Bernd Leno (born 4 March 1992) is a German professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and the Germany national team.

Club career

VfB Stuttgart

Having progressed through the youth set up at

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

, in May 2011, Leno extended his contract until June 2014. By this time he was a regular goalkeeper in the

VfB Stuttgart II VfB Stuttgart II is a German Association football, football team located in Stuttgart, currently playing in the Regionalliga Südwest. From 2008 to 2016 the team played in the 3. Liga. They are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of V ...

reserve team who played in the German Third Division.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 10 August 2011, he was loaned out to

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

until 31 December 2011. Four days after the five months loan deal was signed, Leno made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut against

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

. He became, after Dirk Krüssenberg and

Heribert Macherey Heribert Macherey (born 3 November 1954) is a German former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He became the second goalkeeper after Dirk Krüssenberg to keep a clean sheet in his three first Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes re ...

, the third goalkeeper in Bundesliga history to keep a clean sheet in his first three Bundesliga games. When he played on 13 September 2011, at the age of 19 years and 193 days, against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League group stage he became the youngest German goalkeeper to ever to play in a Champions League match. The transfer was made permanent on 30 November 2011, when Leno received a deal that kept him with Bayer until 2017. Leno became a regular in the first team and after a string of impressive performances, on 8 November 2013, he signed an improved contract to keep him at the club until 2018. He made his 300th competitive appearance for Leverkusen on 14 April 2018 in a 4–1 league win over

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

Arsenal

On 19 June 2018,

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

announced that Leno had signed a five-year contract for a fee of £22.5 million, while pending 'the completion of regulatory processes'. Leno made his debut for Arsenal in the 4–2 victory over Vorskla Poltava in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. Leno made his Premier League debut in the 2–0 home victory over

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, replacing regular goalkeeper

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He also plays semi-professional ice hockey as a goaltender for Chelmsford Chieftains. Described by numerous players, pundits and managers as ...

, who picked up an injury in the first-half. His performance was praised by head-coach

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. After a career spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coa ...

, who said "He is working very well with the goalkeeping coaches. I spoke with him and said the most important thing is when the team needs him to help us, to be prepared. He did that on Wednesday and today also – and against Vorskla. We have three very good goalkeepers. Petr Čech, his performances for us have been very important and his experience. Leno can learn by staying near with Petr Čech every day. I am very happy with him. He has waited for his moment and it's arriving." Leno was the runner up of the

Arsenal Player of the Season award The Arsenal Player of the Season award is an official award given by Arsenal Football Club to the best performing player from the club over the course of the season. The award is given based on votes by Arsenal fans on the club's website, it wa ...

in the 2019–20 season, commanding 16 per cent of the final vote. On 25 February 2021, he played his 100th match for Arsenal in all competitions in a 3–2 win over Benfica in the

round of 32. Leno was relegated to a backup in the 2021–22 season after the signing of Aaron Ramsdale, who was selected as the starting goalkeeper.

Fulham

On 2 August 2022, Leno transferred permanently to

on a three-year contract with an option to extend by a further 12 months, for a reported £8m fee.

International career

Leno received his first call up to the senior Germany team in October 2015 for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers against

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He was later included in his nation's squad for the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

the following summer. Leno was selected for the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

in Russia. He played one game of the tournament, against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He was named in Germany's provisional squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, but was not selected for the final 23-man squad. On 19 May 2021, he was selected to the squad for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Media

Leno was involved in the Amazon Original sports

docuseries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

'' All or Nothing: Arsenal'', which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.

Personal life

Leno was born in

Bietigheim-Bissingen Bietigheim-Bissingen (locally: ''Biedge-Bissenge'') is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz and the river Metter, close to its conflu ...

, Baden-Württemberg. His father is Russian-German. On 11 August 2020, Leno married his long-time girlfriend, Sophie Christin.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Arsenal *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Germany U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Germany *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Arsenal F.C. website
Profile
at the Premier League website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leno, Bernd 1992 births Living people People from Bietigheim-Bissingen Sportspeople from Stuttgart (region) German people of Russian descent Footballers from Baden-Württemberg German footballers Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers Association football goalkeepers VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Arsenal F.C. players Fulham F.C. players 3. Liga players Bundesliga players Premier League players UEFA Euro 2016 players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in England