Ikoma-Loïs Openda (born 16 February 2000) is a Belgian 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 le ...

who plays as a striker for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

and the Belgium national team.

Club career

Openda played as a youth for Patro Othee FC and

RFC Liège Royal Football Club de Liège (more commonly known as RFC Liège) is a professional football club based in Liège, Belgium. It currently plays in the Belgian First Amateur Division. Its matricule is 4, meaning that it was the fourth club to regi ...

before joining the youth academy of

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. In 2015, he moved to the academy of

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

, where he made his senior debut on 10 August 2018 in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

against

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

. Openda replaced

Jelle Vossen Jelle Vossen (born 22 March 1989) is a Belgian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Belgian First Division A club S.V. Zulte Waregem, Zulte Waregem. Club career RC ...

after 80 minutes. On 21 July 2020, Openda joined Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club Vitesse on a season-long loan deal. He scored his first goal for the club on 3 October, in a 3–0 win over

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

. Vitesse reached the final of the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

, but lost 1–2 to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

. Openda scored the only goal for the

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

-based team. In June 2021, Openda rejoined Vitesse on loan for another season. On 6 July 2022,

announced the signing of Openda on a five year deal from Club Brugge.

International career

On 18 May 2022 Openda was named to the squad for the four 2022–23 UEFA Nations League matches on 3, 8, 10 and 13 June 2022 against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(twice) and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

respectively. He played again against Wales in the UEFA Nations League on 13 September 2022.

Personal life

Openda was born in Belgium and is of Moroccan and Portuguese descent.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first.

Honours

Club Brugge *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

Player of the Month: May 2022 *

Team of the Month: May 2022

References

External links

* * * 2000 births Living people Footballers from Liège Belgian footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgium youth international footballers Belgian sportspeople of Moroccan descent Belgian people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Association football forwards Club Brugge KV players SBV Vitesse players RC Lens players Belgian First Division A players Eredivisie players Ligue 1 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub