Son of Israeli Footballer Scores for Moldova

Niki Kalashchenko, son of former Israeli league star Sergey Kalashchenko, scored his first goal for the Moldovan national team in a Nations League match against Kazakhstan on Friday. The younger Kalashchenko, born in Dublin in 2001 while his father was playing in Israel, has been developing his career in Europe, including stints with Sporting Lisbon's youth academy and various clubs in Portugal and Moldova. He recently signed with Scottish club Kilmarnock in January, initially seeing limited playing time. However, he became a more regular starter on the left wing during the team's promotion playoff matches, scoring his first goal for Kilmarnock in the final playoff game. He has also scored for Kilmarnock in the current season. His recent form led to his call-up to the Moldovan national team, where he scored the opening goal in the match against Kazakhstan, putting Moldova up 1-0. Sergey Kalashchenko, who played for Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv in the early 2000s, winning a championship with Maccabi Haifa in 2001 and participating in Hapoel's UEFA Cup run in 2002, recently concluded his tenure as coach of the Moldovan national team.