Serge Atakayi (born 30 January 1999) is a professional footballer who plays for League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic as a winger. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he represented his adopted country of Finland up to under-19 level, before being called up by his country of birth in 2019 to play for the DR Congo U23 team.
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | Serge Atakayi | ||
Date of birth | (1999-01-30) 30 January 1999 (age 23) | ||
Place of birth | Kinshasa, DR Congo | ||
Position(s) | Winger | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | St Patrick's Athletic | ||
Number | 7 | ||
Youth career | |||
2013–2015 | FF Jaro | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2015–2016 | FF Jaro | 29 | (3) |
2015 | → JBK (loan) | 10 | (2) |
2016–2019 | Rangers | 1 | (0) |
2019 | → SJK (loan) | 10 | (1) |
2020–2022 | SJK | 28 | (1) |
2021 | → FC TPS (loan) | 13 | (3) |
2022– | St Patrick's Athletic | 13 | (4) |
National team‡ | |||
2014 | Finland U15 | 2 | (0) |
2015 | Finland U17 | ||
2016 | Finland U18 | 5 | (2) |
2016–2018 | Finland U19 | 11 | (0) |
2019 | DR Congo U23 | 2 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 00:27, 7 November 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14:02, 26 October 2022 (UTC) |
Atakayi, originally from Democratic Republic of the Congo, applied for asylum in Finland alongside other members of his youth football team when visiting the country in 2010.[1][2][3][4]
Atakayi joined the youth system at FF Jaro in 2013 and made his senior debut for the club in 2015.[5] He became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Finnish top flight when he scored against HIFK on 17 May 2015, aged 16 years and 107 days.[6][1]
On 31 August 2016, after trial periods with Leicester City and Fulham, he joined Rangers on a three-year contract.[7] He signed a one-year contract extension to tie him to Rangers until 2020 in June 2018.[8] He made his debut against Motherwell in a 7-1 win during November 2018 but suffered a broken ankle in the game.[9][3]
Atakayi left Rangers on 30 December 2019 to join Finnish side SJK for a reported fee of £100,000.[10][11] Atakayi played in 19 games on the 2020 season and scored once. On June 4 2021 it was told by SJK-head coach Jani Honkavaara that Atakayi had not been training with the team since February because of attitude problems. [12] Atakayi only played in one Finnish Cup game for SJK in the 2021 season. On 28 July 2021 he moved to TPS on loan.[13]
On 15 July 2022 it was announced that Atakayi had signed for League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic on an 18 month contract for an undisclosed fee.[14] He made his debut on the same day, in a 1–1 draw with Dundalk at Richmond Park.[15] His first goal for the club came on 4 August 2022 when he scored an 87th minute winner away to CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Europa Conference League Third qualifying round.[16] On 14 August 2022, he scored the winning goal against Sligo Rovers at Richmond Park in what was his first league start for the club.[17] On 19 August 2022, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory away to UCD, his third goal in his last four games.[18] On 14 October 2022, he opened the scoring in a 3–1 win over Dublin rivals Bohemians.[19] He followed that up a week later by again opening the scoring in another Dublin derby, this time away to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium.[20]
Atakayi was born in DR Congo but obtained Finnish citizenship in 2016 and represented Finland at under-15 level.[5] In June 2016, Atakayi represented Finland at under-18 level in the Baltic Cup and scored in a 2–2 draw with Lithuania on 2 June 2016.[21][22] He made his debut for the Finland under-19 side on 4 September 2016, in a goalless draw with Romania.[23]
While living in Glasgow, Atakayi become close friends with compatriot Youssouf Mulumbu who was playing for Celtic at the time and was a senior international for DR Congo. Mulumbu spoke with Atakayi about changing his international allegiance to his birth country.[24] In March 2019, Atakayi was called up to the DR Congo U23 team for two 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations qualification fixtures against Morocco U23.[25] The first leg at home in Kinshasa represented a first opportunity for Atakayi to return home to see his family since seeking asylum from the country in 2010.[4]
Club | Season | League | National Cup[lower-alpha 1] | League Cup[lower-alpha 2] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
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Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
FF Jaro | 2015 | Veikkausliiga | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 20 | 2 | ||
2016 | Ykkönen | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 1 | |||
Total | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 33 | 3 | ||||
JBK (loan) | 2015 | Kakkonen | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 2 | ||
Rangers | 2016–17 | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
2017–18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
2018–19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
2019–20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[lower-alpha 3] | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||
Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | ||
SJK (loan) | 2019 | Veikkausliiga | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 10 | 1 | |||
SJK | 2020 | Veikkausliiga | 19 | 1 | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 24 | 1 | |||
2021 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||||
2022 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | |||
Total | 38 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 51 | 2 | |||
TPS (loan) | 2021 | Ykkönen | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 13 | 3 | |||
St Patrick's Athletic | 2022 | League of Ireland Premier Division | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | 3[lower-alpha 4] | 1 | — | 17 | 5 | ||
Career total | 104 | 14 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 130 | 16 |
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St Patrick's Athletic F.C. – current squad | |
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