Elias Sierra

Genk

Early years

Sierra, with a Spanish grandfather and an Italian grandmother on his father's side, was born in Hasselt, Belgium, and spent his early years in Zonhoven. He started playing football at local club Melosport Zonhoven and later moved to Sporting Hasselt, following in the footsteps of his older brother. While at Sporting Hasselt, scouts from KRC Genk noticed his talent, and he joined Genk's under-8 team after just one season. Sierra continued his development through Genk's youth teams and signed his first professional contract in August 2017, at the age of sixteen. In the 2019–20 season, he played with Genk's youth team in the UEFA Youth League.

First team

During the 2019–20 season's winter break, first-team coach Hannes Wolf selected Sierra for winter training camp in Benidorm. Sierra's exceptional performance during this period earned him a permanent place in the first team, and his contract was extended until 2023. He was assigned jersey number 16. On 13 February 2020, he appeared on the bench for the first time in the away match against Antwerp. Sierra made his official debut for the first team on 14 September 2020, during the league match against Beerschot, replacing Eboue Kouassi in the 81st minute as Genk were defeated 5–2. Following the death of former Genk player Anele Ngcongca in November 2020, Genk decided to change Sierra's jersey number to 19, as they opted not to assign the number 16 to any other player out of respect…

Born in Belgium, Sierra is of Spanish and Italian descent. He is a youth international for Belgium.

Club

As of match played 26 September 2026

Heracles Almelo

Eerste Divisie: 2022–23