Mohammed Kudus (born 2 August 2000) is a Ghanaian 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 midfielder for

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

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 ...

and the Ghana national team.

Club career

Nordsjælland

Kudus arrived at Danish club

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...

from the Ghanaian

Right to Dream Academy Right to Dream is a Ghanaian football academy. The academy started in 1999 training a small number of boys in Accra and grew into a residential school and training center. As of 2021 it was owned by Mansour Group. History Right to Dream Academy ...

, which he joined at the age of 10, in January 2018 together with two teammates, Ibrahim Sadiq and Gideon Mensah. Kudus made his official debut for Nordsjælland only three days after his 18th birthday, in a 2–0 defeat against

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

. He played from the first minute as a striker, but was replaced in the half-time. With his debut, he became the ninth youngest to make his debut in the history of the club.

Ajax

On 16 July 2020, Kudus signed for

club

for €9 million, on a five-year contract. He made his official debut for the club on 20 September in a league match against

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

. Head coach

Erik ten Hag Erik ten Hag (, born 2 February 1970) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Premier League club Manchester United. As a player, Ten Hag played as a centre-back in the Dutch league for 13 years ...

subsequently called Kudus as a player with "incredible potential". He continued his strong performances, scoring one goal and providing three assists in his first three appearances. His debut in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

for the home match against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 21 October 2020, however, it was unfortunate. Kudus was subbed out after only six minutes, as he suffered a

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: *Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity *Meniscus (liquid) The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...

injury, keeping him out for several months. On 7 September 2022, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 4–0 win over Rangers.

International career

Since 2019, he has been a part of the Ghana national team and scored several goals. His biggest moment came in the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, where he scored 2 goals, cementing a 3–2 win over the opposing team.

Personal life

Kudus is an ethnic

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also * ...

and is a Muslim.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ghana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kudus goal.''

Honours

Ajax *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 *

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 ...

Individual *

Talent of the Month: May 2021 * SWAG Foreign Footballer of the Year: 2021 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Men’s CAF Team of the Year: 2022 *

CAF Youth Team of the Year: 2020

References

External links

* 2000 births Living people Footballers from Accra Ghanaian footballers Ghanaian Muslims Hausa people Ghanaian expatriate footballers Ghana international footballers Ghana youth international footballers Ghana under-20 international footballers Association football midfielders Right to Dream Academy players FC Nordsjælland players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players Danish Superliga players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands 21st-century Ghanaian people {{Ghana-footy-bio-stub