Soufiane "Sofian" Chakla (; born 2 September 1993) is a Moroccan 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for Azerbaijan Premier League club

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Club career

Born in

Kenitra Kenitra (, , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is a port on the Sebou River with a population of 507,736 as of 2024. It is one of the three main cities of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region and the capital of the similarly named Kénitra ...

, Chakla moved to Spain at the age of eight, and joined

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

's youth setup in 2010. He made his debut as a senior with the reserves in 2012, in

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. On 27 January 2014, Chakla rescinded with the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns and moved to another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

Real Betis B Betis Deportivo Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Founded in 1942, it is the reserve team of Real Betis and currently plays in , holding home games at Ciudad Deportiva Luis del Sol, with a 3000 seating-cap ...

also in the fourth tier. On 11 July he signed for Hungarian club

Videoton FC Videoton may refer to: *Videoton (company) Videoton, officially VIDEOTON HOLDING Ltd., is a privately owned company group based out of Székesfehérvár, Hungary, and specializing in contract manufacturing, mainly electronics manufacturing servic ...

. Chakla made his professional debut on 2 November 2014, starting in a 1–0 home win against

Budapest Honvéd FC Budapest Honvéd Football Club (), commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian sports club based in Kispest, Budapest, with the colours of red and black. The club is best known for its football team. ''Honvéd'' means ...

. However, he only appeared in six matches during the whole campaign, and was subsequently released. On 23 September 2015, after failed trials at

Sporting Gijón Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *BFA Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Real Sporti ...

, Chakla joined

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

club

La Roda CF La Roda Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in La Roda, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1996 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Municipal de Deportes'', which has a capacity of 3,000 spectato ...

. The following 25 August he moved to fellow league team CD El Ejido 2012. On 31 May 2017, Chakla signed for

UD Almería B Unión Deportiva Almería "B" is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 2001, it is the reserve team of UD Almería and currently plays in , holding home gam ...

in the fourth tier, mainly as a replacement to injured

Igor Engonga Igor Engonga Noval (born 4 January 1995) is a professional footballer who plays for Tercera Federación club Naval. Mainly a centre-back, he can also operate as a central midfielder. Born in Spain, he played for the Equatorial Guinea nationa ...

. On 16 July of the following year, after helping the

ns in their

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, he moved to third division side

UD Melilla Unión Deportiva Melilla is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with an 8,000 capac ...

on a 2+1 contract. On 17 July 2019, Chakla signed for

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

; initially assigned to the reserves in division three, he was definitely promoted to the main squad on 27 January 2020. He made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 19 June, starting in a 1–0 away win against

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

. On 30 January 2021, Chakla joined

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2020–21 season. In August 2021, he moved to Belgian side

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian professional football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it i ...

. On 18 January 2023, Chakla returned to Spain after agreeing to a contract with

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Primera Federación - Group 1, holding home ma ...

in the second level.

International career

He made his debut for

Morocco national football team The Morocco national football team (Arabic: المنتخب المغربي لكرة القدم) represents Morocco in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the governing ...

on 30 March 2021 in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Burundi.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Videoton * Nemzeti Bajnokság: 2014–15

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chakla, Sofian 1993 births Living people Footballers from Kenitra Moroccan men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Atlético Malagueño players Azerbaijan Premier League players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers La Roda CF players CD El Ejido players UD Almería B players UD Melilla footballers Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players Getafe CF footballers Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Fehérvár FC players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players SD Ponferradina players Sabah FC (Azerbaijan) players Moroccan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Morocco men's under-20 international footballers Morocco men's international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Moroccan sportsmen