Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor (born 24 May 2000) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

and winger for Italian club

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and the Switzerland national team.

Club career

Basel

Okafor played his first youth football with local team FC Arisdorf. In 2009 he moved to the youth of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

and continued through all the stages of their youth academy. He advanced to their first team during their 2018–19 season and on 31 January 2018, Okafor signed his first professional contract with his club under head coach

Raphaël Wicky Raphaël Wicky (born 26 April 1977) is a Swiss football coach and a former defender. He was most recently the manager of Swiss Super League club Young Boys, whom he led to a domestic double. He was a defensive midfielder who could also play i ...

. He played his debut for their first team on 19 May 2018 in the home game against

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (). It is best known for its professional association football, football team, which plays in the Swiss Super League, Super League, the top tier of the ...

. The trainer substituted him in for the injured

Mohamed Elyounoussi Mohamed Amine Elyounoussi (; born 4 August 1994), nicknamed Moi (), is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or Winger for Danish Superliga club Copenhagen. Born in Morocco, he plays for the Norway national team. Early life Elyou ...

in the 34th minute and the game ended in a 2–2 draw. He scored his first goal for his club in the second round of the 2018–19 season on 28 July 2018 in the 1–1 away draw against Xamax. Under trainer

Marcel Koller Marcel Martin Koller (born 11 November 1960) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Al Ahly in the Egyptian Premier League. Playing career Born in Zürich, Koller played his entire car ...

Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

1–0. In the quarter-finals

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

. Striker

Albian Ajeti Albian Afrim Ajeti (born 26 February 1997) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a striker for Swiss Super League club Basel. He has previously played for FC Basel (two spells), FC Augsburg, St. Gallen, West Ham United, Celtic, Stur ...

scored the first goal,

Fabian Frei Fabian Frei (born 8 January 1989) is a former Swiss professional footballer who primarily played as a defensive midfielder and a centre-back. He is best known for holding the records for most appearances in competitive games for giants FC Basel ...

the second for Basel, then

Dejan Sorgić Dejan Sorgić ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Соргић; born 15 September 1989) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a forward for Sion. Career On 20 July 2016, he joined Thun on a two-year contract. In October 2021, Sorgić returned t ...

netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel. Okafor played in four cup games and scored a goal in the semi-final against Zürich. Between the years 2017 and 2020 Okafor played a total of 72 games for Basel scoring a total of nine goals. 39 of these games were in 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 ...

, seven in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, eight in the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 18 were friendly games. He scored three goals in the domestic league, two in the cup, two in the European competitions and the other two were scored during the test games.

Red Bull Salzburg

On 31 January 2020, Okafor signed for Red Bull Salzburg. On 8 December 2021, Okafor scored the only goal of the game as Salzburg defeated

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

in the final group stage match of the Champions League. The win meant Salzburg secured progression to the Round of 16 and became the first-ever Austrian club to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. On 7 September 2022, during a Champions League group stage match against

, Okafor scored a remarkable goal, leading the match to a 1–1 draw. After outmaneuvering Milan's defender

Pierre Kalulu Pierre Kazeye Rommel Kalulu Kyatengwa (; born 5 June 2000) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Juventus and the France national team. Having played for most of his youth career as a right-back, he began to play ...

and goalkeeper

Mike Maignan Mike Peterson Maignan (; born 3 July 1995) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Serie A club AC Milan, which he captains, and the France national football team, ...

with a 'gurkerl' trick shot, his goal landed in the bottom right corner of the net, sparking widespread celebrations in the stadium.

AC Milan

On 22 July 2023, Okafor signed for 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 ...

side

until 30 June 2028. Okafor made his Serie A debut for AC Milan on 21 August 2023 against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. On 27 September 2023, Okafor scored his first goal for the Rossoneri in a 3–1 away victory against

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

. Three days later, he scored the second goal against

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

in 2–0 win. His third goal of the season came on 17 December against

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, when he scored his team's third goal in a comfortable 3–0 win. On 20 January 2024, he came off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner against

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

, it was the first win for AC Milan in the former's stadium since 2020. On 17 August 2024, Okafor netted his first goal of the 2024–25 season in the opening match, which ended in a 2–2 draw against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. In January 2025, his loan move to

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

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

was canceled after he failed a medical examination due to a muscular injury.

Loan to Napoli

On 3 February 2025, Okafor joined Serie A club

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

on loan until the end of the 2024–25 season, with an option of a permanent transfer. On May 23, 2025, Noah won his first trophy in Italy, the fourth Scudetto in Napoli's history. His presence in the squad was thought to be unnecessary as he only featured in four matches under coach

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional Association football, football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of Serie A club Napoli. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the wo ...

International career

Okafor played various international games for the Swiss U-15 and U-17 teams. He played his first game for the U-18 team on 9 May 2018 in the 1–1 draw against the Italy U-18 team. Okafor made his debut for the senior national team debut on 9 June 2019 in the 2019 UEFA Nations League third place game against England, as an 113th-minute substitute for

Haris Seferovic Haris Seferovic (, ; born 22 February 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a striker for UAE Pro League club Al-Nasr. Seferovic made his professional debut at Grasshopper in April 2009. Shortly afterwards, in January 2010, he ...

. He scored his first international goal for Switzerland on 15 November 2021, in their World Cup qualifying game against

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 ...

, a win which secured automatic qualification for Switzerland to the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Personal life

Born in

Binningen, Switzerland Binningen (Swiss German: ''Binnige'') is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. It is nestled in a valley, on a plateau, and on two hills overlooking the city of Basel. History ...

, Okafor is the son of a Nigerian

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...

father and a Swiss mother. His younger brothers Elijah and Isaiah are also footballers, playing respectively for FC Lugano II and the Under 21 of

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Basel *

: 2018–19 Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2019–20,

, 2021–22 AC Milan *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

: 2024–25 Napoli *

: 2024–25 Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the AC Milan website
Profile
at the Swiss Football Association website (in German) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okafor, Noah 2000 births Footballers from Basel-Landschaft Living people Swiss men's footballers Swiss people of Nigerian descent People of Igbo descent Men's association football midfielders Switzerland men's international footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Swiss Super League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Serie A players FC Basel players FC Red Bull Salzburg players AC Milan players SSC Napoli players 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Igbo sportspeople Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Austria 21st-century Swiss sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy