Rahamat Riga Mustapha (born 10 October 1981) is a Ghanaian-born Dutch 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 last played as a striker for Pune F.C. in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

Club career

Born in Accra,

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, Mustapha began his career with

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 ...

side Vitesse as a youth and senior player. While with the Vitesse youth team, Mustapha actually worked under his future head coach at Sparta Rotterdam and

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, Mike Snoei. He also went out on loan to

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

while with Vitesse. He then left Vitesse in 2003 to sign for Sparta Rotterdam in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

. In his two seasons at Sparta, Mustapha scored a total of 30 goals. In 2005 Mustapha left Sparta Rotterdam and the Netherlands to sign for Levante UD of the Segunda División on a free transfer. Mustapha stayed at the club till 2008 when he signed for Bolton Wanderers of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

in England as a replacement for the departing

El Hadji Diouf El Hadji Ousseynou Diouf (; born 15 January 1981) is a Senegalese former professional footballer. Throughout his career, Diouf played as a winger or a forward. Having started his professional football career in France with Sochaux, Rennes ...

. However, after two and half seasons of failing to make an impact at Bolton, Mustapha was released by the club in January 2011 and eventually signed back in the Segunda División for Cartagena.

Pune

On 26 October 2013, after two seasons away from competitive football action, Mustapha signed for Pune F.C. of the

in India as a replacement for injured striker

Raúl Fabiani Raúl Iván Fabiani Bosio (born 23 February 1984) is an Equatoguinean footballer who plays as a centre forward for Spanish club CD Soneja. He spent most of his extensive career in Spain, representing Alcoyano in Segunda División. He also pl ...

. The move meant that he would reunite with his former coach Mike Snoei who is the current head coach of Pune. He made his debut for his new side on 2 November 2013 in a league match against Sporting Goa at the

Duler Stadium Duler Stadium is a football stadium located in Mapusa, Goa, India. It is the former home of local I-League clubs who participated in the highest level of football in the country. Dempo SC, Salgaocar FC, and Sporting Clube de Goa use the venue ...

. He played the full 90 minutes for Pune as the side went down 2–0. He then scored his first goal for Pune, and his career first since the

2007–08 La Liga The 2007–08 La Liga season, the 77th since its establishment, started on 25 August 2007 and finished on 18 May 2008. Real Madrid defended their La Liga title successfully after a 2–1 victory over Osasuna. This season, all European leagues end ...

season, against Salgaocar on 22 November 2013 from the penalty spot in the 60th minute to lead Pune to a 1–1 draw in the league. His second goal then came in the very next match against

Dempo Dempo Mining Corporation Limited is a prominent mining company from the western Indian state of Goa. The mineral business was founded by Mr. Vasantrao S. Dempo in 1941 along with his younger brother Mr. Vaikuntrao Dempo. Mr. Vasantrao S. Demp ...

on 27 November 2013 in which his 51st-minute strike lead Pune to another 1–1 draw. Then, in the month of December, Mustapha managed to find the net three times. His first goal that month came on the 11th against Rangdajied United in which he found the net in the 23rd minute to give Pune a 1–0 lead which they would eventually give up and lose 3–2. He then scored his second and third goals in the very next match against

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

in which his brace lead Pune to a 2–1 victory and a "man of the match" award for Mustapha.

International career

Despite being born in

, Mustapha has in the past represented the national youth teams of the Netherlands for over 90 times, making him one of few to have reached that mark.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustapha, Riga 1981 births Living people Footballers from Accra Dutch footballers SBV Vitesse players RBC Roosendaal players Sparta Rotterdam players Levante UD footballers Bolton Wanderers F.C. players FC Cartagena footballers Pune FC players Association football forwards Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Segunda División players La Liga players Premier League players I-League players Netherlands youth international footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in India Ghanaian emigrants to the Netherlands