Djai Essed

Djai Essed (born 25 April 1998) is a St. Maartener footballer who plays for the Sint Maarten national team.

Youth career In 2009, Essed played in the School Division of the St. Maarten Soccer Educational Foundation (SMSEF) for Sister Magda '98. That year, the team defeated the Caribbean International Academy to win the top division championship. That season, Essed was the top division's top scorer with 11 goals. Essed played for MPC Stars FC of the SMSEF youth league while attending Milton Peters College. In 2011, he attended training in the Netherlands organized by AFC Ajax while in 2014 he took part in a training camp on Sint Maarten held by the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. For his performances at the Red Bull camp, he was awarded the event's Excellence Award.

In 2016, Essed took part in the 2016 West Virginia Tri-State Elite College Combine in hopes of securing a spot to play college soccer in the United States. During the season, he scored three goals in fourteen matches. After one season with the team, Essed transferred to Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado. Despite being announced as a transfer student, he never appeared on the team's roster. By 2018 he was no longer playing college soccer in the United States and had begun studying in Amsterdam. During this time he also worked as a youth coach at Dutch club WV-HEDW.

Club career Essed played for RISC Takers FC of the SMSA Senior League until 2014.

International career Essed first represented Sint Maarten in the 2013 CONCACAF Under-15 Championship held in the Cayman Islands. It was at that tournament that his primary position became centre-back. He started the match and played the full 90 minutes. The match was Sint Maarten's first senior international in 12 years and was played in preparation for each side's 2017 Caribbean Cup qualification campaigns which were set to begin the following week. He played in both of Sint Maarten's Caribbean Cup qualifiers, Sint Maarten's first competitive matches in 19 years.

In 2016, he was also called up to be part of Sint Maarten's U20 squad The team suffered three defeats in the opening round of the tournament and were eliminated. Essed served as captain of the team for the tournament.

International career statistics

International goals Scores and results list Sint Maarten's goal tally first. No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition1. 23 February 2019 Raoul Illidge Sports Complex, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten 1–0 1–1 Friendly