Denis Lemi Zakaria Lako Lado (born 20 November 1996) is a Swiss 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 plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

for

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 ...

club

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, on loan from

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 Cop ...

club Juventus, and the Switzerland national team.

Club career

Servette

Born in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland, to Congolese father and South Sudanese mother, Zakaria first began playing for local club

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

Young Boys

Zakaria joined Young Boys in June 2015 for an undisclosed fee, signing a four-year contract. He made his Swiss Super League debut on 18 July 2015 against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

in 1–1 away draw replacing Alexander Gerndt after 79 minutes.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

In June 2017, Zakaria signed a five-year contract with Borussia Mönchengladbach. He was transferred as a replacement for

Mahmoud Dahoud Mahmoud Dahoud (born 1 January 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Borussia Dortmund and the Germany national team. He made his professional debut for Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2014, and, in ...

who left the club for

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 fo ...

. The transfer fee paid to Young Boys for Zakaria was reported as €10 million. Zakaria scored a total of 11 goals in 125 appearances for Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Juventus

On 31 January 2022, with six months remaining on his contract, Zakaria moved to

club Juventus on a four-and-a-half-year contract, in a deal worth €8.6 million. On 6 February, Zakaria scored on his debut in the 61st minute, helping his side beat

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

2–0.

Loan to Chelsea

On 1 September 2022, Zakaria was loaned to

club

until the end of the 2022–23 season with an option of a permanent transfer at the end of the season. On 2 November 2022, Zakaria made his Chelsea debut in the club's final UEFA Champions League group stage match, scoring the winning goal of a 2–1 victory against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

International career

Zakaria played for various Swiss youth national teams. He could have represented either Switzerland,

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

or Congo at a senior level due to being born in Switzerland and having a South Sudanese mother and a Congolese father. Zakaria made his debut for the senior Switzerland national team in a friendly 2–1 loss to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 28 May 2016. He was part of the squad for the 2016 European Championships. Zakaria was included in the 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In May 2019, Zakaria played in the 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, where his team finished fourth. He was named in the 26-man Swiss squad for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

. On 2 July 2021, he scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in the 8th minute of Switzerland's quarter-final match against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, which they went on to lose on penalties. His own goal is the fastest in European Championship history, breaking

Wojciech Szczęsny Wojciech Tomasz Szczęsny (; born 18 April 1990) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Juventus and the Poland national team. After starting his club career at Legia Warsaw, Szczęsny signed for Arsenal in Jan ...

’s record of 18 minutes vs Slovakia earlier in the same tournament.

Style of play

Due to his characteristics and playing style has led Zakaria to be compared with former France international

Patrick Vieira Patrick Vieira (born 23 June 1976) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Crystal Palace. He is widely considered as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. Vieira began his career at ...

as well as

Paul Pogba Paul Labile Pogba (born 15 March 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays for club Juventus and the France national team. He operates primarily as a central midfielder, but can be deployed as a left winger, attacking midfielder, d ...

. Zakaria has been described as a midfield powerhouse due to his pace, strength, athleticism and aggressive playing style. He is also known for being a composed passer and for making surging forward runs from midfield. Primarily a

, he is also capable of playing as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, in a holding role, or a box-to-box role, and has even played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Individual * Swiss Super League Team of the Year: 2016–17 *Swiss Super League Young Player of the Year: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zakaria, Denis 1996 births Living people Footballers from Geneva Swiss people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Swiss people of South Sudanese descent Swiss men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Servette FC players BSC Young Boys players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Juventus F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Bundesliga players Serie A players Premier League players Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Swiss expatriate footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swiss expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England