Youssoufa Moukoko

Youssoufa Moukoko (born 20 November 2004) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Born in Cameroon, he plays for the Germany national team. He is known for his scoring ability at younger age levels.[3]

Youssoufa Moukoko
Moukoko playing for Borussia Dortmund in 2023
Personal information
Full name Youssoufa Moukoko[1]
Date of birth (2004-11-20) 20 November 2004[2]
Place of birth Yaoundé, Cameroon
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Borussia Dortmund
Number 18
Youth career
2014–2016 FC St. Pauli
2016–2020 Borussia Dortmund
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020– Borussia Dortmund 60 (12)
2021–2022 Borussia Dortmund II 2 (1)
International career‡
2017 Germany U16 4 (3)
2020– Germany U20 2 (0)
2021– Germany U21 9 (11)
2022– Germany 2 (0)
Medal record
Representing  Germany
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Winner2021
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14:15, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:06, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Club career

Early career

Moukoko played in the under-13 team of FC St. Pauli from 2014 to 2016 and scored 23 goals in 13 games as a striker in the U15.

In July 2016, he was transferred to Borussia Dortmund's youth academy. He played as the only 13-year-old in the Under 17 Bundesliga for Dortmund. Moukoko moved up to the under-19 team for the 2019–20 season at the age of 14, scoring six goals in his first match in the Under 19 Bundesliga in a 9–2 win against Wuppertaler SV.[4] He completed his first UEFA Youth League match on 17 September 2019 against FC Barcelona, becoming the youngest player to be fielded in the competition.[5] On 23 October 2019, Moukoko scored the opening goal in a game against Inter Milan, making him the youngest scorer in the Youth League.[6] In total, Moukoko scored 141 goals in just 88 games for Dortmund's under-17 and under-19 sides. [7]

2020–21 season

Since January 2020, Moukoko has also been allowed to train with BVB's senior team under Lucien Favre.[8] As the previous DFB age restrictions were changed in 2020, he became eligible to play in the Bundesliga after his sixteenth birthday.[9][10] On 21 November, a day after turning sixteen, he made his debut for Dortmund as an 85th-minute substitute for Erling Haaland against Hertha BSC. With the appearance, he became the youngest player in league history, breaking the previous record of 16 years and 334 days held by Nuri Şahin.[11] The away match finished as a 5–2 win for Dortmund.[12]

On 8 December, Moukoko made his debut for Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League as a substitute against Zenit Saint Petersburg, becoming the youngest player in the competition's history at the age of 16 years and 18 days. This broke the record previously held by Celestine Babayaro of 16 years and 87 days.[13] He made his first start for Dortmund in the Bundesliga on 15 December against Werder Bremen,[14] and scored his first goal three days later against Union Berlin.[15] In doing so, he became the youngest goalscorer in Bundesliga history at the age of 16 years and 28 days, surpassing the record of 17 years and 34 days held by Florian Wirtz.[16] Moukoko played 14 Bundesliga games in the 2020–21 season under Favre and his successor Edin Terzić in the forward position behind Erling Haaland (once in the starting eleven), in which he scored 3 goals. At the end of March 2021, he suffered an injury and was out until the end of the season.

2021–present
Moukoko with Borussia Dortmund in 2021, defended by Joško Gvardiol

In the 2021–22 season, Moukoko was also under new head coach Marco Rose in the striker hierarchy behind Haaland, Donyell Malen and sometimes Steffen Tigges. After nine games for the first team, in which the attacker prepared a goal (the game-winning 3–2 against Hoffenheim), this also came at the end of November 2021 for the first time for the second team playing in the 3rd division. In total, Moukoko played 16 Bundesliga games, scoring 2 goals. He also won the DFB-Pokal with the club, his first title in professional football.

With the start of the 2022–23 season, Moukoko was used more frequently after the departure of Haaland and Tigges, as well as the illness of newly-signed Haaland replacement, Sébastien Haller. He scored his first goal of the season against SC Freiburg, in a 3–1 comeback victory for his side.[17] On 17 September 2022, he scored the decisive goal for Dortmund against FC Schalke 04 in the Revierderby.[18][19]

In January 2023, the striker extended his contract with the club until June 2026.[20]

International career

Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Moukoko played for the Germany national U16 team for the first time on 11 September 2017, in a 3–1 victory over Austria. Two days later, in his second match against the same opponent, he scored both goals for Germany in a 2–1 victory. At that time he was the youngest player in the U16s. In order to protect Moukoko from too much media attention, BVB and the DFB decided not to continue using him in selected teams for the time being.[21]

In March 2021, he received call up for the Germany U21 team, but received an injury in the training, ruling him out until the end of 2020–21 season.[22] He later made his debut for the U21s on 2 September 2021, in a 6-0 win over San Marino, to which he contributed two goals. Moukoko thus became the youngest ever player and (double) scorer for the German U21 team.[23]

In November 2022, he received call up for the Germany national team for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.[24] He made his debut in a pre-tournament friendly against Oman on 16 November, and became the youngest debutant for Germany since Uwe Seeler in 1954.[25]

On 10 November 2022, he received a call-up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.[26] On 23 November, he made his World Cup debut against Japan, in which he substituted Serge Gnabry in the 90th minute; hence, he became the youngest German player ever to feature in the World Cup, aged 18 years and 3 days.[27]

Personal life

Moukoko has four siblings.[28] His older brother, Borel, has played for Ferizaj.[29] Moukoko was born in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde, where he mostly grew up in its Muslim district of Briqueterie.[30] He is a praticising Muslim, who always offers prayers in the changing room.[31][32][33]

Moukoko parents live in Hamburg, and he frequently travels to the Hanseatic city to meet with them.[31] His father and mother always travel to Dortmund for every home game, to keep up to date with their son.[31]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 1 September 2023[34]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League DFB-Pokal Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Borussia Dortmund 2020–21 Bundesliga 143001[lower-alpha 1]000153
2021–22 Bundesliga 162203[lower-alpha 2]01[lower-alpha 3]0222
2022–23 Bundesliga 267306[lower-alpha 1]0—357
2023–24 Bundesliga 301100—41
Total 591261100107613
Borussia Dortmund II 2021–22 3. Liga 21———21
Career total 611361100107814
  1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  2. One appearance in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. Appearance in DFL-Supercup

International
As of match played 23 November 2022[35]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Germany
202220
Total20

Honours

Borussia Dortmund

Germany U21

Individual

References
  1. "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – Squad list: Germany (GER)" (PDF). FIFA. 20 November 2022. p. 13. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  2. "Youssoufa Moukoko" (in German). Borussia Dortmund. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  3. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Youssoufa Moukoko: Borussia Dortmund's star in the making | DW | 12 August 2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  4. Benjamaa, Mostafa (12 August 2019). "Youssoufa Moukoko Scores 6 Goals in BVB U19 Debut". Ultimate Borussia. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  5. Wöckener, Lutz (17 September 2019). "Debüt in der Youth League: Moukoko führt BVB zum Sieg über den FC Barcelona". DIE WELT (in German). Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  6. UEFA.com. "Internazionale-Dortmund | UEFA Youth League". UEFA.com. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  7. "Dortmund star is the "best wonderkid in FM history"". realsport101.com. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  8. Loyda, Stefan (26 December 2019). "BVB-Jahrhunderttalent Moukoko darf bei den Profis mittrainieren". Reviersport (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  9. Bourgeois, Blaise (9 June 2020). "Dortmund remaining cautious over Youssoufa Moukoko's development". OneFootball. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  10. Eckner, Constantin (20 November 2020). "Youssoufa Moukoko: Meet Borussia Dortmund's 16-year-old 'wunderkind'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  11. "Golden Boy Haaland gets four goals as five-star Dortmund crush Hertha and Moukoko creates history in Berlin". Bundesliga. 21 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  12. "Viererpack in Berlin: Gegen Haaland ist kein Kraut gewachsen". kicker (in German). 21 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  13. "Moukoko becomes UEFA Champions League's youngest player". UEFA. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  14. "Pavlenkas Patzer beschert Terzic einen Einstand nach Maß" [Pavlenka's slip-up gives Terzić a perfect debut]. kicker (in German). 15 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  15. "Youssoufa Moukoko becomes youngest ever Bundesliga scorer for Borussia Dortmund against Union Berlin". Bundesliga. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  16. "The top 10 youngest goalscorers in Bundesliga history". Bundesliga. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  17. "SC Freiburg vs. Borussia Dortmund - Football Match Summary - August 12, 2022 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  18. "Dortmund win the Revierderby vs Schalke thanks to 17-year-old Moukoko". MARCA. 17 September 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  19. "5 Best FM23 Wonderkid Strikers you must sign!". FMBrotherhood. 12 November 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  20. "Einigung mit Moukoko: Vertrag bis 2026". www.bvb.de (in German). 21 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  21. "Nur zwei Spieler in DFB-Kadern". nachwuchs.bvb.de (in German). Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  22. "Borussia Dortmund teenager Youssoufa Moukoko ruled out for remainder of the season". bundesliga.com - the official Bundesliga website.
  23. "Jubilar Moukoko mit Doppelpack: Deutschlands neuformierte U 21 feiert klaren Sieg". kicker (in German). Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  24. "Germany World Cup squad: Borussia Dortmund's 17-year-old forward Youssoufa Moukoko called up for Qatar". Sky Sports. 10 November 2022.
  25. "Moukoko makes senior international debut for Germany". Borussia Dortmund. 16 November 2022.
  26. "Flick beruft Moukoko, Füllkrug und Götze in WM-Kader" [Flick names Moukoko, Füllkrug and Götze to World Cup squad] (in German). German Football Association. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  27. "Moukoko knackt 64 Jahre alten Rekord - Musiala Fünfter". kicker.de (in German). 23 November 2022.
  28. Müller, Oliver (14 October 2017). "BVB: Die rätselhafte Spur des Wunderkindes Youssoufa Moukoko". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  29. "Youssoufa Moukoko: Who is the Borussia Dortmund and Germany teenaged striker?". Bundesliga. 8 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  30. Melzer, Dennis (13 June 2019). "Who is Youssoufa Moukoko? Borussia Dortmund teen the next superstar striker or just another Freddy Adu? | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  31. KGaA, Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co (5 October 2023). "Early bloomer Youssoufa Moukoko finally turns 18". www.bvb.de. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  32. Madison, John (29 November 2020). "Youssoufa Moukoko Childhood Story Plus Untold Biography Facts". LifeBogger. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  33. Ritoti (20 August 2021). "Youssoufa Moukoko – 2021 Player Profile, 7 Facts About Him". WeAfrique. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  34. Youssoufa Moukoko at WorldFootball.net
  35. "Youssoufa Moukoko". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  36. "Germany beat Portugal for third U21 EURO title". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  37. "Goldene Fritz-Walter-Medaillen an Brand, Adeyemi und Moukoko". dfb.de (in German). 9 November 2022.
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