Hany Abubakr Mukhtar (born 21 March 1995) is a German professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

in Major League Soccer.

Club career

Hertha BSC

Mukhtar began playing football at a very early age, initially for FC Stern Marienfelde. He was recruited into the youth academy of then-

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club Hertha BSC at the age of only seven. Rising through Hertha's ranks, he captained the club's U-17 squad to a Championship title in 2012. The following season, he joined Hertha's reserves, and was surprisingly called to the first team when Israeli international

Ben Sahar Ben Sahar ( he, בן שׂהר, changed the Hebrew spelling of his surname from ; born 10 August 1989) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a striker for Maccabi Haifa and the Israel national team. At 16, Sahar was the equivalent ...

missed a match for

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...

. In the final minute of the match against

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Ka ...

, Mukhtar came on as a substitute for

Ronny Ronny is a given name, sometimes a short form (hypocorism) of Ryan. It may refer to: * Ronny (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo * Ronny (footballer, born 1991), Brazilian footballer Ronieri da Silva P ...

, making him the second youngest professional debutant in Hertha's history.

Benfica

On 15 January 2015, Mukhtar signed for Portuguese champions Benfica until 2020. The transfer fee was believed to be €500,000 and Hertha BSC would allegedly participate in a potential resale. On 10 April 2015, Mukhtar debuted for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

and scored a goal in a home draw against Chaves (2–2) in Segunda Liga. On 23 May, he played his first match for the first team, as a substitute in a home win against Marítimo (4–1) in their last league match of the season. On 28 August 2015, he joined Austrian Red Bull Salzburg on a season-long loan deal. Salzburg were also granted a subsequent transfer option.

Brøndby

For the following season he was again loaned, this time to Danish club Brøndby IF. On 24 July 2016, he made his

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

debut by replacing

Andrew Hjulsager Andrew Hjulsager (born 15 January 1995) is a Danish professional footballer who plays for Belgian club Gent as an attacking midfielder. Career Brøndby IF On 25 October 2012, Hjulsager signed a two-year extension to his contract which tying hi ...

for the final fifteen minutes of a 2–0 away win over

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

. On 21 August, he scored his first goal for Brøndby in a 7–0 away rout over AGF. On 17 April 2017, Brøndby exercised their option to sign Mukhtar permanently from Benfica. Mukthar penned a four-year contract with Brøndby which tied him to the club until the summer 2021. On 22 April 2018, Mukhtar was awarded the Superliga Player of the Season, with him being named on the Superligaen Team of the Year by newspaper '' B.T.'' On 10 May 2018, Mukhtar played as Brøndby beat

3–1 in the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

final.

Nashville SC

On 27 August 2019, Mukhtar became the first

designated player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

franchise history. Although the transfer became official in August 2019, he remained at Brøndby IF until 1 January 2020. On 12 September 2020, Mukhtar scored his first goal for Nashville in a 2–1 win over

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

. On 17 July 2021, Mukhtar scored the first hat trick in Nashville SC history over

Chicago Fire FC (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. This was the fastest hat trick from the start of a game in MLS history;Mukhtar scores fastest hat trick in MLS history
''Bradenton Herald''/

The Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newsp ...

18 July 2021 Mukhtar scored in the 10th, 13th and 16th minutes. On 1 November 2022, Mukhtar was named the 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP after receiving 48.03% of total votes. Mukhtar led the league with 34 goal contributions (23 goals, 11 assists) in 2022, tied for the fifth-most in a single MLS season.

International career

A German youth international, Mukhtar scored the only and winning goal for the Germany U19 national team in the 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. On 1 June 2015, he scored a hat-trick for Germany's under-20 in an 8–1 win against Fiji in his first match at the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

Personal life

Mukhtar was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany, to a German mother (Ursula) and a Sudanese father. He has one elder brother. He is engaged to Ashley Gowder.

Career statistics

Club

Style of play

Mukhtar is a versatile attacking midfielder who is known for his technical abilities, creativity, and vision on the pitch. He is particularly adept at finding gaps in the opposition's defense and exploiting them with his quick turns and sharp changes of direction. He is also a good passer of the ball, with an eye for threading through balls and defense-splitting passes to his teammates. In addition to his attacking qualities, Mukhtar is also a hard-working player who is always willing to track back and help out his team defensively when needed. He is a good dribbler and can create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates with his excellent ball control.

Honours

Hertha BSC *

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Benfica * Primeira Liga: 2014–15 Red Bull Salzburg * Austrian Bundesliga: 2015–16 * Austrian Cup: 2015–16 Brøndby *

: 2017–18 Germany U19 * UEFA Under-19 Championship:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Individual * 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship: Team of the Tournament *

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

MLS Golden Boot The MLS Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "Audi Golden Boot") has been awarded since the 2005 season to Major League Soccer's regular–season leading scorer. The award replaced the MLS Scoring Champion Award that was awarded since the le ...

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a tr ...

* MLS Player of the Month: August 2022 * MLS Most Valuable Player:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mukhtar, Hany 1995 births Living people German people of Sudanese descent Footballers from Berlin German footballers Association football midfielders Hertha BSC II players Hertha BSC players S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers FC Red Bull Salzburg players Brøndby IF players Nashville SC players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Danish Superliga players Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Portugal German expatriate sportspeople in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Denmark German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate soccer players in the United States