AC Milan signs Swiss national Noah Arinzechukwu Okafo on 5-year deal
Jul 23, 2023
Milan [Italy], July 23 : Italian football club AC Milan has signed Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor from German club Red Bull Salzburg on a permanent deal of five years.
According to the AC Milan website, "AC Milan is delighted to announce that Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor has joined the Club from FC Red Bull Salzburg on a permanent basis. The Swiss forward has signed a deal with the Rossoneri that lasts until June 2028."
Born in Binningen (Switzerland) on 24 May 2000, Noah developed in the FC Basel youth section and made his professional debut with the club in 2018. He would score seven goals in 54 games with FCB, winning one Swiss Cup title.
He then moved to Salzburg in January 2020, where he made 110 appearances and scored 34 goals. He won four Austrian Bundesliga titles and three Austrian Cups with Die Roten Bullen. In international football, Noah has won 14 caps and scored twice for Switzerland.
Okafor played his first youth football with the local team FC Arisdorf. In 2009 he moved to the youth of FC Basel and continued through all the stages of their youth academy.
He advanced to their first team during their 2018–19 season and in January 2018, Okafor signed his first professional contract with his club. He made his debut for their first team in May 2018 in the home game against FC Luzern.
Between the years 2017 and 2020, Okafor played a total of 72 games for Basel scoring a total of nine goals.
39 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, seven in the Swiss Cup, eight in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 18 were friendly games.
He scored three goals in the domestic league, two in the cup, two in the European competitions and the other two were scored during the test games.
In January 2020, Okafor signed for Red Bull Salzburg.
In December 2021, Okafor scored the only goal of the game as Salzburg defeated Sevilla in the final group stage match of the Champions League.
The win meant Salzburg secured progression to the Round of 16 and became the first-ever Austrian club to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League
Okafor played various international games for the Swiss U-15 and U-17 teams. He played his first game for the U-18 team on 9 May 2018 in a 1–1 draw against the Italian U-18 team.
He made his debut for the senior national team debut in June 2019 in the UEFA Nations League third-place game against England.
Okafor scored his first international goal for Switzerland in November 2021, in their World Cup qualifying game against Bulgaria, a win which secured automatic qualification for Switzerland to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
