Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gadi Kinda has joined the Israel Men’s National Team for UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying during the FIFA window in September.
Venturing overseas for his first national team involvement since October 2021, Kinda is part of an Israel side that will visit Romania on Saturday before hosting Belarus on Tuesday. He will miss Sporting's regular season match at Inter Miami CF on Saturday and is scheduled to return to Kansas City ahead of the club's MLS road game against Minnesota United FC on Sept. 16.
Israel Match Schedule: UEFA Euro 2024 Qualifying
- Saturday, Sept. 9 | at Romania | 1:45 p.m. CT | Arena Nationala in Bucharest, Romania
- Tuesday, Sept. 12 | vs. Belarus | 1:45 p.m. CT | Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, Israel
Kinda has earned five career caps for Israel, most recently competing in FIFA 2022 World Cup qualifying in the fall of 2021. The talented midfielder punctuated his Israel debut with a sensational long-range goal in a 3-1 friendly win at Montenegro on June 5, 2021, and made his first start for the team four days later in a friendly defeat at European powerhouse Portugal.
With boosted expectations after earning promotion to 2024-25 UEFA Nations League A last year, Israel is aiming to qualify for the European Championship for the first time since becoming a UEFA member in 1994. Euro 2024 will involve 24 teams, including the top two finishers across 10 qualifying groups, hosts Germany and another three nations that will advance through a playoff round. Israel currently occupies third place in Group I, three points behind leaders Switzerland and one point behind Romania. Group stage action will conclude in November, followed by the playoff round in March 2024.
Kinda has logged 31 goal contributions in 70 competitive appearances for Sporting since arriving in January 2020 from Israeli Premier League side Beitar Jerusalem. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Israel, he spent the first nine seasons of his professional career competing in Israel’s top two divisions, including an eight-year spell at hometown club Ashdod.
Kinda helped Sporting to first place in the Western Conference in 2020 and a third-place finish in 2021 before missing all of 2022 with a knee injury. He returned to competitive action in April for his first of 19 appearances in 2023. He has tallied three goals and five assists this season in all competitions and ranks second in MLS with 0.56 primary assists per 90 minutes.
Kinda is one of two Sporting players to venture east for Euro 2024 qualifying during the September FIFA window alongside winger Marinos Tzionis, who joined the Cyprus Men's National Team earlier this week.
Riding palpable momentum after a 2-1 home win over rivals St. Louis City SC last weekend, Sporting Kansas City will continue their late-season playoff push on Saturday by visiting Leagues Cup 2023 champion Inter Miami CF at 6:30 p.m. CT at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The cross-conference clash will be shown live on Apple TV in English and Spanish for MLS Season Pass subscribers, while local radio coverage will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM with broadcast streams in the Sporting KC app.
