Zikos Chua
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Vasileios Zikos Chua Ming Xun | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 15 April 2002 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Kastoria, Greece | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Tampines Rovers | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2017 | National Football Academy | ||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Geylang International | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2025 | Geylang International | 21 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | → Young Lions (loan) | 23 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Tampines Rovers | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Singapore U14 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Singapore U16 | 10 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | Singapore U19 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019– | Singapore U23 | 11 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17:14, 3 November 2019 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 17:14, 3 November 2019 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Vasileios Zikos Chua Ming Xun (born 15 April 2002) is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Singapore Premier League club Tampines Rovers.[1]
Chua holds the record of being the youngest player to score four goals in a single Singapore Premier League's match history at 20 years and 114 days.
Early life
[edit | edit source]Chua was born in Greece to a Greek mother and a Chinese Singaporean father and grew up in Kastoria, Macedonia, Greece,[2] with his younger brother, before returning to Singapore when he was 10.[3] He was a student at Tanjong Katong Secondary School when he made his first bow as a professional footballer.[1][4] Chua studied at Nanyang Junior College.[5]
Club career
[edit | edit source]Youth
[edit | edit source]Chua started his career with the National Football Academy before he was signed by former Geylang International head coach Mohd Noor Ali for the club's Under-19 side in 2017. He has also represented Singapore at various levels and was nominated for The New Paper Dollah Kassim Award in 2017.
While playing for the National Football Academy, Chua was also representing his school, Tanjong Katong Secondary School, in the National "C" Division, scoring 26 goals in 2016 to help his school win the title.[6] He was named in Goal Singapore's 2020 NxGn list following his sublime performances for Geylang International.[7]
Geylang International
[edit | edit source]On 4 July 2018, Chua came on as a late substitute in Geylang International's 3–1 win over Young Lions at Jalan Besar Stadium for his professional debut at the age of 16, Chua eclipsed the previous record set by Hariss Harun as the youngest ever debutant in the Singapore Premier League.[8][9] He was the youngest player to ever play in the country's top tier of soccer and is the third-youngest scorer in the history of Singapore's professional league.[10]
On 14 April 2019, Chua became the third youngest scorer in Singapore Premier League history, at 16 years and 364 days, after Hariss Harun and Fareez Farhan.[11] He would than scored a brace in a 2–1 win over Warriors FC on 23 June 2019. Chua kept his exploits by becoming the youngest player ever to reach the five-goal mark in league history, at 17 years and 102 days on 27 July 2019.[12] As of April 2020, Chua has scored 5 goals in 13 matches for the Eagles.[7] His talent would not go un-noticed as he was picked up by J.League side Matsumoto Yamaga on a training stint.[13]
However Chua would suffer an ACL injury in 2019, setting him back.[14]
Chua would returned to Geylang International on 14 January 2024 after he completed his National Services. On 14 June 2024, he scored a brace in a 6–2 win over Hougang United.
Young Lions (loan)
[edit | edit source]In January 2022, Chua joined Young Lions on loan while serving his compulsory National Services with the Singapore Armed Forces. He scored his first goal for the club on 19 March 2022 in a 4–3 lost against Balestier Khalsa. On 7 August 2022, Chua scored a poker in a 4–2 win over Tanjong Pagar United which was also his first career hat-trick. However on 24 August 2022, he suffered a Cruciate ligament injury which ruled him out for a year.
On 29 July 2023, Chua returned to action coming on as a substitution and scoring a goal in a 6–2 lost against Hougang United.
International career
[edit | edit source]Chua was born in Greece to a Greek mother and a Chinese Singaporean father which make him eligible to represent Greece or Singapore at international level.[5]
Youth
[edit | edit source]Chua was first called up to the Singapore U22 in 2019 for the 2019 Merlion Cup. He made his debut for the team on 7 June 2019, in a 3–0 win against Philippines U23.[15]
On 31 July 2019, Singapore U18 head coach Fadzuhasny Juraimi named Chua in the Singapore squad for 2019 AFF U18 Youth Championship.[16]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Chua younger brother, Christos Chua is also a professional footballer currently playing for Geylang International under-21 side while serving his National Services.
Career statistics
[edit | edit source]Club
[edit | edit source]- As of 14 June 2024[17]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Geylang International | 2018 | S.League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2019 | Singapore Premier League | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 11 | 5 | ||
| 2020 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5 | ||
| Young Lions | 2022 | Singapore Premier League | 19 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 8 |
| 2023 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Total | 23 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 9 | ||
| Geylang International | 2024–25 | Singapore Premier League | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 |
| Total | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | ||
| Career total | 52 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 15 | ||
International
[edit | edit source]U23 International caps
[edit | edit source]
U19 International caps
[edit | edit source]| No | Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 August 2019 | Thanh Long Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand | 1-1 (draw) | 2019 AFF U-18 Youth Championship |
U16 International caps
[edit | edit source]
U16 International goals
[edit | edit source]Honours
[edit | edit source]International
[edit | edit source]Singapore U22
References
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- ^ Zikos Chua at Soccerway. Retrieved 15 April 2019.Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 2002 births
- Living people
- Footballers from Kastoria
- Singaporean men's footballers
- Singapore men's youth international footballers
- Greek men's footballers
- Singaporean people of Chinese descent
- Sportspeople of Chinese descent
- Singaporean people of Greek descent
- Greek people of Singaporean descent
- Men's association football midfielders
- Singapore Premier League players
- Geylang International FC players
- Greek Macedonians
- Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games
- SEA Games competitors for Singapore
- Young Lions FC players
- 21st-century Singaporean sportsmen
- 21st-century Greek sportsmen