Ryan Mmaee
Moroccan footballer (born 1997)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ryan Mmaee A'Nwambeben Kabir (Arabic: ريان ماي; born 1 November 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Omonia. Born in Belgium, he represents Morocco internationally.[1]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ryan Mmaee A'Nwambeben Kabir | ||
| Date of birth | 1 November 1997 | ||
| Place of birth | Geraardsbergen, Belgium | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Omonia | ||
| Number | 19 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2004–2005 | KV Zuun | ||
| 2005–2010 | RWDM Brussels | ||
| 2010–2013 | Gent | ||
| 2013–2015 | Standard Liège | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2019 | Standard Liège | 13 | (1) |
| 2017–2018 | → Waasland-Beveren (loan) | 18 | (1) |
| 2018–2019 | → AGF (loan) | 9 | (0) |
| 2019–2021 | AEL Limassol | 50 | (19) |
| 2021–2023 | Ferencváros | 45 | (25) |
| 2023–2025 | Stoke City | 27 | (3) |
| 2024–2025 | → Rapid Wien (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 2025– | Omonia | 21 | (16) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2015–2016 | Belgium U19 | 5 | (2) |
| 2016–2017 | Belgium U21 | 2 | (1) |
| 2016– | Morocco | 12 | (4) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 11:51, 16 March 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 10 December 2022 | |||
Mmaee began his professional career in 2015 with Standard Liège, making his debut at the age of 17. Disagreements with the club management saw him loaned out to Waasland-Beveren and Danish side AGF. He moved to Cyprus in 2019 joining AEL Limassol. After scoring 17 goals in 2020–21 he earned a move to Hungarian champions Ferencváros in July 2021. He spent two seasons with Ferencváros, winning back-to-back league titles and a Magyar Kupa before signing for English side Stoke City in July 2023.
Club career
Early life and career
Mmaee was born in Geraardsbergen, Belgium to a Cameroonian-French father Nwambebeg Mmaee, and a Moroccan mother Fatima.[2] After his birth, his family moved to Sint-Pieters-Leeuw. At school, he studied mathematical sciences at the Royal Athenaeum in Halle. It was in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw that Mmaee began playing football, with the amateur club KV Zuun. A year later, he enrolled in the academy of RWDM Brussels. In 2010, he joined Gent. Three years later, he joined Standard Liège with his brother Samy Mmaee.[2]
Standard Liège
Mmaee made his Belgian Pro League debut on 21 May 2015, at the age of 17 against Gent replacing Mehdi Carcela after 82 minutes in a 2–0 away defeat.[3] Mmaee and his brother, Samy signed professional three-year contracts with Standard in August 2015.[4] In the 2015–16 season he made seven appearances as Standard finished in seventh position.[1] After playing in a few matches at the start of 2016–17, Mmaee was dropped from the first team back to the u-23s after he had an argument with manager Aleksandar Janković and an altercation with the physical trainer.[5] Mmaee later explained what happened— "At 19, we want to play every game. When you don't play, you are disappointed, and your reactions are not always appropriate. I was young, I was learning on the job, I made mistakes when, I think, the club did not trust young people enough. I was upset in training because I was not selected in the group, I let it be known, and there were bound to be consequences. I thought it was all going to happen naturally. I was playing with the Belgian national team as a youth, I was upgraded to Standard, I thought it was going to happen so quickly in the professional world. It was not I don't care, but naivety".[2]
He briefly returned to the first-team at the end of the season but after signing a contract extension he was loaned out to Waasland-Beveren with an option to buy.[6] Mmaee played in 20 matches in 2017–18, scoring only once as Waasland-Beveren finished in 12th place and they decided against the purchase option and he returned to Standard.[7] On 31 August 2018, Mmaee joined Danish Superliga side AGF Aarhus on loan for the 2018–19 season.[8] He made 12 appearances, scoring three goals all of which came in the Danish Cup.[2] Mmaee stated that he did not enjoy his time in Denmark—"My teammates were nice, but the people in Denmark were quite cold. When we arrived at the club in the morning, we didn't shake hands, and when I was driving and let a pedestrian cross the road, there was no small gesture of thanks."[2]
AEL Limassol
After leaving Standard Liège, Mmaee signed a three-year contract with Cypriot First Division side AEL Limassol on 10 September 2019.[2] He scored eight goals in 24 appearances in 2019–20 until the league was suspended on 15 May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] In 2020–21, Mmaee scored 17 goals as AEL Limassol finished in third place.[10]
Ferencváros
Mmaee signed for Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I champions Ferencváros in May 2021, linking up with his brother Samy.[11] He scored on his debut for Fradi, on 6 July 2021 in a 3–0 win over Kosovan side Prishtina in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round.[12] He also scored twice in the next round against Žalgiris.[13] He made his league debut on 31 July 2021, scoring a penalty in a 2–1 defeat to Kisvárda.[14] Ferencváros progressed past Slavia Prague to make it to the Champions League play-off round but they were defeated 6–4 on aggregate by Young Boys, dropping down to the UEFA Europa League.[15] They were unable to get out of the group containing Bayer Leverkusen, Celtic and Real Betis, finishing bottom after managing one victory.[16] Mmaee ended the 2021–22 season with 19 goals from 37 matches as Ferencváros won the title with four games left.[17] They won a double after beating Paks 3–0 in the Magyar Kupa final.[18] In 2022–23 Mmaee scored 12 goals in 31 appearances as Ferencváros again won the league title.[19]
Stoke City
On 28 July 2023, Mmaee joined English EFL Championship side Stoke City for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract.[20] He scored his first goal for Stoke on 29 August 2023 in a 6–1 win against Rotherham United in the EFL Cup.[21] He scored his first Championship goal on 21 October 2023 in a 2–1 win against Sunderland.[22] In February 2024 he was made to train with the under-21 squad by head coach Steven Schumacher for disciplinary reasons.[23] Mmaee returned to the first-team in March vowing to 'prove a point'.[24] However his season was ended prematurely due to injury.[25] After struggling for game time at Stoke, Mmaee joined Austrian Bundesliga side Rapid Wien on loan for the 2024–25 season.[26] His time at Rapid was disrupted by injuries and after failing to make an appearance he returned to Stoke in February 2025.[27] His contract at Stoke was mutually terminated in August 2025.[28][29]
Omonia
Mmaee returned to Cypriot football on 27 August 2025, joining Omonia on a two-year contract.[30]
International career
Mmaee is of Cameroonian, French and Moroccan descent, having a Cameroonian-French father and a Moroccan mother. Mmae holds Cameroonian, French and Moroccan nationalities from his parents. As such, he was eligible to represent either Belgium, Cameroon, France or Morocco at senior level. He made his debut for the senior Morocco national team in a 2–0 win against Sudan.[31]
Personal life
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 16 March 2026[1]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Standard Liège | 2014–15 | Belgian Pro League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2015–16 | Belgian Pro League | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | ||||
| 2016–17 | Belgian First Division A | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | 9 | 2 | ||||
| 2017–18 | Belgian First Division A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2018–19 | Belgian First Division A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 13 | 1 | 4 | 1 | — | — | — | 17 | 2 | |||||
| Waasland-Beveren (loan) | 2017–18 | Belgian First Division A | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 20 | 1 | |||
| AGF (loan) | 2018–19 | Danish Superliga | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | 12 | 3 | |||
| AEL Limassol | 2019–20 | Cypriot First Division | 20 | 5 | 3 | 3 | — | — | 1[c] | 0 | 24 | 8 | ||
| 2020–21 | Cypriot First Division | 30 | 14 | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | 35 | 17 | ||||
| Total | 50 | 19 | 8 | 6 | — | — | 1 | 0 | 59 | 25 | ||||
| Ferencváros | 2021–22 | Nemzeti Bajnokság I | 21 | 13 | 2 | 1 | — | 14[d] | 5 | — | 37 | 19 | ||
| 2022–23 | Nemzeti Bajnokság I | 24 | 12 | 2 | 1 | — | 10[e] | 0 | — | 36 | 13 | |||
| Total | 45 | 25 | 4 | 2 | — | 24 | 5 | — | 73 | 32 | ||||
| Stoke City | 2023–24 | Championship | 24 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 27 | 4 | ||
| 2024–25 | Championship | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 4 | 1 | |||
| Total | 27 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | — | — | 31 | 5 | ||||
| Rapid Wien (loan) | 2024–25 | Austrian Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Omonia | 2025–26 | Cypriot First Division | 21 | 16 | 2 | 2 | — | 6[f] | 0 | — | 29 | 18 | ||
| Career total | 182 | 61 | 24 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 30 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 240 | 82 | ||
- Includes Belgian Cup, Danish Cup, Cypriot Cup, Magyar Kupa, FA Cup
- Appearance in Cypriot Super Cup
- Eight appearances and four goals in UEFA Champions League and six appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
- One appearance in UEFA Champions League and nine appearances in UEFA Europa League
- Appearances in UEFA Conference League
International
- As of match played 27 June 2022[34]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morocco | |||
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 6 | 4 | |
| 2022 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 12 | 4 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 12 November 2021 | Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat, Morocco |  Sudan | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2. | 2–0 | |||||
| 3. | 16 November 2021 | Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca, Morocco |  Guinea | 1–0 | 3–0 | |
| 4. | 2–0 | |||||
Honours
Ferencváros
