Stevy Okitokandjo (born 18 June 1994) is a Dutch 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 Italian

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club

Forlì Forlì ( ; ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is, together with Cesena, the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena.The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the east of the Montone river, ...

Career

Born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

, to a family of Congolese descent, Okitokandjo played in his youth for Olympia Haarlem. At the age of 8, he was accepted into the academy of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, but his family moved to Belgium, telling him at first that it was only on holiday; he was then not allowed to join high level youth academies due his parents' emphasis on education. When he was 17, his club

Dender The Dender () or Dendre () is a long river in Belgium, the right tributary of the river Scheldt. The confluence of the two rivers is in the Belgian town of Dendermonde. The Western or Little Dender is long and begins in Barry near Leuze-en-Hain ...

went bankrupt and he moved to Gent. Okitokandjo did not make a top-flight appearance in Belgium for Gent or for

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

, and was loaned to

Roeselare Roeselare (; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The name of the city is derived from two ...

and Patro Eisden in the second tier. He trialled with

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen (), or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the top tier Pro League after promotion from second tier in 2023–24 season. In 2013, KFCO Wil ...

in 2016 but on the day that he was due to sign, he suffered a car crash, which he alleged to be due to sabotage by an envious neighbour. After Beerschot postponed signing him, Okitokandjo signed for third-tier

Virton Virton (; Gaumais: ''Viertån''; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. It is also the administrative centre of the district (''arrondissement'') of the same name, as well as the principal town ...

, where he was scouted by

Leixões The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinh ...

after scoring twice and assisting another goal in 20 minutes; the Portuguese second division club were in Belgium to watch one of his teammates. Struggling with the new language and climate, he was loaned to

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

in the league below. After trials at

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

and for Slovak club

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a List of towns in Slovakia, city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech Republic, Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a populati ...

, he joined Olhanense permanently. Olhanense's main financial backer died, putting the club into financial turmoil and making Okitokandjo sleep in a room in the stadium for four months rather than in the apartment he had been promised in his contract. He then moved to Castelo Branco in the same league. He was the top scorer in the 2019–20

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

with six goals, four of which in a 7–0 win at Eléctrico in the first round. On 30 June 2020, Okitokandjo moved up a league to

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. From 2013 to 2023, it was a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Ministe ...

. He scored 7 goals in 27 games in his first season, including a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

on his debut on 13 September in a 4–0 opening win at

Cova da Piedade Cova da Piedade () is a former civil parish in the municipality of Almada, Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Almada, Cova da Piedade, Pragal e Cacilhas. The population in 2011 was 19,904, in an ar ...

and two on 20 December as they came back to draw 2–2 at home to

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portugal, Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football (soccer), football te ...

. Okitokandjo moved to Trofense, also in the Portuguese second tier, on 9 July 2022. He scored on his debut on 6 August, as the season began with a 3–2 home win over

Belenenses SAD B-SAD was a Portuguese football club currently based in Almada, founded on 30 June 2018 as an independent entity. An offshoot of Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, they played four seasons in the Primeira Liga, being relegated to the Liga Portugal ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okitokandjo, Stevy 1994 births Living people Footballers from Haarlem Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch people of Republic of the Congo descent Men's association football forwards K.A.A. Gent players K.V. Mechelen players K.S.V. Roeselare players K. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen players R.E. Virton players Leixões S.C. players S.C. Olhanense players Sport Benfica e Castelo Branco players C.D. Mafra players C.D. Trofense players Academia Puerto Cabello players Forlì FC players Challenger Pro League players Belgian National Division 1 players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Venezuelan Primera División players Serie D players Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Venezuela Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Dutch sportsmen