York Rafael (born 17 March 1999) is a 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 for

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

club

Gefle IF Gefle Idrottsförening, also known simply as Gefle IF, Gefle (, as if spelled ''Gävle''), or locally Gif (), also known as Gefle IF FF by the Swedish Football Association, are a Swedish professional association football, football club based in G ...

, primarily as a

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Born in Sweden, he represents the Rwanda national team.

Club career

York Rafael started his football career with

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

side

Brynäs IF Brynäs IF is a Swedish professional ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), promoted from the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of ice hockey in Sweden, following the 2023–24 season. The ...

in 2011. He joined

Sandvikens IF Sandvikens IF is a Swedish football club located in Sandviken. The club, formed 6 June 1918, has played 21 seasons in the highest Swedish league, but is in the second highest Swedish league, Superettan. Sandvikens IF are affiliated to the Gest ...

's youth academy two years later and made his senior debut with them as a 15-year-old in Division 2. In 2015 Rafael went on trials with European clubs

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and

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 ...

, as well with Swedish

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

the previous year, without signing any contracts. After having been linked with a move to AIK, Rafael instead joined

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club Gefle IF on loan in August 2016. He made his Gefle debut in

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

, playing 90 minutes against

Söderhamns FF Söderhamns FF is a Swedish football club located in Söderhamn in Gävleborg County. Background Söderhamns Fotbollförening were founded on 28 January 1986. The club was formed after the Söderhamns IF football section was closed down. Since ...

on August 24. It was followed up with his professional debut in Allsvenskan three days later against

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

, in which he came on as a substitute in the final minutes. On 11 December 2017, he joined

IFK Värnamo IFK Värnamo is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Värnamo. The club plays in the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. The most famous player from the club is Jonas Thern, who was captain of the Swede ...

, Sweden's second tier. During the 2018 season, York returned to his old club

on loan. On 11 December 2018,

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

announced, that they had signed Rafael on a deal until the end of 2021.

International career

He won his first youth international cup for Sweden U17 on 4 August 2015, in Sweden's 3–0 win against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. He played six games in total for U17, for which he is still eligible to play for, until he was called up to Sweden's U19 squad in September 2016. He has scored one goal in three games so far. Due to his dual citizenship with

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

, he was invited to play for

Rwanda national football team The Rwanda national football team represents Rwanda in international football and is controlled by the Rwandese Association Football Federation, the governing body of football in Rwanda, and competes as a member of the Confederation of Africa ...

in 2015. He debuted with Rwanda in a 1–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

loss to

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

on 7 October 2021.

Personal life

Rafael was raised in

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 ...

, to an

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

n father and Rwandese mother. He is a practicing

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. He cited

Arjen Robben Arjen Robben (; born 23 January 1984) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger. Known for his Dribbling#Association football, dribbling skills, speed, and long-range s ...

as his idol.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

*
archive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rafael, York 1999 births Living people Footballers from Gävle Rwandan men's footballers Rwanda men's international footballers Swedish men's footballers Rwandan people of Angolan descent Sportspeople of Angolan descent Swedish people of Rwandan descent Swedish people of Angolan descent Allsvenskan players Superettan players Gefle IF players IFK Värnamo players Sandvikens IF players VfL Bochum players Kalmar FF players AFC Eskilstuna players Men's association football defenders Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 21st-century Swedish sportsmen