Recently, Guangzhou's main national youth captain Efirdin arrived in Jinan, and Shandong Taishan seems to be drooling over him, hoping to take him under their wing. The 19-year-old winger is growing at a rate comparable to Wei Shihao. Looking back at last year, Efirdin was crowned China's top scorer with three goals in the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Efirdin Eskal, a native of Kashgar Kashgar, born on September 15, 2003, with a height of 1.80 meters, is known as a flexible winger on the pitch. With his incredible speed and excellent ball control skills, he is good at breaking through the opponent's defense with his speed, like a razor blade straight into the heart of the opponent's penalty area. However, his passion on the pitch also often led to him receiving yellow cards for excessive action.
Influenced by his father, a former soccer player, Efirdin has loved soccer since childhood. When he was in the third grade of Kashgar Shamal Bagh Central Primary School, he joined the school's soccer team and began his soccer career.In 2014, at the age of 11, Efirdin left his hometown and joined Shaanxi Old City Roots Soccer Club.
Efirdin was selected for the U16 national youth team on June 21, 2017, and has since become a regular in China's national youth teams at all levels. This year, he traveled to Galatasaray in Turkey for a trial. In August of the same year, he traveled to Japan and joined the Shimizu Heartbeat U18 team, launching his career abroad.In April 2018, Efirdin joined the Kashima Antlers U18 team, which then beat Evergrande 1-0 in the Evergrande U17 International Champions Cup, and it was with that goal that Evergrande took a keen interest in him.
On October 1, 2020, Efirdin returned to China and joined the Evergrande Soccer Academy. During the 2020 season, he represented the U19 national team in the China B League, making eight appearances in eight matches and scoring three goals, including a successful breakthrough against Wuhan Sanzhen, who were still in China B at the time.
On April 17, 2021, Efirdin was loaned to Suzhou Dongwu for the Central League. In his debut, he played all 90 minutes and contributed 1 goal and 1 assist. A season later, he made 24 appearances, scoring 2 goals and assisting 7 times.
In the 2022 season, Efirdin played for Guangzhou in the Chinese Super League. In his CSL debut, he faced Shanghai Shenhua and the team lost 0-1. On November 16 of the same year, Efirdin scored for the first time in Guangzhou's first team in a 4-2 win over Sichuan Jiuniu of the Central League in the second round of the FA Cup. In his first Chinese Super League season, Efirdin made 25 appearances and 17 starts, contributing one goal and three assists. However, he received two red cards against Hebei, which exposed his fiery temper and resolute defense, which seemed to have shades of Wei Shihao.
In September 2022, Efirdin represented the U20 national team in the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers and served as captain. He scored two goals against Myanmar in the first round, helping China win 3-1. In the second round against Maldives, he contributed another goal and an assist to help China win 5-0. In the three matches, Efirdin scored three goals to help China rank second in Group 5 and was honored as the top scorer.
Efirdin recently traveled to Dubai with the U20 national youth team for a warm-up tournament and had an eye-catching performance. In five warm-up matches, the Chinese team scored four goals, with Efirdin contributing two of them, as well as helping his teammates to score and delivering a great pass from Mitula to create a free-kick from Byhramu.
