Rubin Rafael Okotie (; born 6 June 1987) is an Austrian former 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 played as a forward. Having moved to Austria at the age of six, Okotie began his playing career with Austria Vienna. He made his professional debut in 2007 and went on to make over 50 appearances for the club before joining German side 1. FC Nürnberg. Okotie spent a season at Nürnberg, and another season on loan with Belgian side

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

before returning to Austria to sign for

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

. A season-and-a-half later he returned to Austria Vienna where following which he had a loan stint with

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

in Denmark. In 2014 he signed for

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...

where he scored 21 goals in 57 appearances before joining Beijing Enterprises Group, where he spent a full season. In 2018, he joined his final club, Belgian outfit

K Beerschot VA Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen (), or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional Association football, football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the top tier Belgian Pro League, Pro League after promotion from second tie ...

, before hanging up his boots. Okotie also represented the Austria national team at senior level and was part of Austria's squad at the 2016 UEFA European Championship.

Early life and career

Okotie was born in the Pakistani city of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

to an Austrian mother and Nigerian father. Soon after his birth, his family moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in Spain before immigrating to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

when he was four-years old. Okotie joined his first football club two years later before signing for the

Rapid Vienna Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English language, English, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian cham ...

academy at the age of ten. Three years later, he left to join club rivals Austria Vienna, where he later made his professional debut.

Club career

Austria Vienna

Okotie quickly progressed through the Frank-Stronach-Fußballakademie at Austria Vienna and was playing in the second division with the reserve side at the age of seventeen. In 2007, he made his professional debut for the club against

SV Ried SV Ried, commonly known as SV Guntamatic Ried for sponsorship reasons, is an Austrian association football club based in Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria. The team plays its home matches at Josko Arena, a stadium with a capacity of 7,680. The t ...

before scoring his first goal the following year in a 3–1 win over

FC Red Bull Salzburg Fußballclub Red Bull Salzburg, commonly known as simply Red Bull Salzburg, is an Austrian professional Association football, football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Football in Austria ...

. At the end of his debut campaign with the club he was recognized with the

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 ...

's Young Star of the Season award. The following season he scored the opening goal in the

2008–09 Austrian Cup The 2008–09 Austrian Cup (, also ''Stiegl-Cup'' for sponsoring purposes) was the 75th season of Austria's nationwide football cup competition. It started on July 18, 2008 with the first game of the preliminary round. The final was held at the P ...

final to help ''Die Veilchen'' to a 3–1 victory over Trenkwalder Admira, and thereby claim the title. During the 2009–10 Austrian Football Bundesliga season, he suffered a serious knee injury which ruled him out for seven months, and limited him to just seven appearances for the season. During his time on the sidelines, Okotie was approached by 1. FC Nürnberg who assisted him in locating a doctor to help him in the recovery process and at the end of the season he signed for the German club, departing Austria with a return of 21 goals in 57 league appearances.

1. FC Nürnberg

On 30 May 2010, Okotie signed a three-year contract with 1. FC Nürnberg, who had secured promotion to the

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 ...

through the previous season's play-offs. He struggled at the club, however, due in part to injury and illness, and managed to feature in just four appearances during his debut season. He spent the following season on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

in Belgium with

, where he scored once in ten appearances, before leaving to join

Sturm Graz

Okotie failed to feature for Nürnberg again following the expiration of his loan with Sint-Truiden and in January 2012 returned to Austria to join

, initially on a season-long loan. He scored two goals in thirteen appearances on loan before signing for the club permanently on a free transfer at the end of the season. He scored 12 goals across all competitions during the following season's campaign before leaving the club to rejoin Austria Vienna.

Return to Austria Vienna

Okotie returned to Austria Vienna ahead of the 2013–14 campaign but scored only once in thirteen appearances during the course of the season. Following discord with club manager

Nenad Bjelica Nenad Bjelica (; born 20 August 1971) is a Croatian professional Association football, football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb. Club career Born in Osijek, Bjelica st ...

he left to join Danish side

on loan. He made 15 appearances during his spell in Denmark and scored eleven goals.

1860 Munich

After a loan spell with SønderjyskE expired, Okotie joined 2. Bundesliga side

on 2 July 2014 on a two-year contract. He spent two seasons with in Munich during which time he scored 25 goals in 64 appearances and proved to be a crucial player in the club's relegation survival in 2015.

Beijing Enterprises Group

In July 2016, Okotie joined

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

team Beijing Enterprises Group on a two-and-a-half-year deal. He scored three goals in 24 appearances over the next year-and-a-half before mutually terminating his contract with the club in February 2018.

International career

As a result of his multinational background, and prior to making his senior debut for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, Okotie was eligible to represent three countries at national level, namely

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Okotie identifies himself primarily as Austrian, however, stating in an interview with

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

's website that "I live there, it's where I have my friends, and I think of myself as Austrian" . Okotie represented Austria at various youth levels and featured for the nation at the 2006 European championships in Poland and the 2007 World Cup in Canada, where Austria reached the semi-finals. His senior debut followed in 2008 when he selected by

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Karel Bruckner for a match against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He was, however, left out of Austria's squad for the

2008 UEFA European Football Championship The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

later that year. Austria failed to qualify for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

and

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

tournaments but topped their qualifying group for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

. Okotie scored twice during qualifying, against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and was later chosen for the tournament squad.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Austria Vienna *

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 ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Austria U20 * U-20 World Cup: fourth place 2007 Austria U19 * U-19 European Championship: third place 2006 Individual * Austria's Best Sportsteam of the Year: Austria U20 2007

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okotie, Rubin 1987 births Living people Men's association football forwards Austrian men's footballers Austrian people of Nigerian descent Austrian expatriate men's footballers Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austria men's youth international footballers 21st-century Austrian sportsmen Austria men's under-21 international footballers Austria men's international footballers FK Austria Wien players 1. FC Nürnberg players 1. FC Nürnberg II players Sint-Truidense V.V. players SK Sturm Graz players Sønderjyske Fodbold players TSV 1860 Munich players Beijing Sport University F.C. players K Beerschot VA players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in China Austrian Football Bundesliga players Bundesliga players China League One players 2. Bundesliga players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Danish Superliga players Footballers from Karachi UEFA Euro 2016 players Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Footballers from Vienna Austrian expatriate sportspeople in China