Wikipedia

Soufiane Rahimi

Soufiane Rahimi (Arabic: سفيان رحيمي; born 2 June 1996) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a forward for UAE Pro League club Al Ain and the Morocco national team.

Soufiane Rahimi
Rahimi in 2021
Personal information
Full name Soufiane Rahimi[1]
Date of birth (1996-06-02) 2 June 1996 (age 28)[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 83 (30)
2017–2018 → EJS Casablanca (loan) 28 (17)
2021– Al Ain 71 (30)
International career‡
2021– Morocco A' 10 (6)
2024 Morocco Olympic (O.P.) 6 (8)
2021– Morocco 13 (2)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Morocco
African Nations Championship
Winner 2020 Cameroon
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 October 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 October 2024

Rahimi started his professional career playing for Raja CA, before being sent on a loan to Étoile de Casablanca. Rahimi then returned back to his former club after the end of his loan, helping the club win the 2019–20 Botola, the 2018 and 2021 CAF Confederation Cup and the 2019–20 Arab Club Champions Cup. He then signed with UAE Pro League side Al-Ain, where he led the club to win the 2023–24 AFC Champions League, finishing as the tournament's top scorer wtih 13 goals.

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. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, he was selected as one of the three overage players of Morocco Olympic and won a bronze medal, as well as was the top scorer award.

Club career

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Raja Club Athletic

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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

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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] In the Round of 16, Rahimi scored the winning goal against Nasaf to qualify the team to the Quarter-finals.[11] Rahimi went on to score the winning goal in a 1–0 victory against Al Nassr in the first leg of the quarter-finals and two goals in the second leg.[12][13] On 15 March 2023, Rahimi scored his first ever hat-trick for the club in a 4–0 win against Ajman.[14] In the first leg of the 2023–24 AFC Champions League Semi-final, Rahimi scored a hat-trick in a 4–2 victory against Al Hilal SFC, putting an end to Al Hilal 34 game winning streak.[15][16][17] In the 2024 AFC Champions League final, Al Ain won 6–3 in aggregate against Yokohama F. Marinos, with Rahimi scoring a brace in the second leg, and winning the Most Valuable Player and Top scorer awards.[18]

On 24 October 2024, Rahimi along with his international teammate Achraf Hakimi, were nominated for the 2024 African Footballer of the Year award.[19][20]

International career

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In 2018, Rahimi was called up to the Moroccan national A' team by Jamal Sellami.[21] Rahimi represented Morocco in the 2020 African Nations Championship, He scored a double in his third game of the group stages against Uganda.[22] He scored in the quarter-finals in a 3–1 victory against Zambia.[23] Morocco won an astonishing 4–0 in the semi-finals against Cameroon.[24] 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.[25]

Over two years after his last appearances with the national team, Rahimi was included in Morocco's squad for the friendlies against Angola and Mauritania in March 2024.[26][27] He came off the bench against Angola and helped create the own-goal by David Carmo. Morocco won 1–0.[28][29]

Rahimi was selected for Morocco's squad to compete in the men's football at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[30] In the opening match of the group stage, Rahimi scored a brace in a 2–1 victory against Argentina.[31][32] He then scored a goal in a 2–1 defeat against Ukraine and a goal in a 3–0 victory against Iraq,[33][34] thus surpassing Ahmed Faras and becoming the top Moroccan goalscorer for the Summer Olympics with four goals.[35] Rahimi ended the Olympics scoring a total of 8 goals in 6 appearances, becoming the first player to score in all 6 games of a single Olympic edition.[36][37]

Personal life

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Born in Casablanca, Soufiane Rahimi is the older brother of Houssine Rahimi, who is also a footballer.

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played 21 October 2024[38]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
EJS Casablanca 2017–18 Botola 3 28 17 — — — — 28 17
Raja CA 2018–19 Botola 26 6 4 0 — 16[c] 4 3[d] 0 49 10
2019–20 28 10 1 0 — 9[e] 3 5[f] 1 43 14
2020–21 29 14 2 0 — 12[g] 5 7 1 50 20
Total 83 30 7 0 — 37 12 15 2 142 44
Al Ain 2021–22 UAE Pro League 23 8 — 6 1 — — 29 9
2022–23 26 11 6 0 5 3 — 1[h] 0 38 14
2023–24 18 8 2 0 7 2 13[i] 13 — 40 23
2024–25 4 3 0 0 0 0 3[i] 4 1[j] 2 8 9
Total 71 30 8 0 18 6 16 17 3 2 115 55
Career total 182 77 15 0 18 6 53 29 17 4 285 116
  1. ^ Includes Moroccan Throne Cup, UAE President's Cup
  2. ^ Includes UAE League Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in CAF Confederation Cup
  4. ^ One appearance in CAF Super Cup, two appearances in Arab Club Champions Cup
  5. ^ Appearances in CAF Champions League
  6. ^ Appearances in Arab Club Champions Cup
  7. ^ One appearance in CAF Champions League, eleven appearances and five goals in CAF Confederation Cup
  8. ^ Appearance in UAE Super Cup
  9. ^ a b Appearances in AFC Champions League
  10. ^ Appearance in FIFA Intercontinental Cup

International

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As of match played 21 October 2024[39]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Morocco 2021 2 0
2022 4 0
2024 8 2
Total 14 2
Scores and results list Morocco A's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rahimi goal.[39]
List of international goals scored by Soufiane Rahimi for Morocco
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 June 2024 Adrar Stadium, Agadir, Morocco   Congo 6–0 6–0 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 12 October 2024 Honor Stadium, Oujda, Morocco   Central African Republic 5–0 5–0 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rahimi goal.[39]
List of international goals scored by Soufiane Rahimi for Morocco A'
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

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Raja CA

Al Ain

Morocco

Morocco Olympic

Individual

Record

References

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  1. ^ a b c "FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021: List of players: Morocco" (PDF). FIFA. 4 December 2021. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  2. ^ Confederation Cup: Soufiane Rahimi scores twice as Morocco's Raja crush Vita Club 3–0 in final first-leg Archived 3 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. GhanaSoccernet.com.
  3. ^ Raja Casablanca win African Confederation Cup. Reuters.
  4. ^ "Raja beat Esperance to win Super Cup". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Soufiane Rahimi is interested in a Serie A club". Morocco Latest News. 3 June 2021. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Al Ahly target Soufiane Rahimi joins Emirati side Al Ain". kingfut.com. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  7. ^ "بالفيديو: رحيمي يسجل أول أهدافه بقميص العين الإماراتي". ar.le360.ma (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
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  13. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
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  20. ^ "CAF announces #CAFAwards24 Nominees for Men's Categories". CAF announces #CAFAwards24 Nominees for Men’s Categories. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
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  24. ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Two-goal hero Rahimi sends Morocco to CHAN final, Cameroon crash out". CAFOnline.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  25. ^ Football, CAF-Confedération Africaine du. "Morocco star Rahimi wins CHAN best player, top-scorer awards". CAFOnline.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
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  31. ^ "Fan invasion chaos mars Morocco win vs Argentina". ESPN.com. 24 July 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
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  35. ^ MASAITI, Amira EL (30 July 2024). "Rahimi breaks Moroccan football Olympic record". HESPRESS English - Morocco News. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
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  39. ^ a b c "Soufiane Rahimi". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
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  56. ^ Rahhou, Jihane. "Soufiane Rahimi Becomes All-Time Top Scorer for Morocco in Olympic Soccer". Morocco World News. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
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