Elif Elmas

Macedonian footballer (born 1999)

Elif Elmas
Елиф Елмас
Elmas playing for Napoli in 2021
Personal information
Full name Elif Elmas
Date of birth (1999-09-24) 24 September 1999 (age 24)
Place of birth Skopje, Macedonia
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Midfielder, winger
Team information
Current team
 RB Leipzig
Number 6
Youth career
2004–2013 FK Vardar
2013–2015 Rabotnički
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 Rabotnički 44 (7)
2017–2019 Fenerbahçe 34 (4)
2019–2024 Napoli 143 (14)
2024– RB Leipzig 11 (0)
International career‡
Macedonia U17 2 (0)
2015–2018 Macedonia U19 13 (2)
2016–2017 Macedonia U21 9 (1)
2017– North Macedonia 58 (12)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:53, 13 April 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:19, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Elif Elmas (Macedonian: Елиф Елмас; born 24 September 1999) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the North Macedonia national team. A versatile player, Elmas can be deployed as a central midfielder, right midfielder, winger or forward.

Club career

Early career

Elmas started his career at FK Rabotnički in his native Macedonia. After a stand-out season in which he scored six league goals and led Rabotnički to a third-place finish in the Macedonian First Football League in 2016–17, he joined Turkish giants Fenerbahçe on a deal until 2022, with Fenerbahçe paying the former €300,000 for his services.[1] The attacking midfielder went on to score four goals in over 40 appearances for the Yellow Canaries in all competitions before moving to Italy in July 2019.[1]

Napoli

On 24 July 2019, Serie A side S.S.C. Napoli announced the signing of Elmas from Fenerbahçe.[2] The deal was worth a reported €16 million, which could rise to €19 million in total with bonuses – including a €1.5 million sell-on fee clause.[1] He was disciplined by his new club after speaking to reporters while away on international duty in November 2019 for breaching a club media blackout.[3]

Elmas scored his first Napoli goal on 3 February 2020 to help the club to a 4–2 victory over Sampdoria, and secure their third win in a row in all competitions.[4]

On 19 December 2021, Elmas scored the winner for Napoli in a narrow away win against AC Milan, taking over second place in Serie A.[5]

Elmas went on to win the Scudetto with Napoli in 2023, the club's third title, and the first claimed outside of the Diego Maradona era.[6]

RB Leipzig

On 27 December 2023, Bundesliga club RB Leipzig announced that Elmas would join the club on 1 January 2024, upon the opening of the winter transfer window, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.[7] The transfer fee paid by the Germans was reported as €23 million by German sports magazine Kicker.[8]

International career

Elmas was born in Macedonia to a family of Turkish descent.[9][10][11] In July 2017 it was reported that the then coach of the Turkey national football team, Fatih Terim, had tried to call him up, but Elmas decided to represent his birth country.[12]

On 11 June 2017, at the age of 17, Elmas made his debut for the Macedonia national team in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Spain by coming in at halftime as a substitute for Ostoja Stjepanović.[13]

Elmas was also included in the Macedonia U21 squad for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland, and he was in fact the youngest one in the 23-player squad.[14]

On 31 March 2021, he scored the winning goal for North Macedonia in a 2–1 away win over Germany during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.[15]

On 14 November 2021, Elmas scored a brace in a 3–1 win against Iceland, and helped the team secure a runners-up spot in Group J, and a World Cup play-off.[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 13 April 2024.[17]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Rabotnički 2015–16 Macedonian First League 11 1 — – — 11 1
2016–17 33 6 0 0 2 1 — 35 7
Total 44 7 0 0 2 1 — 46 8
Fenerbahçe 2017–18 Süper Lig 5 0 2 0 — — 7 0
2018–19 29 4 2 0 9[b] 0 — 40 4
Total 34 4 4 0 9 0 — 47 4
Napoli 2019–20 Serie A 26 1 5 0 5[c] 0 — 36 1
2020–21 33 2 4 1 6[b] 0 1[d] 0 44 3
2021–22 37 3 1 0 8[b] 4 — 46 7
2022–23 36 6 1 0 10[c] 0 — 47 6
2023–24 11 2 0 0 5[c] 0 0 0 16 2
Total 143 14 11 1 34 4 1 0 189 19
RB Leipzig 2023–24 Bundesliga 11 0 — 2[c] 0 — 13 0
Career total 231 25 15 1 46 5 1 0 294 31
  1. ^ Includes Turkish Cup, Coppa Italia
  2. ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. ^ a b c d Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  4. ^ Appearance in Supercoppa Italiana

International

As of match played 25 March 2024.[18]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
North Macedonia[a]
2017 3 0
2018 5 0
2019 10 4
2020 4 0
2021 15 5
2022 9 0
2023 10 3
2024 2 0
Total 58 12
  1. ^ North Macedonia was known as Macedonia until 2019
As of match played 25 March 2024.
Scores and results list North Macedonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Elmas goal.[18]
List of international goals scored by Elif Elmas
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 21 March 2019 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia 9  Latvia 2–0 3–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
2 3–1
3 10 October 2019 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia 15  Slovenia 1–0 2–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
4 2–0
5 28 March 2021 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia 24  Liechtenstein 4–0 5–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
6 31 March 2021 MSV-Arena, Duisburg, Germany 25  Germany 2–1 2–1 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
7 1 June 2021 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia 26  Slovenia 1–0 1–1 Friendly
8 14 November 2021 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia 37  Iceland 2–1 3–1 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
9 3–1
10 23 March 2023 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia 47  Malta 1–0 2–1 UEFA Euro 2024 qualification
11 16 June 2023 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia 49  Ukraine 2–0 2–3 UEFA Euro 2024 qualification
12 12 September 2023 National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta 52  Malta 1–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualification

Honours

Rabotnički

Napoli

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b c "Fenerbahce Confirm €16m Eljif Elmas Transfer To Napoli, Fee Could Reach €19m – Financial Details Revealed". Turkish Football. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Napoli, ufficializzato l'acquisto di Elmas a titolo definitivo". S.S.C. Napoli (in Italian). 24 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Napoli ready to punish Elmas for speaking to the media". Goal. 16 November 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Demme and Elmas help resurgent Napoli beat Sampdoria". France24. 3 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Elmas grabs win for Napoli in Milan after VAR drama as Cádiz hold Real Madrid". The Guardian. 19 December 2021.
  6. ^ "Napoli seal first Italian football league title in 33 years". Al Jazeera English. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Eljif Elmas to join RB Leipzig in January 2024!". RB Leipzig. 27 December 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  8. ^ "Perfekt: Napolis Elmas wechselt zu RB Leipzig" [Perfect: Napoli's Elmas joins RB Leipzig]. kicker (in German). 27 December 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  9. ^ Sporx (17 July 2017). "Eljif Elmas kimdir? Eljif Elmas, Türkiye Milli Takımı'nda oynayabiliyor mu?". Sporx (in Turkish). Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Muriç ve Eljif neden Türk Milli Takımı'nı tercih etmedi?". fenerkolik.org (in Turkish). Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Şekip Mosturoğlu: Fatih Terim, Eljif Elmas'ı milli takıma çok istedi". Milliyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  12. ^ Sporx (17 July 2017). "Eljif Elmas kimdir? Eljif Elmas, Türkiye Milli Takımı'nda oynayabiliyor mu?".
  13. ^ FIFA.com. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Matches - FYR Macedonia-Spain". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Благоја Милевски ги избра седуммината од генерацијата 1996/97 за ЕП во Полска - ФФМ - Фудбалска Федерација на Македонија".
  15. ^ "Germany 1–2 North Macedonia". FIFA. 31 March 2021. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021.
  16. ^ "North Macedonia 3–1 Iceland". FIFA. 14 November 2021. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021.
  17. ^ "E. Elmas". Soccerway. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  18. ^ a b "Elif Elmas". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Napoli win Serie A for first time in 33 years". BBC Sport. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  20. ^ "Coppa: Napoli beat Juventus on penalties". Football Italia. 17 June 2020.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elif Elmas.
  • Profile at the RB Leipzig website
  • Profile at Macedonian Football (in English)
  • sport.de
  • Elif Elmas at Soccerway
  • Elif Elmas – UEFA competition record (archive) Edit this at Wikidata
  • v
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RB Leipzig – current squad
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North Macedonia squad – UEFA Euro 2020
North Macedonia
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Macedonian Footballer of the Year