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Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor (born 24 May 2000) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as midfielder for Austrian Bundesliga club Red Bull Salzburg and the Switzerland national team.

Noah Okafor

Okafor with Red Bull Salzburg in 2020
Personal information
Full name	Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor[1]
Date of birth	(2000-05-24) 24 May 2000 (age 22)
Place of birth	Binningen, Switzerland[2]
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	39	(3)
2020–	Red Bull Salzburg	64	(25)
National team‡
2014–2015	Switzerland U15	3	(0)
2016–2017	Switzerland U17	7	(3)
2017–2018	Switzerland U18	1	(0)
2018–2019	Switzerland U19	7	(1)
2019–	Switzerland	9	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:02, 13 November 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 November 2022 (UTC)

Club career

FC Basel

Okafor played his first youth football with local team FC Arisdorf. In 2009 he moved to the youth of FC Basel and continued through all the stages of their youth academy. He advanced to their first team during their 2018–19 season and on 31 January 2018, Okafor signed his first professional contract with his club under head coach Raphaël Wicky.[3] He played his debut for their first team on 19 May 2018 in the home game against FC Luzern. The trainer substituted him in for the injured Mohamed Elyounoussi in the 34th minute and the game ended in a 2–2 draw.[4] 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.[5]

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 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.[6] Okafor played in four cup games and scored a goal in the semi-final against Zürich.

Between the years 2017 and 2020 Okafor played a total of 72 games for Basel scoring a total of nine goals. 39 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, seven in the Swiss Cup, eight in the UEFA competitions (Champios League and Europa League) and 18 were friendly games. He scored three goals in the domestic league, two in the cup, two in the European competitions and the other two were scored during the test games.[7]

Red Bull Salzburg

On 31 January 2020, Okafor signed for Red Bull Salzburg.[8]

On 8 December 2021, Okafor scored the only goal of the game as Salzburg defeated Sevilla in the final group stage match of the Champions League. The win meant Salzburg secured progression to the Round of 16 and became the first-ever Austrian club to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.[9][10]

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 debut for the senior national team debut on 9 June 2019 in the 2019 UEFA Nations League third place game against England, as an 113th-minute substitute for Haris Seferovic.[11] Okafor scored his first international goal for Switzerland on 15 November 2021, in their World Cup qualifying game against Bulgaria, a win which secured automatic qualification for Switzerland to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[12][13]

Personal life

Born in Binningen, Switzerland, Okafor is of Igbo descent.[14] His father is from Nigeria and his mother is Swiss.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 13 November 2022[15]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Basel U21	2017–18	Swiss Promotion League	13	1	—		—		13	1
	2018–19		2	1	—		—		2	1
	Total		15	2	—		—		15	2
Basel	2017–18	Swiss Super League	1	0	—		—		1	0
	2018–19		24	3	3	1	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	28	4
	2019–20		14	0	2	1	7[lower-alpha 2]	2	23	3
	Total		39	3	5	2	8	2	52	7
Red Bull Salzburg	2019–20	Austrian Bundesliga	11	3	3	1	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	15	4
	2020–21		18	6	4	0	7[lower-alpha 3]	0	29	6
	2021–22		21	9	5	2	8[lower-alpha 4]	3	34	14
	2022–23		14	7	2	0	6[lower-alpha 4]	3	22	10
	Total		64	25	14	3	22	6	100	34
Career total			118	30	19	5	30	8	167	43

International

As of match played 17 November 2022[15]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Switzerland	2019	1	0
	2021	2	1
	2022	6	1
Total		9	2

As of match played 2 June 2022[15]

Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Okafor goal.

List of international goals scored by Noah Okafor

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	15 November 2021	Swissporarena, Lucerne, Switzerland	Bulgaria	1–0	4–0	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	2 June 2022	Sinobo Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	1–1	1–2	2022–23 UEFA Nations League A

Honours

Basel

• Swiss Cup: 2018–19

Red Bull Salzburg

• Austrian Bundesliga: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
• Austrian Cup: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22

References

External links

• Noah Okafor at Soccerway
• Noah Okafor at National-Football-Teams.com

На других языках

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[de] Noah Okafor

Noah Arinze Okafor (* 24. Mai 2000 in Binningen) ist ein Schweizer Fussballspieler. Der Stürmer spielt seit Januar 2020 für den FC Red Bull Salzburg und ist zudem aktueller Schweizer Nationalspieler.

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- [en] Noah Okafor

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[es] Noah Okafor

Noah Okafor (Binningen, 24 de mayo de 2000) es un futbolista suizo que juega en la demarcación de centrocampista para el FC Red Bull Salzburgo de la Bundesliga.[1]

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[fr] Noah Okafor

Noah Okafor, né le 24 mai 2000 à Binningen en Suisse, est un footballeur international suisse, qui évolue au poste d'ailier gauche au Red Bull Salzbourg.

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[it] Noah Okafor

Noah Arinzechokwu Okafor (Binningen, 24 maggio 2000) è un calciatore svizzero, attaccante del Salisburgo.

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[ru] Окафор, Ноа

Ноа Аринзечокву Окафор (нем. Noah Arinzechokwu Okafor; 24 мая 2000, Биннинген) — швейцарский футболист, нападающий австрийского клуба «Ред Булл» и сборной Швейцарии.

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