| Serge Atakayi | |
| Fullname: | Serge Atakayi |
| Birth Date: | 30 January 1999 |
| Birth Place: | Kinshasa, DR Congo |
| Position: | Winger |
| Youthyears1: | 2013–2015 |
| Youthclubs1: | FF Jaro |
| Years1: | 2015–2016 |
| Caps1: | 29 |
| Goals1: | 3 |
| Years2: | 2015 |
| Clubs2: | → JBK (loan) |
| Caps2: | 10 |
| Goals2: | 2 |
| Years3: | 2016–2019 |
| Caps3: | 1 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2019 |
| Clubs4: | → SJK (loan) |
| Caps4: | 10 |
| Goals4: | 1 |
| Years5: | 2020–2022 |
| Clubs5: | SJK |
| Caps5: | 28 |
| Goals5: | 1 |
| Years6: | 2021 |
| Clubs6: | → FC TPS (loan) |
| Caps6: | 13 |
| Goals6: | 3 |
| Years7: | 2022–2023 |
| Clubs7: | St Patrick's Athletic |
| Caps7: | 23 |
| Goals7: | 4 |
| Years8: | 2023 |
| Clubs8: | → Waterford (loan) |
| Caps8: | 12 |
| Goals8: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2014 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2015 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2016 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 5 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 2 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2016–2018 |
| Nationalcaps4: | 11 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 0 |
| Nationalyears5: | 2019 |
| Nationalteam5: | DR Congo U23 |
| Nationalcaps5: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals5: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 11:35, 21 November 2023 (UTC) |
| Ntupdate: | 14:02, 26 October 2022 (UTC) |
Serge Atakayi (born 30 January 1999) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a winger most recently for League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic. Originally from the DR Congo, he represented Finland up to the under-19 level before representing DR Congo at under-23 level.
Atakayi, originally from Democratic Republic of the Congo, applied for asylum in Finland alongside other members of his youth football team when visiting the country in 2010.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Atakayi joined the youth system at FF Jaro in 2013 and made his senior debut for the club in 2015.[5] He became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Finnish top flight when he scored against HIFK on 17 May 2015, aged 16 years and 107 days.[6] [1]
On 31 August 2016, after trial periods with Leicester City and Fulham, he joined Rangers on a three-year contract.[7] He signed a one-year contract extension to tie him to Rangers until 2020 in June 2018.[8] He made his debut against Motherwell in a 7–1 win during November 2018 but suffered a broken ankle in the game.[9] [3]
Atakayi left Rangers on 30 December 2019 to join Finnish side SJK for a reported fee of £100,000.[10] [11] Atakayi played in 19 games on the 2020 season and scored once. On 4 June 2021 it was told by SJK-head coach Jani Honkavaara that Atakayi had not been training with the team since February because of attitude problems. [12] Atakayi only played in one Finnish Cup game for SJK in the 2021 season. On 28 July 2021 he moved to TPS on loan.[13]
On 15 July 2022 it was announced that Atakayi had signed for League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic on an 18 month contract for an undisclosed fee.[14] He made his debut on the same day, in a 1–1 draw with Dundalk at Richmond Park.[15] His first goal for the club came on 4 August 2022 when he scored an 87th minute winner away to CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Europa Conference League Third qualifying round.[16] On 14 August 2022, he scored the winning goal against Sligo Rovers at Richmond Park in what was his first league start for the club.[17] On 19 August 2022, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory away to UCD, his third goal in his last four games.[18] On 14 October 2022, he opened the scoring in a 3–1 win over Dublin rivals Bohemians.[19] He followed that up a week later by again opening the scoring in another Dublin derby, this time away to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium.[20] In December 2023, it was announced that Atakayi had been released by the club at the end of his contract, following his loan spell with Waterford.[21]
On 1 July 2023, Atakayi signed for League of Ireland First Division side Waterford on loan until the end of the season.[22] He made 14 appearances in all competitions as his side earned promotion back to the League of Ireland Premier Division via the playoffs.[23]
Atakayi was born in DR Congo but obtained Finnish citizenship in 2016 and represented Finland at under-15 level. In June 2016, Atakayi represented Finland at under-18 level in the Baltic Cup and scored in a 2–2 draw with Lithuania on 2 June 2016.[24] [25] He made his debut for the Finland under-19 side on 4 September 2016, in a goalless draw with Romania.[26]
While living in Glasgow, Atakayi become close friends with compatriot Youssouf Mulumbu who was playing for Celtic at the time and was a senior international for DR Congo. Mulumbu spoke with Atakayi about changing his international allegiance to his birth country.[27] In March 2019, Atakayi was called up to the DR Congo U23 team for two 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations qualification fixtures against Morocco U23.[28] The first leg at home in Kinshasa represented a first opportunity for Atakayi to return home to see his family since seeking asylum from the country in 2010.[4]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| FF Jaro | 2015 | Veikkausliiga | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 20 | 2 | |||
| 2016 | Ykkönen | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 33 | 3 | |||||
| JBK (loan) | 2015 | Kakkonen | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 2 | |||
| Rangers | 2016–17 | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2017–18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| 2019–20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |||
| SJK (loan) | 2019 | Veikkausliiga | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 10 | 1 | ||||
| SJK | 2020 | Veikkausliiga | 19 | 1 | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 24 | 1 | ||||
| 2021 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| 2022 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 38 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 51 | 2 | ||||
| TPS (loan) | 2021 | Ykkönen | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 13 | 3 | ||||
| St Patrick's Athletic | 2022 | LOI Premier Division | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | 3 | 1 | — | 17 | 5 | |||
| 2023 | 10 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 23 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 5 | ||||
| Waterford (loan) | 2023 | LOI First Division | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | – | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 126 | 14 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 154 | 16 | |||