The men’s football tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games ended with another triumph for Spanish football. But this competition also had one more winner: a unique top scorer who scored in each of the six games. Where did striker Sufyan Rahimi, who was unknown to few in Europe before the Olympics, come from?
The Olympic Games had a dream ending:
Spain won the triple in the grand final of the Olympic Games with France! And Safonov was lucky with his competitor.
Rahimi, 28, was heading to the Olympic tournament as one of three “superior” players in the Moroccan national team. In addition to him, the vacancies for players over 23 in the national team were filled by PSG captain Ashraf Hakimi, 25, and goalkeeper Mounir Mohamedi, 35.
It seemed that Hakimi would be the brightest star for the Moroccans at the Olympics, but Rahimi outshone everyone. In the first round of the group stage, Sufyan scored a brace against Argentina and gave the team a sensational 2-1 victory. In rounds 2 and 3 he scored a goal in each of the matches against Ukraine (1-2) and Iraq (3-0).
The Moroccan striker continued his scoring streak in the playoffs. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals he scored a goal for the USA (4-0) and Spain (1-2), and in the bronze medal match he scored twice against Egypt (6-0). Although Rahimi scored some of his goals from penalties, his statistics at the Olympic Games are astonishing. Six games, eight goals. In the race for the best snipers, Sufyan was two goals ahead of Spaniard Fermin Lopez and three ahead of Frenchman Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Sufyan Rahimi at the Olympics
Photo: Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images
Rahimi is not one of those Moroccans who were born and raised in Europe and then decided to play for the team of their ancestral homeland. There are many of them in the first Moroccan national team. For example, Hakimi himself, who was born in Madrid. But Sufyan was born in Casablanca, the largest city in Morocco. He studied football at the FC Raja Casablanca school, where Rahimi’s father worked. The family lived in the club’s training centre.
Sufyan’s childhood idol was Hernan Crespo. Rahimi emulated the style of the legendary Argentine striker. Back then, the boy could not even imagine that one day fate would bring them together for a big win.
Rahimi began his professional career in the third division of the Moroccan championship; Raja loaned him to another club from Casablanca for the 2017/2018 season. Sufyan scored 17 goals, after which the striker returned to the first team and began to play in the starting eleven. For the next three seasons, Rahimi was spectacular at “Raj”.
With his home team, Sufyan won a league title, two CAF Confederation Cups (similar to the Europa League for African teams) and a CAF Super Cup (similar to the UEFA Super Cup). Rahimi has also collected numerous individual awards. He was twice recognised as the best player in the Moroccan championship and, interestingly, was once the best assist-maker, but not the league’s top scorer.
As a result, in the summer of 2021, Sufyan was bought by Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates for a very small amount of money – 2.57 million euros. Shortly before the transfer, Rahimi made his debut for the first team of Morocco, where he has played 20 matches so far and scored 7+1 (he was not taken to the “bronze” World Cup in 2022). Since then, the striker has been playing in the Emirates. However, at Al Ain, the Moroccan often plays as a winger, usually on the left. Sufyan has great speed, can beat one-on-one. Performance in any position is high. In the first year, Rahimi won the championship and the League Cup with the team. But the most memorable was the last season – 2023/2024.
Al Ain have won the AFC Champions League for the second time in their history. The first victory was in 2003. Rahimi had a masterful season in the Champions League, so for those who followed Asia’s premier club tournament, Sufyan’s performance at the Olympics was not a sensation.
The Moroccan played in the Olympic Games before joining Dynamo:
Dynamo have found an unexpected replacement for Smolov. The future newcomer is already at the Olympics
In the Champions League group stage, Rahimi scored four goals and provided three assists in five games. In the round of 16, he scored another goal in two games. But Sufyan’s main achievements were ahead of him. In the quarter-finals, Al Ain faced Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nasr. The UAE side won 1-0 at home thanks to Rahimi’s goal. In Saudi Arabia, the Moroccan scored twice, scoring Al Ain’s first two goals. However, the Saudis recovered 3-2. In extra time, the rivals exchanged goals and in the penalty shoot-out, Al Ain were more precise.
In November 2023, during the Champions League, the UAE team was led by… Crespo. The former famous striker has been coaching for 10 years, winning several trophies with the Argentine club Defensa y Justicia, Brazilian Sao Paulo and Qatari Al-Duhail. But winning the Asian Champions League is the biggest success of his new career.
Rahimi was already good, but under Crespo he simply blossomed. The Moroccan spoke very warmly about his work with his childhood idol:
“When I was little and playing football, he was the one I looked up to. I never thought I would meet him and he would be my coach. I want to pay tribute to Crespo – he gave me freedom on the pitch, he trusts me absolutely. He showed that he believed in my abilities and I wanted to thank him. Hernan is a good person.”
TO THE AYNA COACH HERNÁN CRESPO
Photo: Masashi Hara/Getty Images
There was hardly any doubt that Al Ain would end their Champions League campaign in the semi-finals. After all, Crespo’s team ended up at Malcolm’s Al-Hilal, which at the time held a world record: the Saudis won 34 matches in a row. However, in the 38th minute of the first home game, Al Ain were leading 3:0 thanks to Rahimi’s hat-trick! Then Sufyan converted a penalty and the match ended with a two-goal victory for the home team (4:2). In the away game, Crespo’s team suffered a narrow defeat: 1:2.
In the two-legged Champions League final against Yokohama from Japan, Al Ain recovered from a 2-1 away defeat. At home, Crespo’s team simply beat their opponents 5:1. Rahimi scored twice, provided an assist and deserved a penalty. As a result, the Moroccan became the top scorer of the Asian Champions League with 13 goals and was recognized as the best player of the tournament.
“I have ambitions to reach the top as a footballer, but I didn’t expect to become a great player,” Rahimi admitted when accepting the award for the Champions League’s brightest star. After the Olympics, he has every right to repeat these words and call himself “outstanding.” Now, at 28, will Sufyan finally make it to Europe’s top league? The Moroccan will surely have offers after a great season.
