Features
He scored SEVEN goals in one game. This young gun is impossible to ignore
By Sacha Pisani8 June 2026
There is one name within Victorian football circles that is gathering serious momentum.
Yani Nassis.
The 20-year-old striker well and truly lit up NPL VIC over the weekend.
Seven goals in a single game sounds like the sort of statistic you'd expect to find in junior football.
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Not at one of Victoria's biggest clubs. Not from a player competing in Heidelberg United's highly-regarded Under-23 program, and certainly not from a player who already had 15 goals to his name before kick-off.
Yet that's exactly what Nassis produced in a 10-1 humbling of Dandenong City.
The Heidelberg youngster completed his hat-trick inside a 34-minute window and remarkably, the goals continued to flow in Dandenong.
Most forwards would have happily walked away with the match ball at that point, but he kept going.
By full-time, Nassis had seven goals to his name and another extraordinary chapter in what is becoming a breakout season.
The numbers are staggering.
Yes, he has 22 goals in 15 U23 appearances this season. However, 13 of those have come in his last four games. Let that sink in.
It's the sort of form that is impossible to ignore.
The young attacker joined Heidelberg United midway through last year from VPL1 outfit Northcote City, arriving with a strong reputation after developing through the A-League academy systems of both Western United and Central Coast Mariners.
“Yani is a talent on the rise and one to watch closely in 2026,” Heidelberg said after his renewal ahead of the current campaign.
Heidelberg have long been one of Victorian football's strongest pathways clubs, and Nassis is beginning to show exactly why they were eager to bring him in.
While the seven-goal haul will inevitably grab headlines, it is the consistency behind it that stands out most.
With reigning NPL VIC champions Heidelberg continuing to challenge on multiple fronts, one of Victorian football's most exciting young attacking talents is making a compelling case for bigger opportunities.
