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 lea ...

who plays as a forward for and captains

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club Lech Poznań. Beginning his career with Assyriska FF 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 (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Club career

Early life and career

Ishak's parents were Assyrian migrants from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. He was born in

Södertälje Södertälje ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Stockholm County, Sweden and seat of Södertälje Municipality. It is also a part of Stockholm urban area, Greater Stockholm Metropolitan Area. As of 2020, it has 73,872 inhabitants. Södert� ...

, Sweden and started his professional career at Assyriska FF, where he was included in the first team in 2010.

1. FC Köln

In December 2011, Ishak was signed by German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club 1. FC Köln after a successful trial. He made his debut for the side on 21 January 2012 in a 1–0 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

Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , 4 June 1985) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or attacking midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. He is kno ...

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

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

. 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 Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

, 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, 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 The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

on a four-year contract on 5 August 2013.

Loan to Crotone

He was loaned out to

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

, competing in the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, following his arrival. He made his debut for Crotone on 24 August 2013 in a match against

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

. On 24 September, he scored his first goal for the side in a 3–1 home win over

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) 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 Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

Randers

In August 2014, a year after joining Parma, Ishak moved to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club Randers FC, signing a three-year contract. He played 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 club 1. FC Nürnberg 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. At the end of the 2017–18 season, he reached promotion to the

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

On 14 July 2020, Ishak joined Polish club Lech Poznań on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract. He was given the shirt number 9, previously worn by the outgoing Danish striker Christian Gytkjær. In his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

in Poland, despite missing over a dozen games due to health issues, he was Lech's top scorer with 20 goals, including two strikes against Benfica and three goals against

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stages. Despite missing out on European competitions, the 2021–22 campaign was successful for both Lech and Ishak, who improved both health-wise and stats-wise. Named captain before the start of the season, the Swedish striker scored 18 league goals to lead Lech to their eighth

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

, including a 88th-minute winner against Piast Gliwice on 8 May 2022, which put Lech on top of the league table with two games to go. Ishak opened the 2022–23 campaign season by scoring the only goal in a UEFA Champions League first qualifying round match against Azerbaijani side Qarabağ on 5 July 2022. Although marred by health concerns throughout the season, he appeared in all but one of Lech's twenty games across their European campaign, scoring nine goals as the Poznań outfit reached the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

quarter-finals. In November 2022, he extended his deal until the end of June 2025, reportedly becoming the highest-earning player in Ekstraklasa at the time. With 20 goals to his name across all competitions, he was the club's best scorer for the third season in a row. On 13 April 2024, Ishak became Lech's top foreign scorer of all time, taking the title away from Gytkjær, after scoring his 66th goal in a 2–1 away loss against Puszcza Niepołomice. Later that year, on 5 November, he signed a new contract, keeping him at the club until mid-2027.

International career

Youth

Ishak represented the Sweden U21 team at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, 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 primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

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 2–0 win against the

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

, 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 Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. Ishak made his competitive international debut for Sweden on 24 September 2022, in a 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B game against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

, 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, 2024–25 Sweden U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual *Ekstraklasa Player of the Month: May 2022 *Ekstraklasa Forward of the Season: 2021–22 *''Piłka Nożna'' Foreigner of the Year: 2022

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ishak, Mikael 1993 births Living people Footballers from Södertälje Swedish people of Assyrian 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 21st-century Swedish sportsmen