# Cyriel Dessers

Cyriel Kolawole Dessers (born 8 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Scottish Premiership club Rangers. Born in Belgium, he plays for the Nigeria national team.
Dessers has spent the majority of his club career playing in Belgian and Dutch football. He was the top scorer in the Eredivisie in the 2019–20 season, while playing for Heracles Almelo. He was the top scorer in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League and was named in the competition's Team of the Season, while playing for Feyenoord.
Dessers qualified to play for Nigeria at international level because of his Nigerian mother. He made his senior international debut in October 2020.

## Club career
### OH Leuven

Dessers joined OH Leuven's youth system from K.S.K. Tongeren at the age of 16 in 2011. He had previously played youth football for FC De Zwaluw Vechmaal, Union FC Rutten and Sint-Truiden. He began studying law at university (KU Leuven) while playing for OH Leuven's youth teams. During the 2013–14 season, Dessers stood out for OH Leuven's under-19 and reserve teams, scoring 21 goals in 21 reserve games by March. With OHL in danger of relegation and several first-team strikers either out of shape, injured or suspended, he was given his first minutes in the first-team in a 3–2 away loss against Mons.

### Lokeren

In April 2014, Dessers signed a two-year deal with Lokeren.

### NAC Breda

In July 2016, he signed for Eerste Divisie club NAC Breda on a contract until the summer of 2019. On 28 May 2017, they were promoted to the Eredivisie after a 4–1 victory over NEC, in which Dessers scored three goals. He finished the season with 29 goals in 40 matches.

### FC Utrecht

In July 2017, Dessers moved to FC Utrecht, agreeing a contract for three years with an option for an additional year.

### Heracles Almelo

Dessers joined Heracles Almelo in July 2019. After the 2019–20 Eredivisie season was abandoned, he was jointly awarded the top goalscorer award alongside Steven Berghuis, with 15 goals each.

### Genk and loan to Feyenoord

On 30 June 2020, Dessers moved to Genk on a four-year deal.
On 31 August 2021, Dessers returned to the Netherlands to join Feyenoord on loan with an option to buy. He scored his first goal for the club on 19 September, scoring Feyenoord's fourth goal in a 4–0 away win against PSV. Dessers finished the season as UEFA Europa Conference League Top scorer with ten goals in 12 matches and was also selected for the UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season. Overall Dessers scored 20 goals for Feyenoord in 41 matches during season 2021-22.
On 1 June 2022, Feyenoord announced that they had opted not to exercise the option to purchase Dessers' contract.

### Cremonese

On 10 August 2022, Dessers signed for Italian club Cremonese. Dessers scored seven goals for Cremonese in 29 matches. Cremonese finished 19th in the Serie A table and were relegated to Serie B.

### Rangers
#### Season 2023–24

On 6 July 2023, Dessers joined Scottish Premiership club Rangers for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for the club on 5 August 2023, starting in a 1–0 defeat away to Kilmarnock. Four days later, Dessers scored his first goal for Rangers, against Swiss club Servette in a Champions League qualifying tie.
On 21 April 2024 Dessers scored twice against Heart of Midlothian to send Rangers to the final of the Scottish Cup.
Following this Dessers scored another winning goal against St Mirren. Dessers performances were praised by his manager Philippe Clement. Following this game Dessers scored his 21st goal of the season in an away match against Celtic. Dessers 22nd goal of the season came from a header against Dundee at Ibrox stadium with the assist for the goal from team mate Todd Cantwell.

#### Season 2024–25

After scoring a double in the league against Ross County, Rangers manager Philippe Clement praised Dessers performance stating, "It's clear [Dessers] is taking the right steps and becoming more and more important. He's growing as a player, that’s what we want".
In January 2025, Dessers scored a hat-trick in Rangers fourth round Scottish Cup tie against Fraserburgh and finished the match as team captain in the absence of James Tavernier and Jack Butland. 4 days later, in a Europa League match against Manchester United, he scored Rangers equaliser in a 2–1 defeat. In March 2025 in the first game under Barry Ferguson in Europe, Rangers beat Fenerbahçe 3-1 away from home, Dessers earned plaudits after scoring and assisting, whilst also having two goals ruled narrowly offside.

## International career

Born in Belgium to a Belgian father and Nigerian mother, Dessers chose to represent Nigeria at international level in December 2019. Earlier in his career, he was called up to the Belgium under-21 national team for a game against Moldova, but he was an unused substitute.
On 4 March 2020, he was called up by Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr as part of the team players invited for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixtures against Sierra Leone. Dessers debuted in a friendly 1–1 draw with Tunisia on 13 October 2020.
In March 2024 Dessers was called up to the Nigeria team for matches against Ghana and Mali, with Dessers scoring in the Ghana match.

## Career statistics
### Club

    As of match played 16 March 2025
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | National cup | National cup | League cup | League cup | Continental | Continental | Other | Other | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| OH Leuven | 2013–14 | Belgian Pro League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Lokeren | 2014–15 | Belgian Pro League | 21 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 7 |
| Lokeren | 2015–16 | Belgian Pro League | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 11 | 0 |
| Lokeren | Total | Total | 32 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 7 |
| NAC Breda | 2016–17 | Eerste Divisie | 36 | 22 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 4 | 7 | 40 | 29 |
| Utrecht | 2017–18 | Eredivisie | 29 | 9 | 2 | 2 | — | — | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 12 |
| Utrecht | 2018–19 | Eredivisie | 11 | 3 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 4 | 2 | 17 | 7 |
| Utrecht | Total | Total | 40 | 12 | 4 | 4 | — | — | 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 56 | 19 |
| Heracles Almelo | 2019–20 | Eredivisie | 26 | 15 | 3 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 29 | 18 |
| Genk | 2020–21 | Belgian Pro League | 32 | 7 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 34 | 7 |
| Genk | 2021–22 | Belgian Pro League | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Genk | 2022–23 | Belgian Pro League | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | 3 |
| Genk | Total | Total | 38 | 10 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 11 |
| Feyenoord (loan) | 2021–22 | Eredivisie | 27 | 9 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 13 | 10 | — | — | 41 | 20 |
| Cremonese | 2022–23 | Serie A | 26 | 6 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 29 | 7 |
| Rangers | 2023–24 | Scottish Premiership | 35 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 2 | — | — | 54 | 22 |
| Rangers | 2024–25 | Scottish Premiership | 27 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 4 | — | — | 45 | 22 |
| Rangers | Total | Total | 62 | 27 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 23 | 6 | — | — | 99 | 44 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 288 | 105 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 46 | 18 | 15 | 9 | 379 | 155 |
* ↑ Includes Belgian Cup, KNVB Cup, Coppa Italia, Scottish Cup
* ↑ Includes Scottish League Cup
* ↑ Appearance in Belgian Pro League relegation play-offs
* 1 2 Appearances in UEFA Europa League
* ↑ Appearances in Belgian Pro League Europa League play-offs
* ↑ Appearances in Eredivisie promotion play-offs
* 1 2 Appearances in Eredivisie European play-offs
* ↑ Appearances in UEFA Champions League
* ↑ Appearance in Belgian Super Cup
* ↑ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
* ↑ Four appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, seven appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
* ↑ Two appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, nine appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa League

### International

    As of match played 26 March 2024
Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Nigeria | 2020 | 1 | 0 |
| Nigeria | 2022 | 3 | 1 |
| Nigeria | 2024 | 2 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 6 | 2 |
    As of match played 26 March 2024
    Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dessers goal.
List of international goals scored by Cyriel Dessers :
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 28 May 2022 | AT&T Stadium, Arlington, United States | 2 | Mexico | 1–1 | 1–2 | Friendly |
| 2 | 22 March 2024 | Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco | 5 | Ghana | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |

## Honours

Genk
* Belgian Cup: 2020–21
Feyenoord
* UEFA Europa Conference League runner-up: 2021–22
Rangers
* Scottish League Cup: 2023–24
Individual
* Eredivisie Player of the Month: November 2019
* Eredivisie Top scorer: 2019–20
* UEFA Europa Conference League Top scorer: 2021–22
* UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season: 2021–22