Elijah Just

Elijah Just

Elijah Henry Just (born 1 May 2000) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for EFL Championship club Swansea City and the New Zealand national team.

A full international for New Zealand since 2019, Just became the country's all-time leading scorer at the FIFA World Cup after scoring three goals in the 2026 tournament. He was also a member of the squad that won the 2024 OFC Nations Cup.

Club career

Western Suburbs

Just joined the Olé Football Academy, then run by Declan Edge moving from Palmerston North to live at the academy. He played for Western Suburbs in the Central League that features teams from the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand. Just was part of the team to win the Central League in 2017, as well as runner-up in the 2018 Chatham Cup.

In 2018, Just had a brief trial at Dutch club PEC Zwolle. While he was deemed good enough for a contract, the club ultimately decided to not give him one. Due to Dutch rules, he would have needed to be given a non-EU salary. PEC Zwolle found this to be too expensive at the time.

Eastern Suburbs

Just was part of Eastern Suburbs winning New Zealand Football Championship team, that won the final series of the league, qualifying for the OFC Champions League. Just finished the season playing in 20 games, scoring 7 goals.

FC Helsingør

In May 2019, FC Helsingør announced that Just would start at the club 1 July.

AC Horsens

On 1 July 2022, FC Helsingør announced that Just had been sold to AC Horsens.

On 21 August 2024, Just signed for Austrian 2. Liga club SKN St. Pölten on a season-long loan with an option to buy.

Motherwell

On 9 July 2025, Just signed for Scottish Premiership club Motherwell on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. In his debut season, he was shortlisted for PFA Scotland's Premiership player of the year.

Swansea City

On 22 July 2026, Just signed a three-year contract with EFL Championship club Swansea City.

International career

Youth

Just was born in New Zealand to a NZ European father (with distant links to Prussia) and an NZ Chinese mother. He was part of the New Zealand U-17 team that won the 2017 OFC U-17 Championship, qualifying for the U-17 World Cup in India. Just played all three games the U-17 team played at the World Cup and was team captain in the second game against Paraguay.

Just was originally called up to be part of the New Zealand U-20 side to play at the OFC U-19 Championship in Tahiti but withdrew for club commitments with Western Suburbs. Even though Just didn't play in the OFC U-19 Championship, the team qualified for the U-20 World Cup in Poland and Just was part of the team that travelled to the tournament. He played in 3 games, scoring one goal in their Round of 16 defeat by penalties to Colombia U-20.

Senior

On 15 November 2019, Just made his national team debut for New Zealand in a friendly against Ireland, starting in their 1–3 loss.

On 25 June 2021, Just was called up to the New Zealand squad for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics. Just scored his first international goal against Fiji in their 4–0 win during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Qatar.

On 14 May 2026, Just was selected in the 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. On 15 June, Just became the first player from New Zealand to score a brace in the FIFA World Cup, when he scored both of New Zealand's goals in their group stage opener against Iran which ended in a 2–2 draw. He later scored a consolation goal in a 5–1 defeat to Belgium in New Zealand's final group match. With his third goal at a senior FIFA World Cup, Just moved level with Hannah Wilkinson as New Zealand's all-time leading scorer across the men's and women's FIFA World Cups, with three goals each.

His opening goal against Iran was nominated for the FIFA World Cup Goal of the Tournament award, making him the first New Zealand player to receive the nomination.

Career statistics

Club

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Eastern Suburbs	2018–19	NZ Premiership	18	7	—		—		2	0	20	7
Helsingør	2019–20	Danish 2nd Division	15	1	—		—		—		15	1
	2020–21	Danish 1st Division	25	5	—		—		—		25	5
	2021–22		30	7	2	1	—		—		32	8
	2022–23		1	0	—		—		—		1	0
	Total		71	13	2	1	—		—		73	14
Horsens	2022–23	Danish Superliga	27	0	3	0	—		—		30	0
	2023–24	Danish 1st Division	27	3	1	0	—		—		28	3
	2024–25		4	0	0	0	—		—		4	0
	Total		58	3	4	0	—		—		62	3
SKN St. Pölten (loan)	2024–25	Austrian 2. Liga	19	6	—		—		—		19	6
Motherwell	2025–26	Scottish Premiership	35	7	2	0	6	0	—		43	7
Swansea City	2026–27	Championship	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
Career total			186	33	8	1	7	0	2	0	203	34

International

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
New Zealand	2019	2	0
	2021	3	0
	2022	8	1
	2023	7	0
	2024	12	5
	2025	8	2
	2026	7	4
Total		47	12

Scores and results list New Zealand's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Just goal.

<table><thead><tr><th>No.</th><th>Date</th><th>Venue</th><th>Cap</th><th>Opponent</th><th>Score</th><th>Result</th><th>Competition</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>21 March 2022</td><td>Suheim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar</td><td>7</td><td> Fiji</td><td>2–0</td><td>4–0</td><td>2022 FIFA World Cup qualification</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>21 June 2024</td><td>Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu</td><td>24</td><td> Vanuatu</td><td>3–0</td><td>4–0</td><td>2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>11 October 2024</td><td>Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu</td><td>29</td><td> Tahiti</td><td>1–0</td><td>3–0</td><td>2026 FIFA World Cup qualification</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>14 October 2024</td><td>North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand</td><td>30</td><td> Malaysia</td><td>1–0</td><td>4–0</td><td>Friendly</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>15 November 2024</td><td>Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand</td><td>31</td><td> Vanuatu</td><td>6–1</td><td>8–1</td><td>2026 FIFA World Cup qualification</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>18 November 2024</td><td>Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand</td><td>32</td><td> Samoa</td><td>7–0</td><td>8–0</td><td>2026 FIFA World Cup qualification</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>24 March 2025</td><td>Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand</td><td>34</td><td> New Caledonia</td><td>3–0</td><td>3–0</td><td>2026 FIFA World Cup qualification</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>7 June 2025</td><td>BMO Field, Toronto, Canada</td><td>35</td><td> Ivory Coast</td><td>1–0</td><td>1–0</td><td>Friendly</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>30 March 2026</td><td>Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand</td><td>42</td><td> Chile</td><td>2–0</td><td>4–1</td><td>Friendly</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td rowspan="2">15 June 2026</td><td rowspan="2">SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, United States</td><td rowspan="2">45</td><td rowspan="2"> Iran</td><td>1–0</td><td rowspan="2">2–2</td><td rowspan="2">2026 FIFA World Cup</td><td rowspan="2"></td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>2–1</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>26 June 2026</td><td>BC Place, Vancouver, Canada</td><td>47</td><td> Belgium</td><td>1–3</td><td>1–5</td><td>2026 FIFA World Cup</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Honours

Elijah Just

• Central League: 2017 • Chatham Cup runner-up: (/wiki/2018ChathamCup)

• New Zealand Football Championship: 2018–19

• OFC U-17 Championship: (/wiki/2017OFCU-17Championship)

• OFC Nations Cup: (/wiki/2024OFCNationsCup)