Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Tesfaldet Simon Tekie | ||
Date of birth | 4 June 1997 | ||
Place of birth | Asmara, Eritrea | ||
Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
Position(s) | Central midfielder | ||
Team information | |||
Current team |
Apollon Limassol (on loan from Hammarby IF) | ||
Number | 6 | ||
Youth career | |||
2008–2010 | Marieholm BoIK | ||
2010–2013 | Gunnilse IS | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2013 | Gunnilse IS | 6 | (0) |
2013–2016 | IFK Norrköping | 32 | (0) |
2014–2015 | → IF Sylvia (loan) | 20 | (4) |
2017–2019 | Gent | 0 | (0) |
2018–2019 | → Östersunds FK (loan) | 27 | (2) |
2019–2022 | Fortuna Sittard | 80 | (2) |
2022–2023 | Go Ahead Eagles | 8 | (0) |
2023– | Hammarby IF | 16 | (2) |
2023– | → Apollon Limassol (loan) | 4 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2012 | Sweden U17 | 2 | (0) |
2015–2016 | Sweden U19 | 8 | (0) |
2018 | Sweden U21 | 1 | (0) |
2019 | Sweden | 1 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 October 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 January 2019 |
Tesfaldet Simon Tekie (born 4 June 1997) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Apollon Limassol in the Cypriot First Division, on loan from Hammarby IF.
Born in Eritrea, Tekie moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, as a nine-year-old.[1] He started to play youth football with local club Marieholms BoIK, before joining Gunnilse IS in 2010.[2][3][4] In 2013, at age 15, Tekie made his debut in senior football with Gunnilse, making six league appearances in Division 3, Sweden's fifth tier.[5]
On 6 August 2013, Tekie moved to IFK Norrköping, together with his teammate Ihab Naser from Gunnilse.[6] In 2014, he was sent on loan to affiliated club IF Sylvia in Division 1, the domestic third tier, making 11 appearances.[5]
In 2015, Tekie made six appearances for IFK Norrköping in Allsvenskan, being part of the squad that won the Swedish championship.[7] On 19 July the same year, he signed a new three and a half-year contract with the club.[8]
In 2016, Tekie made 26 league appearances for IFK Norrköping, that finished 3rd in the Allsvenskan table.[5][9] He also featured in both legs as the club was knocked out in the second qualifying round of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, losing 4–5 on aggregate to Rosenborg.[10]
On 19 January 2017, Tekie transferred to Belgian First Division A club Gent, signing a three and a half-year contract.[11] The transfer fee was reportedly set at around €1.6 million.[12] Tekie failed to make any competitive appearances for Gent, before leaving the club by mutual consent on 3 September 2019.[13]
Tekie failed to make any competitive appearances for Gent. On 1 January 2018, he was sent on a one and a half-year loan to Östersunds FK in Allsvenskan.[14] In February, Tekie played in both legs as Östersund was knocked out in the round of 32 in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, losing 2–4 on aggregate to Arsenal.[15][16] He went on to make 15 league appearances for the club in 2018, before his season was cut short in September due to an injury.[17]
In 2019, Tekie remained with Östersund during the first half of the season, making 12 appearances, before returning to Gent in June.[18][19]
On 9 September 2019, Tekie signed a two-year contract with the option of a third with Fortuna Sittard in the Dutch Eredivisie.[20][21] In his debut season in 2019–20, he established himself as a starter for his new club and played 20 games, before the league was abandoned in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.[22]
In 2020–21, Tekie made 33 league appearances, helping Fortuna Sittard to finish 11th in the Eredivisie table.[22] On 30 March 2021, the club decided to exercise their option to extend his contract for one further season.[23]
In 2021–22, Fortuna Sittard finished 15th in the league, one place above the relegation zone, with Tekie making 27 appearances.[22] In May 2022, it was announced that he would leave the club during the summer at the expiration of his contract.[24]
On 8 September 2022, Tekie signed a one-year contract with Go Ahead Eagles.[25] He made eight appearances in the 2022–23 Eredivisie, before leaving on 31 January 2023 by mutual consent after he had struggled to find motivation at the club.[26]
On 9 February 2023, Tekie returned to Sweden and signed a four-year contract with Hammarby IF.[27] After establishing himself as a regular for the club, making 16 league appearances during the first half of the season, he fell out of favor with head coach Martí Cifuentes in August the same year.[28][29][30][31]
On 28 August 2023, he joined Apollon Limassol in the Cypriot First Division on a one-year loan, with an option to buy.[32][33]
Between 2012 and 2018, Tekie was capped for all Swedish youth teams from the under-17's to the under-21's, making 11 appearances for all selections.[34][35]
He made his debut for the Sweden national football team on 11 January 2019 in a 2–2 friendly against Iceland, as a starter.[36][37]
Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Gunnilse IS | 2013 | Division 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 1 | |
IF Sylvia (loan) | 2014 | Division 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 11 | 1 | |
2015 | Division 2 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 3 | ||
Total | 26 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 4 | ||
IFK Norrköping | 2015 | Allsvenskan | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | |
2016 | 26 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 32 | 0 | ||
Total | 32 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 0 | ||
Östersunds FK (loan) | 2018 | Allsvenskan | 15 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2[b] | 0 | 22 | 2 |
2019 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 15 | 1 | |||
Total | 27 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 3 | ||
Fortuna Sittard | 2019–20 | Eredivisie | 20 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 23 | 0 | |
2020–21 | 33 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 35 | 1 | |||
2021–22 | 27 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 28 | 1 | |||
Total | 80 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 2 | ||
Go Ahead Eagles | 2022–23 | Eredivisie | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | |
Total | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||
Hammarby IF | 2023 | Allsvenskan | 16 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 3 |
Total | 16 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 3 | ||
Career total | 189 | 10 | 26 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 219 | 12 |
IFK Norrköping