Soufiane Rahimi
Rahimi in 2021
Personal information
Full name Soufiane Rahimi[1]
Date of birth (1996-06-02) 2 June 1996 (age 27)[1]
Place of birth Casablanca, Morocco
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward, winger
Team information
Current team
 Al Ain
Number 21
Youth career
2006–2017 Raja CA
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2021 Raja CA 150 (44)
2017–2018 → EJS Casablanca (loan) 28 (17)
2021– Al Ain 86 (33)
International career‡
2021– Morocco A' 10 (6)
2021– Morocco 6 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Morocco
African Nations Championship
Winner 2020 Cameroon
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 01:10, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 13 June 2022

Soufiane Rahimi (Arabic: سفيان رحيمي; born 2 June 1996) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Al Ain and the Morocco national team. He started his professional career playing for Raja CA.

A full international for Morocco since 2021, Soufiane represented the nation at the 2020 African Nations Championship, 2021 FIFA Arab Cup and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Rahimi was the top goalscorer of the 2020 African Nations Championship, with five goals.

Club career

Raja Club Athletic

Rahimi scored a total of four goals for Raja CA in 2018 CAF Confederation Cup campaign,[2] including two goals[3] in the final against AS Vita Club in Casablanca. This allowed them to qualify and play the 2019 CAF Super Cup against Espérance Sportive de Tunis; which then ended up winning after a 2–1 victory.[4]

He has been one of the highest performing players in his last two seasons in Botola, becoming a top pick for the Moroccan national team coach to join the local squad. He has been closely linked with a move to Europe, and has stated his ambition of joining the Serie A in press conferences.[5]

Al Ain

On 21 August 2021, he had played his last match with Raja CA in the 2020 Arab Club Champions Cup Final, therefore defeating Al-Ittihad in penalties; before transferring to Emirati club Al Ain.[6] On September 17, Rahimi scored his first goal for the club in a 4–1 victory against Al-Ittihad Kalba.[7][8] On 12 November 2022, Rahimi scored a double against Sharjah.[9] On 7 November 2023, Rahmi scored in a 3–2 victory against Al Fayha in the 2023–24 AFC Champions League to qualify his team into the Knock-out stages.[10]

International career

In 2018, Rahimi was called up to the Moroccan national A' team by Jamal Sellami.[11] Rahimi represented Morocco in the 2020 African Nations Championship, He scored a double in his third game of the group stages against Uganda.[12] He scored in the quarter-finals in a 3–1 victory against Zambia.[13] Morocco won an astonishing 4–0 in the semi-finals against Cameroon.[14] With this performance, Rahimi managed of scoring a total of five goals thus helping his country to achieve the title and becoming the first and only country to win the Championship back to back. He was awarded top scorer and best player of the tournament.[15]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 13 December 2023[16]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Raja 2018–19 Botola 26 6 4 0 21 5 6 0 42 10
2019–20 28 10 1 0 13 3 — 36 11
2020–21 29 14 2 0 13 5 7 1 59 23
Total 83 30 7 0 47 13 13 1 150 44
Al Ain 2021–22 UPL 23 8 — 0 0 6 1 29 9
2022–23 26 11 6 0 0 0 6 3 38 14
2023–24 9 4 0 0 5 4 5 2 19 10
Total 58 23 6 0 5 4 17 6 86 33
Career total 142 53 13 0 53 17 30 7 236 77

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Morocco 2021 12 6
2022 4 0
Total 16 6
Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rahimi goal.
List of international goals scored by Soufiane Rahimi[17]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 26 January 2021 Stade de la Réunification, Douala, Cameroon  Uganda 2–1 5–2 2020 African Nations Championship
2 4–1
3 31 January 2021 Stade de la Réunification, Douala, Cameroon   Zambia 1–0 3–1 2020 African Nations Championship
4 3 February 2021 Limbe Stadium, Limbe, Cameroon  Cameroon 2–0 4–0 2020 African Nations Championship
5 3–0
6 4 December 2021 Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar  Jordan 4–0 4–0 2021 FIFA Arab Cup

Honours

Raja CA

Al Ain

Morocco

Individual

Record

References

  1. ^ a b c "FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021: List of players: Morocco" (PDF). FIFA. 4 December 2021. p. 8. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  2. ^ Confederation Cup: Soufiane Rahimi scores twice as Morocco's Raja crush Vita Club 3–0 in final first-leg. GhanaSoccernet.com.
  3. ^ Raja Casablanca win African Confederation Cup. Reuters.
  4. ^ "Raja beat Esperance to win Super Cup". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Soufiane Rahimi is interested in a Serie A club". Morocco Latest News. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Al Ahly target Soufiane Rahimi joins Emirati side Al Ain". kingfut.com. 8 August 2021.
  7. ^ "بالفيديو: رحيمي يسجل أول أهدافه بقميص العين الإماراتي". ar.le360.ma (in Arabic). Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  8. ^ "رحيمي يسجل أول أهدافه مع العين ويقوده للفوز على اتحاد كلباء برباعية -فيديو". Le Site Info Arabe (in Arabic). 17 September 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  9. ^ "رحيمي يواصل التألق في الدوري الإماراتي". Hespress - هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية (in Arabic). 12 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Group A: Al Fayha (KSA) 2-3 Al Ain FC (UAE)". the-AFC. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  11. ^ Soufiane Rahimi, au nom du père. Le360.ma.
  12. ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Holders Morocco reach CHAN quarters, Uganda out". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  13. ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Defending champions Morocco see off Zambia to reach CHAN semis". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  14. ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Two-goal hero Rahimi sends Morocco to CHAN final, Cameroon crash out". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  15. ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Morocco star Rahimi wins CHAN best player, top-scorer awards". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  16. ^ "Morocco – Soufiane Rahimi". Soccerway. 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Soufiane Rahimi". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  18. ^ "يتوج سفيان رحيمي بجائزة أفضل لاعب في بطولة البطولة الاحترافية 2019/2020" (in Arabic). 27 November 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  19. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  20. ^ "سفيان رحيمي أفضل لاعب في الشان بالكاميرون". Sport7 (in Arabic). Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  21. ^ "المغربي رحيمي ينفرد بصدارة هدافي الشان". كووورة. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  22. ^ "تشكيلة "الشان" المثالية تضم 5 لاعبين مغاربة". Hespress - هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية (in Arabic). 8 February 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  23. ^ "رحيمي أفضل لاعب في الإمارات خلال شهر شتنبر". Hespress - هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية (in Arabic). 11 October 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  24. ^ "Soufiane Rahimi voted best player for the month of November". HESPRESS English - Morocco News. 24 December 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  25. ^ HAITAMI, PDG : Mohammed. "رحيمي أفضل لاعب في الدوري الإماراتي". Le Matin Sports. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  26. ^ "Al-Ain's Soufiane Rahimi named UAE Pro League's best player for October". Arab News. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  27. ^ "رابطة المحترفين الإماراتية تتوج سفيان رحيمي". Hespress - هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية (in Arabic). 1 March 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  28. ^ "العين يسيطر على جوائز رابطة المحترفين الإماراتية لموسم 2021 - 2022 | مجلة سيدتي". www.sayidaty.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  29. ^ "العين يسيطر على جوائز رابطة المحترفين الإماراتية". إرم نيوز (in Arabic). 27 August 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
  30. ^ HAITAMI, PDG : Mohammed. "رحيمي يدخل تاريخ الشان". Le Matin Sports. Retrieved 3 March 2022.

External links

Al Ain FC – current squad
Morocco squad – 2021 Africa Cup of Nations
African Nations Championship Player of the Tournament
African Nations Championship top scorers
Categories