Erdal Rakip ( mk, Ердал Ракип; born 13 February 1996) is a 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 for Turkish club

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...

as a

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 ...

. Born in Sweden, he represents the North Macedonia national team.

Club career

Malmö FF

Rakip made his

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

debut for

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Associatio ...

in an away fixture against

IF Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish football club located in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality. Brommapojkarna is ...

Grimsta IP Grimsta IP is a multi-use stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure de ...

on 1 June 2013. On 17 June 2013, Rakip signed a two and a half year youth contract with Malmö FF until the end of the 2015 season. On 15 July 2014 Rakip signed a first team contract with Malmö FF for three and a half additional years at the club. The

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

season saw more playing time for Rakip as he made 15 appearances for the club. He also participated in play during the group stage of the 2014–15 and

2015–16 UEFA Champions League The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were t ...

Benfica

After his contract with Malmö expired at the end of the 2017 Swedish season, Rakip signed for Portuguese champions Benfica.

Loan to Crystal Palace

Before playing any games for them, he was loaned out for the rest of the 2017–18 season to English club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. Rakip ultimately did not end up playing in any games, but was an unused substitute for Crystal Palace in

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 Foo ...

fixtures against Everton,

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthams ...

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 ...

Return to Malmö FF

On 11 February 2019, without having played any match for Benfica,

announced Rakip's return to the Swedish club, reportedly for a €500,000 transfer fee, with Benfica being entitled to fifty per cent of a future transfer.

Antalyaspor

On 20 January 2023, Rakip signed a 2.5-year contract with

in Turkey.

International career

Rakip entered his first international tournament at the

2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates between 17 October and 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, cla ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...

where Sweden won a bronze medal, he scored his first international goal against Honduras in the quarter final. Rakip played six out of seven matches for Sweden during the tournament and scored one goal, he missed the first group stage match against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

due to a previous suspension. Rakip holds the citizenship of Sweden and North Macedonia and is of Turkish and Albanian descent. He debuted with the North Macedonia national team in a 4–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tourn ...

win over

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

on 8 October 2021.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Malmö FF *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, 2016,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams co ...

: 2021–22 *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

Sweden U17 *

: Third place

References

External links

Malmö FF profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rakip, Erdal 1996 births Living people Footballers from Skåne County Men's association football midfielders Macedonian men's footballers North Macedonia men's international footballers Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Swedish people of Macedonian descent Swedish people of Albanian descent Swedish people of Turkish descent Macedonian people of Albanian descent Macedonian people of Turkish descent Malmö FF players S.L. Benfica footballers Crystal Palace F.C. players Antalyaspor footballers Allsvenskan players Süper Lig players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in England Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey