Dayotchanculle Oswald Upamecano (born 27 October 1998) is a French 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 le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

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 ...

club

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and the France national team. Upamecano is known for his tackling and ball-playing ability.

Early life and career

Dayotchanculle Oswald Upamecano was born on 27 October 1998 in

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

, Normandy and is of Bissau-Guinean descent. He was raised in La Madeleine, a neighbourhood with many African immigrants. He was named after his great-grandfather, who was king of the village on the island of Jeta in Guinea-Bissau, which his parents are from. He is the first son after four daughters, and has one younger brother. As a 15-year-old, he followed speech therapy sessions to overcome

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

and

stuttering Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...

disorders, which caused shyness and certain difficulties in expressing himself. Upamecano began playing football with local club

, alongside the likes of

Ousmane Dembélé Masour Ousmane Dembélé (born 15 May 1997) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Barcelona and the France national team. Dembélé began his career at Rennes before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2016. He ...

Rafik Guitane Rafik Guitane (born 26 May 1999) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Primeira Liga club G.D. Estoril Praia. Career Le Havre Guitane signed his first professional contract with Le Havre on 2 ...

and

Samuel Grandsir Samuel Grandsir (born 14 August 1996) is a French-Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ligue 1 club Le Havre. Youth career Grandsir started his youth career in his hometown, Évreux. He eventually moved to the youth tea ...

. He covered a variety of positions in his youth, before being fixed on the

position. He joined the youth academy of

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

in 2013. Described during the time as a youth in an adult body, Upamecano shaped his play after

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain and the Spain national football team, Spain nationa ...

, and developed into a physically imposing defender.

Club career

Red Bull Salzburg

ÖFB-Cup Halbfinale FC RB Salzburg gegen FK Austria Wien 04

After attracting the attention of a number of major European clubs, including

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Upamecano joined Red Bull Salzburg in July 2015 for a reported fee of €2.2 million. He was an unused substitute in Red Bull's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

game against

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

on 29 July 2015. He made his professional debut for Red Bull's farm team,

FC Liefering FC Liefering GmbH is an Austrian association football club, originally from Liefering, a section of Salzburg. It currently plays in the Second League, the second tier of Austrian football. Since 2012, Liefering has been a reserve team for ...

, two days later, in a 2–1 league win against

St. Pölten ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

. On 19 March 2016, he made his league debut with Red Bull Salzburg in a 2–1 win over

SV Mattersburg SV Mattersburg was an Austrian association football club from Mattersburg, Burgenland. History The club was formed in 1922 and played its home games at the 17,100 capacity Pappelstadion. The club played in the Bundesliga since the 2003–04 ...

. In the first half of the 2016–17 season, Upamecano earned a regular place with the first team in both league and

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 ...

matches.

RB Leipzig

On 13 January 2017, Upamecano joined

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

on a -year deal, for a reported €10 million fee. On 4 February 2017, he made his

debut under coach

Ralph Hasenhüttl Ralph Hasenhüttl (; born 9 August 1967) is an Austrian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Premier League club Southampton. During his playing career, he played as a centre forward. Playing care ...

in a 1–0 defeat against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

. On 13 September 2017, he made his Champions League debut in a 1–1 draw against

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. On 9 February 2018, he scored his first goal in a 2–0 win over

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. On 2 July 2018, he was shortlisted for the 2018 Golden Boy award. On 31 July 2020, Upamecano signed a new deal until 2023. In the 2019–20 season, he reached with RB Leipzig the Champions League semi-finals under coach

Julian Nagelsmann Julian Nagelsmann (born 23 July 1987) is a German professional Association football manager, football manager and former Association football player, football player who is the head coach of FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich. Prior to managing Baye ...

Bayern Munich

On 14 February 2021,

announced an agreement for the signing of Upamecano on a five-year deal, to be effective as of 1 July 2021. The club reportedly met his release clause from Leipzig, set at €42.5 million. Upamecano's first game as a Bayern player came in a

pre-season friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

on 16 July 2021 against fellow Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln that saw Bayern lose 3–2 after fielding a side largely consisting of reserve and youth players. He made his competitive debut on the opening day of the 2021–22 Bundesliga season, starting at centre-back alongside

Niklas Süle Niklas Süle (born 3 September 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Borussia Dortmund and the Germany national team. Club career Early career Süle started his career with Rot-Weiß Walldorf. In J ...

in a 1–1 away draw against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 win over

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

on 17 December, heading in a cross from

Thomas Müller Thomas Müller (; born 13 September 1989) is a German professional footballer who plays for club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. A versatile player, Müller has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – as an attacking m ...

International career

Upamecano played for the France under-16 team that finished third in the 2014 Aegean Cup. He played in three of his country's four games and was named the competition's best defender. He subsequently moved up to the France under-17 squad, making his debut in a European Championship qualifier against Cyprus on 27 October 2014. France won the

2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (33rd edition if the Under-16 era was also included), the annual European youth association football, football competition contested by the ...

, with Upamecano playing in all six of his country's matches and being named in the team of the tournament. He made his debut for France under-18 in a 0–0 friendly draw with United States under-18 on 4 September 2015. Upamecano made his debut for the

France national football team The France national football team (french: Équipe de France de football) represents France in men's international football matches. It is governed by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is a ...

, on 5 September 2020, starting in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

group-stage match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Three days later on 8 September, he scored his first international goal in a 4–2 win against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Upamecano played a pivotal role in France's

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, starting five of France's seven matches. This includes playing the entire 120 minutes in the

final 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 ...

in an eventual 3-3 loss in penalties to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the France's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Upamecano goal''

Honours

Bayern Munich *

: 2021–22 * DFL-Supercup:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

France 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 ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

France *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

runner-up:

Individual *UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament:

Squad of the Season: 2019–20 *

ESM Team of the Year The European Sports Media (ESM), formerly European Sports Magazines, is an association of football-related publications in Europe. Members European Sports Media was established in 1989 as an international body for football journalism. Its nine fo ...

: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Bayern Munich website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Upamecano, Dayot 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Évreux Footballers from Normandy French footballers Association football defenders FC Red Bull Salzburg players FC Liefering players RB Leipzig players FC Bayern Munich footballers Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers France international footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Nations League-winning players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate footballers in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in Austria French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Black French sportspeople French people of Bissau-Guinean descent Sportspeople with dyslexia