Noah Okafor

Noah Okafor (born 24 May 2000) is a Swiss footballer who plays as midfielder for Red Bull Salzburg. He has also represented Switzerland at various youth levels.

Noah Okafor
Okafor in 2020
Personal information
Full name Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor
Date of birth (2000-05-24) 24 May 2000
Place of birth Binningen, Switzerland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Winger, Forward
Club information
Current team
 Red Bull Salzburg
Number 77
Youth career
2008–2009 FC Arisdorf
2009–2017 Basel
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2018–2020 Basel 51 (8)
2020– Red Bull Salzburg 19 (7)
National team‡
2014–2015 Switzerland U15 3 (0)
2016–2017 Switzerland U17 7 (3)
2017-2018 Switzerland U18 1 (0)
2018– Switzerland U19 7 (1)
2019– Switzerland 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12 December 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 27 April 2019

Club career

Okafor played his first football with local team FC Arisdorf. In 2009 he moved to FC Basel continued through all the teams of their youth academy. On 31 January 2018, Okafor signed his first professional contract with his club.[1] He played his debut for their first team on 19 May 2018 in the home game against FC Luzern. Trainer Raphaël Wicky substituted him in for the injured Mohamed Elyounoussi in the 34th minute and the game ended in a 2–2 draw.[2] He scored his first goal for his club in the second round of the 2018–19 season on 28 July 2018 in the 1–1 away draw against Xamax.[3]

Under trainer Marcel Koller Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi finals Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on the 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel.[4] Okafor played in four cup games and scored a goal in the semi-final against Zürich.

On 31 January 2020, Okafor signed for Red Bull Salzburg.[5]

International career

Okafor played various international games for the Swiss U-15 and U-17 teams. He played his first game for the U-18 team on 9 May 2018 in the 1–1 draw against the Italian U-18 team.

He made his senior Switzerland national football team debut on 9 June 2019 in the 2019 UEFA Nations League third place game against England, as an 113th-minute substitute for Haris Seferović.[6]

Personal life

Born in Binningen, Switzerland, Okafor is of Nigerian descent.[7] His father is from Nigeria and his mother is Swiss.

Honours
Basel

References
  1. "Der FCB verlängert mit Noah Okafor bis 2020". FC Basel 1893. 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
  2. "Match summary FCB-FCL 19 May 2018". Swiss Football League. 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  3. Herklotz, Guido (2018). "Kein Sieger zwischen Xamax und Basel". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  4. Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Basel - FC Thun 2:1 (1:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  5. "FC Red Bull Salzburg - Welcome to Salzburg Noah Okafor". redbulls (in German). Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  6. "Switzerland v England game report". UEFA. 9 June 2019.
  7. "Basel's Nigerian Midfielder Noah Okafor Notches Two Assists vs CSKA :: All Nigeria Soccer - The Complete Nigerian Football Portal". www.allnigeriasoccer.com.
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