Tesfaldet Tekie

Tesfaldet Simon Tekie (born 4 June 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Allsvenskan club Hammarby IF. Born in Eritrea, he represents Sweden internationally.

Early life Born in Eritrea, Tekie moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, as a nine-year-old. He started to play youth football with local club Marieholms BoIK, before joining Gunnilse IS in 2010. In 2013, at age 15, Tekie made his debut in senior football with Gunnilse, making six league appearances in Division 3, Sweden's fifth tier.

Club career IFK Norrköping On 6 August 2013, Tekie moved to IFK Norrköping, together with his teammate Ihab Naser from Gunnilse. In 2014, he was sent on loan to affiliated club IF Sylvia in Division 1, the domestic third tier, making 11 appearances. On 19 July the same year, he signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with the club.

In 2016, Tekie made 26 league appearances for IFK Norrköping, that finished 3rd in the Allsvenskan table. He also featured in both legs as the club was knocked out in the second qualifying round of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, losing 4–5 on aggregate to Rosenborg.

Gent On 19 January 2017, Tekie transferred to Belgian First Division A club Gent, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. The transfer fee was reportedly set at around €1.6 million. Tekie failed to make any competitive appearances for Gent, before leaving the club by mutual consent on 3 September 2019.

Loan to Östersunds FK Tekie failed to make any competitive appearances for Gent. On 1 January 2018, he was sent on a one-and-a-half-year loan to Östersunds FK in Allsvenskan. In February, Tekie played in both legs as Östersund was knocked out in the round of 32 in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, losing 2–4 on aggregate to Arsenal. He went on to make 15 league appearances for the club in 2018, before his season was cut short in September due to an injury.

In 2019, Tekie remained with Östersund during the first half of the season, making 12 appearances, before returning to Gent in June.

Fortuna Sittard On 9 September 2019, Tekie signed a two-year contract with the option of a third with Fortuna Sittard in the Dutch Eredivisie. In his debut season in 2019–20, he established himself as a starter for his new club and played 20 games, before the league was abandoned in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.

In 2020–21, Tekie made 33 league appearances, helping Fortuna Sittard to finish 11th in the Eredivisie table.

In 2021–22, Fortuna Sittard finished 15th in the league, one place above the relegation zone, with Tekie making 27 appearances.

Go Ahead Eagles On 8 September 2022, Tekie signed a one-year contract with Go Ahead Eagles. He made eight appearances in the 2022–23 Eredivisie, before leaving on 31 January 2023 by mutual consent after he had struggled to find motivation at the club.

Hammarby IF On 9 February 2023, Tekie returned to Sweden and signed a four-year contract with Hammarby IF. After establishing himself as a regular for the club, making 16 league appearances during the first half of the season, he fell out of favor with head coach Martí Cifuentes in August the same year. He returned to Hammarby on 31 January 2024, by request of new head coach Kim Hellberg.

Loan to Apollon Limassol On 28 August 2023, he joined Apollon Limassol in the Cypriot First Division on a one-year loan, with an option to buy. On 31 January 2024, the loan agreement was terminated. In total, he made 12 league appearances for Apollon Limassol.

International career Between 2012 and 2018, Tekie was capped for all Swedish youth teams from the under-17's to the under-21's, making 11 appearances for all selections.

He made his debut for the Sweden men's national football team on 11 January 2019 in a 2–2 friendly against Iceland, as a starter.

Career statistics Club

Honours IFK Norrköping Allsvenskan: 2015