Montrealer Noah Eisenberg plays professional soccer in Gibraltar. He hopes one day to have the chance to play for CF Montreal. Is your interest piqued? Wait until you read more.
He left Quebec at 19 with a scholarship in his pocket to play soccer at Birmingham-Southern College, Alabama.
After a year, Eisenberg had “the most uneasy conversation of [sa] life ”with his coach in Birmingham, when he told her he was giving up his scholarship to try his luck in Europe.
“I spent three months in Belgium,” said the Montrealer who joined Marbella, Spain. Among the Belgians, he made a test with Waasland-Beveren, former club of a certain Rudy Camacho. “It was the best coaching I’ve had and the best level I’ve played. ”
“Then I went to Northern Ireland, where I signed my first contract. ”
He got on with Deriaguy, a semi-pro team in the Irish Fourth Division, before signing in the third division with Lurgan Celtic. But the team declares bankruptcy. “Really bad luck,” he recalls.
“I didn’t have any money at that point. A friend put me in touch with a second division team in Wales called Llangefni Town. ”
It was in 2019. Eisenberg was 21 years old. After the first training, the team tells him that they want him to sign a contract. But the transfer window must close imminently. “I had 10 days to sign my contract, find where I wanted to live, get a visa. I did not have the time. ”
” I was really sad. I returned to Canada at that time. ”
He continued to train and eventually got on with the Dakota Fusion, a semi-pro team in the US Fourth Division, associated with Minnesota United FC, in MLS.
We are in 2020. You can imagine the rest.
“The season has been canceled due to COVID-19. ”
Upon his return to Canada, Noah Eisenberg hires an agent. “My agent called the Wales team back. […] In July 2020, I signed with Llangefni Town. ”
How to describe the level?
“Wales is a war. When you jump for a 50-50 duel in the air, be ready to fight for your life. They are crazy over there. This is the biggest difference I have seen between Quebec and Europe. ”
“When you do a drill in training in Wales, the technical level is less good than in Belgium. It is not the most beautiful football. But the intensity, it was crazy. ”
But who says 2020 says bad news.
“The season was canceled, but I was there for two months and we had a few friendlies. ”
After several postponements, then the cancellation again for the 2021 season, he resigns himself to seeking new horizons with his agent. The possibility of being loaned to a first division team, whose season was not canceled, emerges. But now Brexit is closing this door.
“Brexit and COVID, the two together, it hasn’t helped. The rules were very strict. They asked me which visa I was on and I didn’t have the correct one. The visa to play in the United Kingdom, for a person who does not have the passport, that does not exist. ”
“I was very angry. I loved Wales, I loved the style, I loved my team. I had the option of going to play in the first division. It would have changed my career. They play in the Champions League and the Europa League. ”
In Montreal, Noah Eisenberg, who has an Israeli passport, discusses the possibility of going to Israel with his agent. “Mid-July 2021, I receive a text. He tells me it’s closed, Israel. ”
“At this point, I wanted to kill someone,” he says, half laughing, half exasperated. I train every day, I wait. And the doors close one after the other. For five, six days, I didn’t want to train anymore. ”
This is when Gibraltar’s offer falls from the sky. The president of the Europa Point FC club contacted him to tell him that he would have a contract for the season. “It just worked,” he recalls, with a sigh of relief.
But was he only relieved to be able to play, or was Gibraltar’s challenge really interested in him?
“I tell everyone that the Premier League can be the smallest country, but you have to be a good player to be able to play there. ”
Under the sun, at the foot of the rock
A real way of the cross, therefore, to end in this tiny state in the south of Spain. Eisenberg is also located on the north side of the border.
“I live in Marbella. It’s beautiful, it’s crazy. I am very happy. ”
“We train more in Spain than in Gibraltar. The apartment is cheaper. When [mon propriétaire] offered me to live in Marbella, I didn’t hesitate. Yes, I drive 45 minutes to go to training, but for me it’s 10 times better. ”
And the salary, what does it look like?
“My apartment and my car are paid, and they give me some pocket money. But it’s not really a salary. If you add it all up, it’s about $ 15,000 a year. ”
“But I play in the first division. The goal is to be taken by a bigger team. Once there, you’re on a salary. ”
In Gibraltar, all clubs play in one place: Victoria Stadium, at the foot of the rock. The top teams in the standings compete in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League qualifiers the following year. This season, The Lincoln Red Imps play the group stage of this latest competition, which is in its first season of existence.
The Montreal dream
Noah Eisenberg does not hide it: he wants “100%” to play for CF Montreal.
“In my life, if I played in front of my family, my friends, my dreams would come true. ”
But the 23-year-old believes he had better get his education across the Atlantic before considering North America.
“It’s better to play in Europe, make a name for myself there, and then come back. […] It is difficult at 26, 27 years old to return to Europe. In North America it’s okay because there are a lot of college players. They are 25, 26 years old. I’m only 23, I have time. ”
However, there is no question of looking up on an occasion in the Canadian Premier League, for example. “If the offer is good, if I have an option, I’m not going to say no. I’m open. ”
Until then, God knows where soccer is going to take it.