Noah Okafor

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

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. He played his debut for their first team on 19 May 2018 in the home game against FC Luzern. Trainer Raphael Wicky substituted him in for the injured Mohamed Elyounoussi in the 34th minute and the game ended in a 2–2 draw. 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.

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 Region 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 Zurich 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 Sorgic netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel. Okafor played in four cup games and scored a goal in the semi-final against Zurich.

On 31 January 2020, Okafor signed for Red Bull Salzburg. However, during his time at the club, he gained a reputation for his inability to take scoring chances. He was criticised heavily for his lack of clinicality in front of goal, particularly by fans. He has been consistently mocked and criticised online, leading to him making an emotional statement to fans to stop attacking him and leave him alone. However, this plea online worsened the situation and he continued to receive criticism and hateful comments on his socialmedia.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Ноа Окафор (russian)