Mikael Ishak (born 31 March 1993) is a Swedish 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 le ...

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

descent who plays as a striker for

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

club

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

. Beginning his career with

Assyriska FF Assyriska Fotbollsföreningen, also known simply as Assyriska FF, is a Swedish football club based in Södertälje, Stockholm County. The club, formed in 1974 by Assyrian immigrants, has advanced through the league system and is currently playin ...

in 2010, he has gone on to play professionally in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, and Poland. A full international since 2015, he has won seven caps and scored one goal for the Sweden national team. He represented the Sweden Olympic team at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Club career

Early life and career

Ishak's parents migrated from

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. He was born in Södertälje, Sweden and started his professional career at

, where he was included in the first team in 2010.

1. FC Köln

In December 2011, Ishak was signed by German Bundesliga club

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

after a successful trial. He made his debut for the side on 21 January 2012 in a 0–1 away defeat at VfL Wolfsburg, where he came on as a substitute in the 85th minute for Martin Lanig. After being used mostly as a substitute during his first month in Köln, Ishak made his first start for the club on 18 March following a suspension for regular

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Lukas Podolski, playing the entire match in a 1–4 away loss at

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

. Ishak would make 11 appearances for 1. FC Köln during his first season.

Loan to FC St. Gallen

In February 2013, Ishak signed a six-month loan deal with Swiss club FC St. Gallen, who had recently been promoted to the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, in order to play more. He became a regular starter for the club, before suffering a mandibular fracture in a match for the Sweden under-21 team. Ishak made his return in late-April as a substitute in a match 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 ...

, before becoming a full-time starter again the following week. He made a total of 13 league appearances for St. Gallen, in which he scored three goals.

Parma

Ishak joined Italian Serie A club Parma on a four-year contract on 5 August 2013.

Loan to Crotone

He was loaned out to

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

, competing in the Serie B, following his arrival. He made his debut for Crotone on 24 August 2013 in a match against Siena. On 24 September, he scored his first goal for the side in a 3–1 home win over

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

Randers

In August 2014, a year after joining Parma, Ishak moved to Danish Superliga club Randers FC, signing a three-year contract. He would play for the club for two-and-a-half years, scoring 31 goals in 71 league appearances.

1. FC Nürnberg

After a highly successful stay at Randers, Ishak joined German

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

in January 2017, six months before his contract expired. He scored Nürnberg's 1000th goal in the 2. Bundesliga on 25 November 2017 in a match against

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

. At the end of the 2017–18 season, he reached promotion to the Bundesliga with the club. Ishak scored his first goal in the Bundesliga on 1 September 2018, an important equalizer in the away game against Mainz 05, which ended 1–1.

Lech Poznań

In July 2020, he was transferred to

on a free transfer. In addition to playing in Polish

, he also played in the UEFA Europa League games. He was the best Lech's scorer of this competitions; scoring five goals when facing Benfica and Standard Liège.

International career

Youth

Ishak represented the Sweden U21 team at the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

, and played in four games as Sweden won the entire tournament. He was also a part of the Sweden Olympic team that competed at the

in Rio, and scored in a group stage game against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

before Sweden was knocked after only three games.

Senior

Ishak made his full international debut for the Sweden national team on 15 January 2015 in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

2–0 win against the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, coming on as a substitute for Isaac Kiese Thelin in the 82nd minute. He scored his first international goal for Sweden on 6 January 2016 in a 1–1 tie with Estonia. Ishak made his competitive international debut for Sweden on 24 September 2022 in a

2022–23 UEFA Nations League B The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B was the second division of the 2022–23 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the third season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. ...

game against Serbia, coming on as a substitute for Dejan Kulusevski in the 85th minute of a 1–4 loss.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Lech Poznań *

: 2021–22 Sweden U21 * UEFA European Under-21 Championship:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Individual *

Player of the Month: May 2022 *

Forward of the Season: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ishak, Mikael 1993 births Living people Footballers from Stockholm County Sportspeople from Södertälje Swedish people of Assyrian/Syriac descent Men's association football forwards Swedish men's footballers Assyrian footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish people of Syrian descent Superettan players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Swiss Super League players Serie B players Danish Superliga players Ekstraklasa players Assyriska FF players 1. FC Köln players 1. FC Köln II players FC St. Gallen players Parma Calcio 1913 players FC Crotone players Randers FC players 1. FC Nürnberg players Lech Poznań players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Sweden