The forward is the first from his country to sign a pro contract in Europe
- Raphael Lea’i has signed a short-term deal with FK Velez Mostar
- The forward is attached to the Bosnia and Herzegovina club until May 2024
- 19-year-old Lea’i has scored five goals in seven games for the Solomon Islands
Hailing from the miniature Pacific archipelago of Solomon Islands, forward Raphael Lea’i has become the first from his country to sign a professional contract in Europe. 19-year-old Lea’i has penned a deal with Bosnia and Herzegovina club FK Velez Mostar until the end of the 2023-24 season, with the option to extend it by another 12 months. One of Oceania’s brightest prospects, Raphael Lea’i underwent a successful trial with the Herzegovinian team in early January 2023 – which included a fruitful friendly appearance – thereby crossing the threshold he and his peers have been attempting to traverse since football’s nascent years on the islands.
“Football club Velez Mostar informs all its members, fans and friends of the club that Raphael Ohanua Lea’i Jr and officially became a new player of our Club,” confirmed a statement from FK Velez Mostar, released on January 29, 2023. “In the presence of the director of the Velez Football Club Sanjin Alagic, on Friday in the official premises of the Club, and after a successful trial in which he met the criteria of Velez’s professional staff, a contract was signed that will bind this nineteen-year-old player from the Solomon Islands to the [club] until May 31, 2024, with the possibility of extending the contract for another year.” Born and raised in Honiara, Solomon Islands’ largest city and capital, Raphael Lea’i first burst into the limelight for his performances in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Men’s Futsal Tournament and the 2018 OFC U-16 Football Championship. Like many of his compatriots, the forward had developed proficiency in both disciplines from a young age, with transferable skills such as close control, dribbling, and shooting from tight spaces helping him stand out on grass and in court. In that revolutionary 12-month period – groundbreaking for both the player and the country – the youngster unleashed his talents onto the world, finishing as the second-highest scorer in the Youth Olympics and the highest scorer in the OFC Youth Championship. Raphael Lea’i’s skills didn’t go unnoticed. He attracted suitors from the nearby Australia and the distant Argentina, but administrative issues prevented him from participating in trials that could eventually lead to a professional deal. Instead, the teenager continued to hone his skills back home in the Solomon Islands while playing for local clubs Kossa, Marist, and Henderson Eels.
The Honiara native spent four years with Henderson Eels, punctuated by trials or the rumours of them in faraway lands. However, the lure of rewriting the annals of Solomon Islands’ history did not distract him from performing his club duties; in the near-half-decade Lea’i spent with the Eels, he scored a staggering 91 goals in 44 matches, including 24 in seven in his debut season. He carried his ruthless goal-scoring streak to the national teams, scoring 14 in 12 for the Solomon Islands youth team and five in seven for the senior, the latter ongoing at the time of writing.
In early 2023, Raphael Lea’i embarked on another trial with the historic Herzegovinian outfit FK Velez Mostar. The month-long audition saw the Solomon Islander train with the team in a camp in Turkey and later appear in a friendly match against Croatia’s NK Neretvanac Opuzen, during which he scored and assisted in a thumping 7-0 win. Velez offered Lea’i a professional contract in the aftermath of the result, which he penned to create history.
Akshat Mehrish
FIFA PRESS STATEMENT
