Abdoul-Razak "Razak" Boukari (born 25 April 1987) is a Togolese 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 winger. He progressed from

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

to play top-level football in France for both

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

and

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

, before joining

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in 2012. In 2016, he returned to Châteauroux, playing for the club until 2022.

Club career

Early days

Boukari began his career with

, for whom his father

Sadou The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or lit. 'Hot water for tea') is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . The term "Japanese tea ceremony ...

also played. He made his professional debut during the 2004–05 season in

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 ...

, ending the campaign with two goals from his fourteen appearances. In the following season he became regular player and caught the eye of several top division clubs, such as

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

and

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, ...

Ligue 1 moves

In June 2006 he signed a five-year contract with

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

. He played 29 league games for Lens in his first year and 19 in his second season but could not prevent the club from being relegated. Promised more playing time, Boukari remained after relegation to be part of the team that won promotion back to the top flight as Ligue 2 champions in 2009–10. In January 2011 he left Lens to sign for fellow Ligue 1 club

for €4.5 million in a four-and-a-half-year deal. He scored four goals for his new club in 18 games, most of them as a starter, before injury kept him out for the remainder of the season. However, he lost his starting position during the following campaign to

Jonathan Pitroipa Beninwende Yann Jonathan Pitroipa (born 12 April 1986) is a Burkinabé former professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger. Since making his debut for Burkina Faso in 2006, he has featured ...

. This situation was compounded by suffering from a torn left thigh injury in January 2012, which kept Boukari on the sidelines for four weeks. He did though manage 20 appearances for the club, 13 of them as a substitute and scored three goals as Rennes finished in 6th place.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Boukari moved to

of the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

on 27 August 2012, signing a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee. Only weeks before, Boukari had spent time on trial at newly promoted

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 ...

side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, but they instead opted to buy Wolverhampton Wanderers winger

Matt Jarvis Matthew Thomas Jarvis (born 22 May 1986) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. Jarvis began his professional career with Gillingham F.C., Gillingham, making his English F ...

, opening up a position at Wolverhampton Wanderers for Boukari to eventually fill. After a promising start to the season, Boukari was substituted during a 1–0 win over

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on 29 September 2012, after suffering a calf injury. It was subsequently reported that he would be out of action for three to six weeks, but it was later reported he wouldn't be fit until Autumn 2013. On 12 August 2013, Ligue 1 side

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

announced that Boukari was to spend a week on trial with them, with a view to a season-long loan deal. Although it was reported after this initial week that the player could not agree terms, on 27 August, a loan deal to cover the 2013–14 season was completed. His time with Sochaux was again impaired by injury problems, making only ten appearances (all as substitute), as the team suffered relegation.

International career

Boukari, who holds dual citizenship with Togo and France, made his France U21 debut against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on 14 November 2006. In July 2010, he confirmed with the

Togolese Football Federation The Togolese Football Federation () or FTF is the governing body of football in Togo. In 2006, the Togo national football team participated for first time in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Staff * President: Col.Kossi Gbézondé AKPOVY * 1st Vice ...

to represent Togo thereafter. From 2010 to 2018, Boukari played for the Togo national team.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

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

Honours

Lens *

: 2008–09 *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

runner-up:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Châteauroux *

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

: 2016–17 France U21 *

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* *
FFF
national team stats. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boukari, Abdoulrazak 1987 births Living people Footballers from Lomé Togolese men's footballers Togo men's international footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers French sportspeople of Togolese descent Black French sportspeople Men's association football wingers Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players English Football League players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 3 players LB Châteauroux players RC Lens players Stade Rennais FC players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Togolese expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Togolese expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century French sportsmen