Soufiane Rahimi

Soufiane Rahimi (Arabic: سفيان رحيمي; born 2 June 1996) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a forward for UAE Pro League club Al Ain and the Morocco national football team.

Soufiane Rahimi
Rahimi in 2021
Personal information
Full name Soufiane Rahimi[1]
Date of birth (1996-06-02) 2 June 1996[1]
Place of birth Casablanca, Morocco
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward, winger
Team information
Current team
 Al Ain
Number 21
Youth career
2006–2017 Raja CA
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2021 Raja CA 83 (30)
2017–2018 → EJS Casablanca (loan) 28 (17)
2021– Al Ain 66 (26)
International career‡
2021– Morocco A' 10 (6)
2021– Morocco 10 (1)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Morocco
African Nations Championship
Winner2020 Cameroon
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 02:24, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:00, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

Rahimi started his professional career playing for Raja CA, before being sent on a loan to Étoile de Casablanca. Rahimi then returned back to his former club after the end of his loan, helping the club win the 2019–20 Botola, the 2018 and 2021 CAF Confederation Cup and the 2019–20 Arab Club Champions Cup. He then signed with UAE Pro League side Al Ain FC.

A full international for Morocco since 2021, Soufiane represented the nation at the 2020 African Nations Championship, 2021 FIFA Arab Cup and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Rahimi was the top goalscorer of the 2020 African Nations Championship, with five goals.

Club career

Raja Club Athletic

Rahimi scored a total of four goals for Raja CA in 2018 CAF Confederation Cup campaign,[2] including two goals[3] in the final against AS Vita Club in Casablanca. This allowed them to qualify and play the 2019 CAF Super Cup against Espérance Sportive de Tunis; which then ended up winning after a 2–1 victory.[4]

He has been one of the highest performing players in his last two seasons in Botola, becoming a top pick for the Moroccan national team coach to join the local squad. He has been closely linked with a move to Europe, and has stated his ambition of joining the Serie A in press conferences.[5]

Al Ain

On 21 August 2021, he had played his last match with Raja CA in the 2020 Arab Club Champions Cup Final, therefore defeating Al-Ittihad in penalties; before transferring to Emirati club Al Ain.[6] On September 17, Rahimi scored his first goal for the club in a 4–1 victory against Al-Ittihad Kalba.[7][8] On 12 November 2022, Rahimi scored a double against Sharjah.[9] On 7 November 2023, Rahmi scored in a 3–2 victory against Al Fayha in the 2023–24 AFC Champions League to qualify his team into the Knock-out stages.[10] In the Round of 16, Rahimi scored the winning goal against Nasaf to qualify the team to the Quarter-finals.[11] Rahimi went on to score the winning goal in a 1–0 victory against Al Nassr in the first leg of the quarter-finals and two goals in the second leg.[12][13] On 15 March 2023, Rahimi scored his first ever hat-trick for the club in a 4–0 win against Ajman.[14] In the first leg of the 2023–24 AFC Champions League Semi-final, Rahimi scored a hat-trick in a 4–2 victory against Al Hilal SFC, putting an end to Al Hilal 34 game winning streak.[15][16][17] In the 2024 AFC Champions League final, Al Ain won 6–3 in aggregate against Yokohama F. Marinos, with Rahimi scoring a brace in the second leg, and winning the Most Valuable Player and Top scorer awards.[18]

International career

In 2018, Rahimi was called up to the Moroccan national A' team by Jamal Sellami.[19] Rahimi represented Morocco in the 2020 African Nations Championship, He scored a double in his third game of the group stages against Uganda.[20] He scored in the quarter-finals in a 3–1 victory against Zambia.[21] Morocco won an astonishing 4–0 in the semi-finals against Cameroon.[22] With this performance, Rahimi managed of scoring a total of five goals thus helping his country to achieve the title and becoming the first and only country to win the Championship back to back. He was awarded top scorer and best player of the tournament.[23]

Over two years after his last appearances with the national team, Rahimi was included in Morocco's squad for the friendlies against Angola and Mauritania in March 2024.[24][25] He came off the bench against Angola and helped create the own-goal by David Carmo. Morocco won 1–0.[26][27]

Personal life

Born in Casablanca, Soufiane Rahimi is the older brother of Houssine Rahimi, who is a footballer and a striker.

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 25 May 2024[28]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
EJS Casablanca 2017–18 Botola 3 2817————2817
Raja CA 2018–19 Botola 26640—16[lower-alpha 3]43[lower-alpha 4]04910
2019–20 281010—9[lower-alpha 5]35[lower-alpha 6]14314
2020–21 291420—12[lower-alpha 7]5715020
Total 833070—371215214244
Al Ain 2021–22 UAE Pro League 238—61——299
2022–23 26116053—1[lower-alpha 8]03814
2023–24 188207213[lower-alpha 9]13—4023
Total 67278018613131010746
Career total 178741501865025162277107
  1. Includes Moroccan Throne Cup, UAE President's Cup
  2. Includes UAE League Cup
  3. Appearances in CAF Confederation Cup
  4. One appearance in CAF Super Cup, two appearances in Arab Club Champions Cup
  5. Appearances in CAF Champions League
  6. Appearances in Arab Club Champions Cup
  7. One appearance in CAF Champions League, eleven appearances and five goals in CAF Confederation Cup
  8. Appearance in UAE Super Cup
  9. Appearances in AFC Champions League

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Morocco 202120
202240
202442
Total101
Scores and results list Morocco score listed first, score column indicates score after each Rahimi goal.
List of international goals scored by Soufiane Rahimi for Morocco
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
112 June 2024Adrar Stadium, Agadir, Morocco Congo6–06–02026 FIFA World Cup qualification
Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rahimi goal.
List of international goals scored by Soufiane Rahimi for Morocco A'[29]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
126 January 2021Stade de la Réunification, Douala, Cameroon Uganda2–15–22020 African Nations Championship
24–1
331 January 2021Stade de la Réunification, Douala, Cameroon  Zambia1–03–12020 African Nations Championship
43 February 2021Limbe Stadium, Limbe, Cameroon Cameroon2–04–02020 African Nations Championship
53–0
64 December 2021Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar Jordan4–04–02021 FIFA Arab Cup

Honours

Raja CA

Al Ain

Morocco

Individual

Record

References
  1. "FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021: List of players: Morocco" (PDF). FIFA. 4 December 2021. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  2. Confederation Cup: Soufiane Rahimi scores twice as Morocco's Raja crush Vita Club 3–0 in final first-leg Archived 3 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. GhanaSoccernet.com.
  3. Raja Casablanca win African Confederation Cup. Reuters.
  4. "Raja beat Esperance to win Super Cup". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  5. "Soufiane Rahimi is interested in a Serie A club". Morocco Latest News. 3 June 2021. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  6. "Al Ahly target Soufiane Rahimi joins Emirati side Al Ain". kingfut.com. 8 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  7. "بالفيديو: رحيمي يسجل أول أهدافه بقميص العين الإماراتي". ar.le360.ma (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  8. "رحيمي يسجل أول أهدافه مع العين ويقوده للفوز على اتحاد كلباء برباعية -فيديو". Le Site Info Arabe (in Arabic). 17 September 2021. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
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  10. "Group A: Al Fayha (KSA) 2-3 Al Ain FC (UAE)". the-AFC. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  11. "AFC Champions League: Soufiane Rahimi nets late winner as Al Ain edge Nasaf". the-AFC. Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  12. "AFC Champions League: Rahimi strike gives Al Ain advantage over Al Nassr". the-AFC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  13. "MSN". www.msn.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
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