–2012 Hapoel Haifa 3 (0)
2012–2013 Ironi Kiryat Shmona 2 (0)
2013–2014 Hapoel Ramat HaSharon 28 (9)
2014–2018 Gent 81 (13)
2018 → Anderlecht (loan) 17 (1)
2018–2022 Anderlecht 12 (0)
2019 → FC Cincinnati (loan) 9 (1)
2020–2021 → Lechia Gdańsk (loan) 33 (1)
2021–2022 → Ashdod (loan) 30 (4)
2022–2023 Neftçi 46 (5)
2023– Maccabi Haifa 14 (0)
International career‡
2008–2009 Israel U16 9 (1)
2011 Israel U18 8 (0)
2011 Israel U19 2 (2)
2013–2015 Israel U21 2 (0)
2016 Israel 2 (0)
2017–2018 United States 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of April 15, 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of November 15, 2018

Kenneth Hasan "Kenny" Saief (Arabic: كينيث حسن "كيني" سيف, Hebrew: קנת' חסן "קני" סייף; born (1993-12-17)December 17, 1993) is an American-Israeli[3] professional soccer player who plays as a left midfielder for Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Haifa. He played for Israel internationally at both youth and senior levels, before switching allegiance.

Early life

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Saief was born in Panama City, Florida, U.S., to Druze-Israeli parents; the family returned to Israel when he was three.[4]

Club career

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Saief began his professional career with Bnei Sakhnin in 2011, before he was transferred to Hapoel Haifa one season later. The next year, he moved to Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona and reached the final of the Israel State Cup. Saief made only two appearances however, which resulted in a transfer to Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon. There he gained more playing opportunities.

Saief attracted the attention of Belgian Pro League team K.A.A. Gent, who signed him for a three-year deal on August 8, 2014.[5] Saief's first season at the club saw him with the Belgian Pro League title. After four seasons at Gent, Saief officially signed to Anderlecht in May 2018.

On March 6, 2019, Saief was loaned to FC Cincinnati of Major League Soccer. On March 24, 2019, Saief scored his first MLS goal against the New England Revolution.[6] On June 11, 2019, Saief's loan was terminated due to injury complications.[7]

On February 12, 2020, he was loaned to Polish Ekstraklasa's Lechia Gdańsk until the end of 2019–20 season.

On 1 July 2022, Saief signed a two-year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League club Neftçi.[8] On 14 December 2023, Saief left Neftçi.[9]

On 19 December 2023 signed for Maccabi Haifa.[10]

International career

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Saief has represented the Israel national team at various youth levels. He reportedly stated that he expected to play for the United States national team,[11] although he was called up to the Israel national team and made his debut in a friendly 2–1 loss to Croatia.[12]

On June 3, 2017, Saief was called up by the United States as part of their 40-man preliminary roster for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[13] As part of his callup, Saief filed a one-time switch with FIFA, tying him permanently to the US program.[14]

On June 22, 2017, U.S. Soccer confirmed that Saief had been approved by FIFA for a change of association.[15]

He was chosen to make his first start for the United States against Paraguay on March 27, 2018.[16]

Career statistics

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As of match played December 15, 2023[17]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Bnei Sakhnin 2010–11 Israeli Premier League 6 0 0 0 0 0 – 6 0
Hapoel Haifa 2012–13 Israeli Premier League 3 0 0 0 1 0 – 4 0
Ironi Kiryat Shmona 2012–13 Israeli Premier League 2 0 0 0 – 0 0 2 0
Ramat HaSharon 2013–14 Israeli Premier League 28 9 3 1 0 0 – 31 10
Gent 2014–15 Pro League 20 2 4 1 – – 24 3
2015–16 28 4 1 0 – 8[a] 0 37 4
2016–17 First Division A 31 7 3 0 – 13[b] 1 47 8
2017–18 3 0 2 0 – 0 0 5 0
Total 82 13 10 1 – 21 1 113 15
Anderlecht (loan) 2017–18 First Division A 17 1 – – – 17 1
Anderlecht 2018–19 12 0 0 0 – 5 0 17 0
2020–21 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 0 0
Total 29 1 0 0 – 5 0 34 1
FC Cincinnati (loan) 2019 Major League Soccer 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
Lechia Gdańsk (loan) 2019–20 Ekstraklasa 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 1
2020–21 22 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 23 0
Total 33 1 1 0 – 0 0 34 1
F.C. Ashdod (loan) 2021–22 Israeli Premier League 30 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 31 4
Neftçi 2022–23 Azerbaijan Premier League 32 4 5 0 0 0 4 2 41 6
2023–24 14 1 0 0 0 0 4 1 18 2
Total 46 5 5 0 – 8 3 59 8
Career total 248 32 19 2 1 0 34 4 304 37
  1. ^ One appearance in the Belgian Super Cup and seven in the UEFA Champions League
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League

Honors

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Gent

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Kenny Saief was born in Panama City Florida" (in Dutch). August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  2. ^ "Kenny Saief Football Statistics - WhoScored.com". www.whoscored.com.
  3. ^ "Kenny Saief", MLS Soccer.
  4. ^ "Five Things to Know About U.S. MNT Midfielder Kenny Saief". www.ussoccer.com. May 10, 2016.
  5. ^ "Kenny Saief signs 3-season deal" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on August 9, 2014. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  6. ^ "Kenny Saief Joins Orange And Blue From RSC Anderlecht". FCCincinnati.com. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  7. ^ Stejskal, Sam. "FC Cincinnati to terminate Kenny Saief loan weeks early". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  8. ^ ""Neftçi"dən növbəti transfer". neftchi.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Neftçi PFK. July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  9. ^ ""Neftçi" PFK-nın məlumatı". neftchi.az (in Azerbaijani). Neftçi PFK. December 14, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  10. ^ Weiss, Shlomo (December 19, 2023). "קני סייף חתם לשנתיים במכבי חיפה: "זה היה החלום של אבא ז"ל"" [Kenny Seif signed for two years at Maccabi Haifa: "It was the dream of my late father"] (in Hebrew). Walla. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  11. ^ Tomlich, Ryan (December 10, 2015). "Gent midfielder Saief says it's 'matter of time' before USMNT call-up". SBI Soccer.
  12. ^ "CROATIA VS. ISRAEL 2 – 0". Soccer Way. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  13. ^ "USA Submits 40-Player Preliminary Roster for 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup =3 June 2017". ussoccer.com.
  14. ^ "FIFA APPROVES CHANGE OF ASSOCIATION REQUEST FOR MIDFIELDER KENNY SAIEF". US Soccer. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  15. ^ "Kenny Saief seals national team switch from Israel to United States". ESPN FC. June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  16. ^ "Delgado makes US debut in exhibition vs Paraguay". USA TODAY.
  17. ^ "K. Saief". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
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