Pione Sisto

Early career

Pione Sisto was born in Kampala, Uganda, into a South Sudanese family. Sisto's family moved to Denmark when he was two months old. He was spotted by Tjørring IF in 2002, aged seven, and moved to FC Midtjylland’s youth setup in 2010.

Midtjylland

Sisto made his league debut during the 2012–13 Danish Superliga season and scored his first professional goal during the same season in the match against AGF. On 2 March 2014, he scored twice in FC Midtjylland's 5–1 away victory over Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga. In December 2014, Sisto was voted "Player of the Year 2014" by the Danish Footballers' Association and "Profile of the Autumn 2014" by the Danish Football Magazine. After an injury he played his first club match in 2015 in May coming on as a substitute against Copenhagen. Shortly after, he made an assist for the game's first goal followed by scoring the deciding goal, securing a 2–0 win for Midtjylland and their first Danish league title. Scouts from Barcelona, Milan, and Juventus went to Denmark several times to see the Danish midfielder and Arsenal has also shown interest in the midfielder. According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf Ajax has offered €7 million without success.

He scored for Midtjylland against Manchester United in a 2–1 home win in the Europa League on 18 February 2016. He also scored the opening goal of the second-leg at Old Trafford before Midtjylland went on to lose 5–1 (6–3 on aggregate) to United and bow out of the…

Club

As of match played 10 May 2025

International

Statistics accurate as of match played 15 November 2021

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.

Since Sisto was not a Danish citizen but had lived almost his whole life in Denmark, the Denmark national team manager Morten Olsen expressed his hope that the player would be eligible for the national squad. Upon receiving his Danish citizenship in December 2014, Sisto was immediately chosen to represent the Denmark national under-21 football team, although in an unofficial match. He was not yet able to represent Denmark in an official international match due to FIFA regulations. On 23 January 2015, he made his debut for the Danish U21 side, scoring a hat-trick in a 7–1 win against Romanian club FC Dinamo București. On 8 May 2015, Sisto received official word of FIFA's dispensation decision, allowing him to represent Denmark without waiting the obligatory five years following his 18th birthday. Twelve days later, he was called up to the Denmark national football team for its matches against Montenegro and Serbia. In June 2015, he represented the Denmark U21 team at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic, and scored the last goal in a 2–1 victory against the host nation in the opening match at the Eden Arena in Prague. Sisto debuted for the Denmark national team on 4 September 2015, in a Euro 2016 qualifying match against Albania. He played the first 45 minutes of the goalless draw before being replaced at halftime by Yussuf Poulsen. He scored his first international goal on 22 March 2018, the only goal of a friendly win over Panama in…

After the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Sisto proclaimed himself to be "the most hated person in Denmark" on social media, after having received criticism for his performances. His statements were met with surprise among Danish media. In May 2019, Sisto confessed on social media that he had been on a 21-day diet consisting of only fruit. He stated that he "lost control" and that the "subsconscious is darkness". In May 2020, Sisto revealed that he had suffered with bouts of depression which had begun during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He also stated that he had been subject to racial abuse from parents of teammates during his time at the FC Midtjylland Academy in Ikast. In July 2023, Sisto announced that he had purchased 4.3 hectares of land for the controversial Kingdom of Pineal in central Portugal, a micronation with elements of a cult, which was gaining national attention over the death of a young child in the community, raising doubts over its legality.