Elie El-Zakhem is a Lebanon international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. He has previously played for the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

, the Parramatta Eels, the Sydney Roosters and the North Sydney Bears in the NSW Cup.

Club career

North Sydney Bears

On 24 September 2023, El-Zakhem played for North Sydney in their 2023 NSW Cup grand final loss against South Sydney.

Castleford Tigers

On 29 September 2023, the

announced the signing of El-Zakhem on a two-year deal from the

2024 Super League season Super League XXIX, known as the 2024 Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the 29th season of the Super League and 130th season of rugby league in Great Britain. Wigan Warriors are the defending champions, having beaten Catalans ...

. He would be joining his Lebanon teammate

Charbel Tasipale Charbel Tasipale is a Lebanon international rugby league footballer who plays as a forward or for the Newtown Jets in the NSW Cup. He was released from his contract with Castleford Tigers in June 2024, after returning home on compassionate ...

at the Tigers upon recommendation from former Castleford player Jordan Rankin. El-Zakhem was assigned squad number 11 ahead of the 2024 season. He made his

debut for Castleford in round 1 against the Wigan Warriors.

International career

El-Zakhem made his international debut for Lebanon in their 56-14 loss to

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in the 2019 Pacific Test. In September 2022, El-Zakhem was named in the Lebanon squad for the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

. He featured in every game for the Cedars, making 4 appearances and scoring 2 tries.

References

External links

Canterbury-Bankstown profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zakhem, Elie 1998 births Living people Australian rugby league players Castleford Tigers players Lebanon national rugby league team players North Sydney Bears players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Australian expatriate sportspeople in Lebanon