Rafik Zekhnini (born 12 January 1998) is a Norwegian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

club

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the ...

Career

Zekhnini started his career at Herøya IL, before joining the youth academy of Odds BK in 2013. He signed a professional contract with the club 12 January 2015, and made his debut in a cup match in April the same year. He made his league debut 12 July, against Rosenborg, and scored his first goal, two weeks later, in extra time against

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

. Zekhnini had his big breakthrough during the play-off matches in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualification against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

in August 2015. He got an assist after just 16 seconds in the first play-off match at

Skagerak Arena The Skagerak Arena is a football stadium located in Skien, Norway. It was formerly called Odd Stadion, and was built in 1923 as the home ground of Eliteserien club Odd. The stadium is often referred to as ''Falkum'', being situated in that area ...

. After those matches, he received a lot of attention from several big clubs, including

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. On 16 July 2017, Zekhnini signed a five-year contract with the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

for a reported fee of €1.5 million. On 4 April 2018, he returned to Norway to join Rosenborg on loan until the end of the Serie A season. On 29 August 2018, Zekhnini was loaned to the Dutch second tier team

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germ ...

on a season-long loan. Zekhnini did a good performance during his one year loan playing in the Dutch second tier league.

won the league and was promoted to play in the

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 ...

in the 2019-20 season. In July 2019,

announced that Zekhnini would spend another year on loan from

Personal life

Zekhnini is of Moroccan descent.

Career statistics

Honours

Molde *

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

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zekhnini, Rafik 1998 births Living people Footballers from Skien Men's association football wingers Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Odds BK players ACF Fiorentina players Rosenborg BK players FC Twente players FC Lausanne-Sport players Molde FK players Eliteserien players Serie A players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Swiss Super League players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Norwegian people of Moroccan descent