Edgar Paul Akouokou (born 20 December 1997) is an Ivorian 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 defensive midfielder 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

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

and the

Ivory Coast national football team The Ivory Coast national football team ( French: ''Équipe de football de Côte d'Ivoire'', recognized as the Côte d'Ivoire by FIFA) represents Ivory Coast in men's international football. Nicknamed ''the Elephants'', the team is managed by ...

Club career

Early career

Akouokou started his career with Finnish side

Ekenäs IF Ekenäs Idrottsförening (abbreviated EIF or Ekenäs IF) is a sports club from Ekenäs, Raseborg in Finland. EIF was formed in 1905 and they are one of the oldest clubs in the south-west of Finland. The men's football first team currently pla ...

in 2016. In January 2017, he went on a trial at

side Angers SCO, On 27 August 2017, Akouokou moved to Israeli Premier League side

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply as Beitar (), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Jeru ...

, on loan until May 2018. The following 1 February, after being sparingly used, he moved to Hapoel Rishon LeZion of the Liga Leumit, also in a temporary deal.

Betis

On 21 November 2018, Akouokou switched teams and countries again after agreeing to a deal with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

; he was initially assigned to the reserves in

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. On 10 September 2020, after helping the B-team achieve promotion to

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

, he renewed his contract until 2024 and was promoted to the first team. Akouokou made his

debut on 20 September 2020, replacing goalscorer

William Carvalho William Silva de Carvalho (born 7 April 1992) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Real Betis and the Portugal national team. He spent most of his career with Sporting CP since making h ...

late into a 2–0 home win over

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

Lyon

On 1 September 2023, Akouokou signed a four-year contract with

side

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Betis *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the Real Betis website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akouokou, Paul 1997 births Living people Footballers from Abidjan Ivorian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Ykkönen players Ekenäs IF players Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. players La Liga players Tercera División players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Olympique Lyonnais players Ivory Coast men's international footballers Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in France