Axel Prohouly (born 30 June 1997) is a French 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

club

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

. Seen as a top prospect as a teenager, he was courted by

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and Chelsea. However, he ended up signing with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

from

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

in June 2015. He had a brief

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

spell with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

in January 2017 but left QPR twelve months later without having played a first-team game. He returned to France and had short spells with amateur clubs

Racing Club de France Racing Club de France, also known as RCF, is a French multi-sport club that was founded on 20 April 1882 under the name Racing Club. Racing Club changed its name to Racing Club de France (RCF) on 21 November 1885. The club is located at the Bois ...

, Lorient B,

Loon-Plage Loon-Plage (; ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 647 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The ...

and

Grande-Synthe Grande-Synthe (; ) is a commune in the Nord department in the Nord-Pas de Calais region in northern France. It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Dunkerque (Dunkirk) and lies adjacent to it on the west. History In 1980, a large par ...

. He signed with Slovenian club

Radomlje Radomlje (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 28.) is a settlement on the left bank of the Kamnik Bistrica River north of Domžale in t ...

, making his professional debut in February 2022 at 24. He returned to France later in the year to play for

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; ; Picard: ''Saint-Onmé'') is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Sa ...

. He won the

Régional 1 The Régional 1, formerly Division d'Honneur or Honneur Ligue is the common generic name for the highest level football league competitions run by each of the 13 Regional Leagues in France. Together, these league competitions serve as the six ...

with Calais in the 2023–24 season.

Club career

Queens Park Rangers

At the age of 13, Prohouly received offers from the youth academies of Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

and Chelsea in the English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. He spent five years as an amateur player with

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

, before signing a three-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

with English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

in June 2015. He scored five goals in 18 appearances for QPR's under-21 team in the 2015–16 season. On 31 January 2017, Prohouly signed with

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

until the end of the 2016–17 season. However, he failed to make an appearance at either QPR or Port Vale and ended his loan spell at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

early to return to

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

. He agreed to have his contract at Queens Park Rangers terminated in January 2018.

French amateur leagues

Prohouly turned down a contract offer from

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

in the hope of a more financially lucrative offer that never came. Before the second half of the 2018–19 season, he signed for

in the

. He played his first game in senior football on 16 February 2019, in a 0–0 draw with

Les Mureaux Les Mureaux () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the north-western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Population Transport Les Mureaux is served by Les ...

Stade Yves-du-Manoir The Stade Yves-du-Manoir (officially Stade olympique Yves-du-Manoir, also known as the Stade olympique de Colombes, or simply Colombes to the locals) is a rugby, track, and association football stadium in Colombes, near Paris, France. History ...

, and made two further appearances for the club. In 2019, he signed for

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...

team Lorient B. He scored his first career goal on 17 August 2019, during a 1–1 draw at Fleury 91. He rejected the chance to play in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

as he wanted his wife to be able to commute to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 2021, he signed for

. He helped the sixth-tier club to reach the Round of 64 in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

, where they were beaten by

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

Radomlje

Before the second half of the 2021–22 season, Prohouly signed for

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

side

. On 14 February 2022, he made his professional debut for Radomlje during a 4–0 win at

Aluminij Aluminij was a Bosnian aluminium manufacturing company with headquarters in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It operated from 1975 until 2020, when it was leased to the Israeli M.T. Abraham Group and since then has been operating as its subsidi ...

. He retained his place seven days later for the 4–1 defeat by

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

Domžale Sports Park Domžale Sports Park () or Domžale Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Domžale, Slovenia. It is currently used mostly for Association football, football matches and is the home ground of NK Domžale and NK Radomlje. The stadium was ...

Calais

On 29 June 2023, Prohouly signed for

club

. On 18 November, in the seventh round of the

2023–24 Coupe de France The 2023–24 Coupe de France was the 107th season of the main football cup competition of France. The competition was organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) and is open to all clubs in French football, as well as clubs from the overse ...

, Calais secured a 2–1 victory over ESC Longueau thanks to

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

goals from Prohouly and Claudio Beauvue, setting up a match against

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

side

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

in the following round. Calais achieved promotion to the

at the end of the 2023–24 season.

International career

Prohouly was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

at under-16 and under-19 level, winning the 2012 Tournoi du Val-de-Marne with the under-16s.

Style of play

Prohouly is primarily a central

, but can play anywhere across the midfield. He has good speed,

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

and heading skills.

Personal life

Prohouly married Jennifer, an Austrian model, in 2017.

Career statistics

Honours

Calais *

: 2023–24

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prohouly, Axel 1997 births Living people Footballers from Grasse French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers AS Monaco FC players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Racing Club de France Football players FC Lorient players Olympique Grande-Synthe players NK Radomlje players US Saint-Omer players RC Calais players Championnat National 3 players Championnat National 2 players Régional 1 players Slovenian PrvaLiga players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia 21st-century French sportsmen