Who is Cole Dasilva? Baller League defender who came through Chelsea academy

COLE DASILVA rose through the ranks at Chelsea and the Wales national team youth set up.

But he will now ply his trade on a different stage as he lines up in the Baller League.

KSI will run the six-a-side tournament as it heads to the UK, following on from a successful trial of the game in Germany.

Footballing icons such as Luis Figo and Gary Lineker will be managing sides in the Baller League.

Action will come live on Sky Sports from the Copper Box Arena in Stratford.

Former Chelsea academy graduate Cole Dasilva will play for Sidemen star Sharky's side SDS FC.

Who is Cole Dasilva?

Born in Luton, the 25-year-old defender currently plays for Bishop’s Stortford in the Southern League Premier Central.

Cole, able to represent Wales, Brazil and England, won the Under-18 Premier League, FA Youth Cup and Uefa Youth League with Chelsea before signing a professional contract in 2016.

He didn't make any appearances before a switch to Brentford in 2018, where he stayed until 2020 – again not making any appearances.

Dasilva switched England for Croatian club HNK Sibenik, where he played six games in the top flight.

He then returned to English football in 2022 and entered non-League.

He has had stops in the National League South but has spent recent seasons in step four.

Twins Rio, Cole and their older brother, Jay DaSilva, were signed to Chelsea’s academy in 2012 in a £1 million triple deal where the 12- and 13-year-olds left then-National league side Luton Town.

All three siblings failed to break into Chelsea’s first team, even though Jay helped the blues win the Uefa Youth League on two separate occasions and the FA Youth Cup three times.

Jay now stars for Coventry City in their battle for promotion to the Premier League.

When is Baller League and how can I watch it?

• Baller League will begin on Monday, March 24.
• The six-a-side competition has 12 teams and has six 30-minute matches every Monday.
• There are also other rules that make it different to football.
• The tournament will be aired on Sky Sports Mix and also available for streaming on YouTube and Twitch.
• Coverage starts at 5pm with the first match kicking off at 5.35pm.
• Alternatively, SunSport will live blog all the action as it happens.

What are the teams in Ballers League UK?

26ers – J'ardell Stirling, Bilal Sayoud, Sak Hassan, Kojo Apenteng, Marcel Lewis, Jordon Ibe, Matt Chizzum, Emmanuel Rowe, Justin Dass, Spike Stegel, Vladislav Platinov, Jack Crook.

Deportrio – Bakary Sako, Adam Dawson, Francis Gerald Mapolo, Zach Fagan, Marvin Sordell, Charlie Kuehn, Tommy Scott, Raphael Gas, Alex Dyer, Ruben Singale, Tristan Goodridge, Leo Serri.

FC Rules the World – Michael Ndiweni, Josh Harrop, Tareiq Holmes-Dennis, Kevin Gonzalez, Oliver Bosworth, Karim Kamhouri, Erghis Pepy, Onuchi Oki, Yusuf Shentu, Alamiji Oluma, Sandro Kamara, Festus Chalet.

M7 FC – Jesse Waller-Lassen, Femi Akinwande, Stefan Ilic, Jean Belehouan, Toby Bull, Sam Fitzgerald, Arjun Young, Ramez Gonzalo, Arin Zaha, Lewis Garcia, Henry Wise, Zion Nditi.

MVPs United – Lorenzo Spinelli, Ashton Peltier, Jake Chambers Shaw, Ross Derham, Josh Misoki, James Canton, Alfie Matthew, Declan McCarthy, Jay Beckford, Joe Edwards, Dwayne Suel, Esteban Salgado.

N5 FC – Owen Locke, Adrian Mariappa, Brian Ly, Charlie Wakefield, Dayo Adekayo, Chris Arba, Imran Kahani, Michael Class, James Alabi, Troy Molunda, Freddie Berrati, Callum Charlton.

Santan FC – Michael Hill, Richard Kesey, Dominic Voss, Erick Kenco, Ranell McKenzie Lowes, Jamell Abou-Bakare, Rico Okinari, David Upu, Abdullah Gervardi, Jack Wilson, David Solidemi, Luka Valentine.

SDS FC – Bruno Andrade, Bayley Brown, Ody Alfa, Cole Da Silva, David Marques Castanho, Calvin Dickson, Big John, Camillo Astreppo, Finley Chadwick, Michael Felibe, Hussein Mahdi, Tyler Edmundson.

Trebol FC – Montel McKenzie, Vani Da Silva, Ciaran Clark, Isaac Modi, Ethan Oke, Reggie, Emi, Ryan Gorwell, Jordan Brown, Shani Omed, Aaron Steven, Nathan Bowen.

VZN FC – Henri Lansbury, Kurtice Herbert, Jerome Sinclair, Remy Mitchell, Montel McKenzie, Florian Kastrati, Michael Olive-Wigan, Barrell Mensah, Ethan McClear, Diego Dombaboni, Jami Kheresi, Luka Barusic.

Wembley Rangers – Domingos Pires, Check Fayum, Ben Long, Stuart Cook, Oliver Cannon, Juan Pablo, Ruben Junior, Luke Gambin, Kaylen Kofi, Braden Shaw, Joseph Diomande, Nabid Eshari.

Yanited – Kadell Daniel, Michael Hector, Mohammed Mahyoub, Remy Clerima, Percy Kiangebeni, Medy Elito, Max Pitman, Harry Cain, Henry O'Shea, Daniel Thompson, Daniel Woods, Pharrel Mensah.