Kenny Saief

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 31)
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	28	(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 December 17, 2024

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

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

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

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

As of match played December 15, 2024^[17]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		League cup[b]		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	Belgian Pro League	20	2	4	1	—		—		24	3
	2015–16	Belgian Pro League	28	4	1	0	—		8[c]	0	37	4
	2016–17	Belgian First Division A	31	7	3	0	—		13[d]	1	47	8
	2017–18	Belgian First Division A	3	0	2	0	—		0	0	5	0
	Total		82	13	10	1	—		21	1	113	15
Anderlecht (loan)	2017–18	Belgian First Division A	17	1	—		—		—		17	1
Anderlecht	2018–19	Belgian First Division A	12	0	0	0	—		5[d]	0	17	0
	2020–21	Belgian First Division A	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	—		—		11	1
	2020–21	Ekstraklasa	22	0	1	0	—		—		23	0
	Total		33	1	1	0	—		0	0	34	1
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	—		4[e]	2	41	6
	2023–24	Azerbaijan Premier League	14	1	0	0	—		4[e]	1	18	2
	Total		46	5	5	0	—		8	3	59	8
Maccabi Haifa	2023–24	Israeli Premier League	20	0	3	0	1	0	3[e]	0	27	0
	2024–25	Israeli Premier League	8	0	0	0	1	0	1[e]	0	10	0
	Total		28	0	3	0	2	0	4	0	37	0
Career total			296	34	23	2	3	0	38	4	360	40

1. Includes Israeli State Cup, Belgian Cup, Polish Cup, Azerbaijan Cup
2. Includes Toto Cup
3. One appearance in the Belgian Super Cup and seven in the UEFA Champions League
4. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
5. Appearance(s) in UEFA Conference League

Honors

Gent

• Belgian Pro League: 2014–15
• Belgian Super Cup: 2015

See also

• List of Israeli Druze

References

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.

External links

• Kenny Saief – Israel Football Association league player details
• Kenny Saief at Soccerway