Dimitri Oberlin (born 27 September 1997) is a 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

club

Adanaspor Adanaspor is a Turkish professional football club based in Adana, currently performing at the TFF First League. The club is founded in 1954 by the middle-class merchants and artisans in response to the alienation within city's then most popular c ...

. Born in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, he represents the Switzerland national team.

Club career

Youth

Oberlin started his youth football with FC Étoile-Broye, FC Thierrens and Lausanne-Sport, with whom he won an Under-15 championship in Switzerland.

Zürich

In 2011 he moved to

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

, and signed his first professional contract with the club in 2014. While he was initially promised playing time in the first team, he was used sparingly at the club, and for that reason Oberlin sought to transfer away from the club. He was sought after by

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 ...

in England, but would've started in their academy with the Under-18 team. For that reason, Oberlin chose to transfer to Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, where a path to the first team was clearer. Oberlin was often compared with fellow Cameroon-born, Swiss international

Breel Embolo Breel Donald Embolo (born 14 February 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Monaco and the Switzerland national team. Born in Cameroon, Embolo moved with his family to France before finally settling in Switz ...

, and Zürich chairman Ancillo Capella remarked upon Oberlin's departure that he did not want "hysterical mothers claiming that their sons are at least as good as Embolo".

Salzburg

On 30 June 2015, Red Bull Salzburg made the announcement that they had signed a three-year contract with Oberlin. Oberlin scored his first goal with Salzburg in his second game with the club, against

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

on 1 August, after coming on as a second-half substitute. He ended up splitting his first season with Salzburg and their farm club, Liefering. He scored three goals with Salzburg, and seven with Liefering in the Erste Liga. Oberlin received an offer from Red Bull parent club

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 ...

in the German

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 ...

, but declined, citing the importance of playing first team football.

Loan to Rheindorf Altach

Oberlin was loaned out to fellow

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

club Rheindorf Altach for the 2016–17 season. Oberlin got off to a good start with Altach, as he scored six goals in his first five games with the club. He finished the first half of the season with nine goals, second in the league to Deni Alar, as Altach were the surprise leaders of the league at the halfway point of the season. Oberlin was recalled by RB Salzburg at that point, and he found the back of the net on his first match back, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over

Mattersburg Mattersburg (; formerly ''Mattersdorf'', hu, Nagymarton, Croatian: ''Matrštof'') is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the District of Mattersburg and was home to former Bundesliga football team, SV Mattersburg. ...

. He made three more appearances before missing nearly two months with a muscle tear in his thigh, picked up while on international duty with the Swiss under-20 team. Expected to miss the rest of the season, Oberlin returned in time to make a substitute appearance against his former club that season, Altach, in the final game. Altach were in fourth by that point in the season, and Salzburg won 1–0 as they ran away with the championship, their fourth in a row.

Basel

On 20 June 2017,

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

announced that they had acquired Oberlin on loan from Salzburg, with the option of a definite transfer. He joined Basel's first team for their 2017–18 season under head coach Raphaël Wicky. On 15 May 2018 Basel pulled this optioned and signed him definitively. Oberlin played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Stockhorn Arena Stockhorn Arena (formerly known as Arena Thun) is a football stadium in Thun, Switzerland. It has a capacity of 10,000 spectators and opened in 2011. It is the home of FC Thun of the Swiss Super League. History From 1954 until 2011, Stadion Lache ...

on 5 August 2017. He scored his first goal for his new club in same game, it was the last goal of the match, as Basel won 3–0 against

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

. Basel, as champions of the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

the previous year, earned a spot in the group stage of the Champions League. Oberlin appeared as a substitute against

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, but started for Basel against Portuguese club Benfica. On 27 September 2017, Oberlin's 20th birthday, he played in the starting eleven in the Champions League Group stage match against Benfica. Basel ran out 5–0 victors at

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

, with Oberlin scoring two goals and assisting a third, highlighted by his full-field sprint after heading away a Benfica corner to finish off a Basel counter-attack with a goal within just 12 seconds after the corner kick. Oberlin made four starts in the group stage, scoring four goals as Basel advanced to the knockout stages, ending second in their group behind Manchester United. Drawn against

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Basel lost 5–2 on aggregate, but they did defeat City in the second leg in Manchester 2–1, and Oberlin was in the starting eleven both legs. In the following season, under new trainer

Marcel Koller Marcel Martin Koller (born 11 November 1960) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Al Ahly in the Egyptian Premier League. Playing career Born in Zürich, Koller played his entire career ...

, Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 competition. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

1–0. In the quarter-finals

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi-finals

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on the 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against

. Striker

Albian Ajeti Albian Afrim Ajeti (born 26 February 1997) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a striker for Austrian Bundesliga club Sturm Graz, on loan from Celtic, and the Switzerland national team. He has previously played for Basel (two spel ...

scored the first goal,

Fabian Frei Fabian Frei (born 8 January 1989) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and a centre-back for Swiss Super League club Basel and the Switzerland national team. Until June 2011, he played for the Swiss U-21 team. ...

the second for Basel, then

Dejan Sorgić Dejan Sorgić ( sr-cyr, Дејан Соргић; born 15 September 1989) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a forward for FC Luzern. Career On 20 July 2016, he joined Thun on a two-year contract. In October 2021, Sorgić returned t ...

netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel. Oberlin played in two cup games and scored a goal in the second round against Echallens Région.

Loan to Empoli

On 31 January 2019, the last day of the 2018–19 winter transfer window, Oberlin moved to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side

Empoli F.C. Empoli Football Club, commonly referred to as Empoli, is an Italian football club based in Empoli, Metropolitan City of Florence. Founded in 1920, the side is part of a select group of Italian football clubs that do not belong to a provincial ...

on loan for the rest of the season with Empoli securing an option to make the signing permanent. Empoli did not pull the option for the permanent signing.

Loan to Zulte Waregem

On 1 July 2019, Oberlin moved to

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

to join

S.V. Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

on a 1 year loan with an option to make the signing permanent. Zulte Waregem did not decide on their option of a permanent transfer.

Return to Basel

After his loan period Oberlin returned to Basel for the 2020–21 season under head coach

Ciriaco Sforza Ciriaco Sforza (; born 2 March 1970) is a Swiss football manager and former professional player who last managed Swiss Super League club Basel. After beginning his career with Swiss clubs FC Aarau and Grasshopper Club Zürich, he most notably p ...

. He played just one test game and the match in the third qualifying round of the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

against

Anorthosis Famagusta FC Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

as he was substituted in during the 76th minute. Things did not work out between Sforza and Oberlin and he did not play a further game. On 5 December 2020 Basel announced that Oberlin's contract had been dissolved. Between the years 2017 and 2020 Oberlin played in a total of 79 games for Basel scoring a total of 15 goals. 46 of these games were in the

, seven in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

, 13 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 13 were friendly games. He scored five goals in the domestic league, two in the cup, four in the Champions League and the other four were scored during the test games.

Bayern Munich II

On 26 January 2021, Oberlin signed a six-month contract with

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 ...

to play for their

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

in the 3. Liga.

Servette FC

On 28 July 2021, Oberlin signed a three-year contract with

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the S ...

to play in the

. He made his competitive debut for Servette on 22 August in a 4–1 league win over

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

, coming off the bench in the 68th minute alongside

Ronny Rodelin Sylvio Ronny Rodelin (born 18 November 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Swiss club Servette. Club career Early career Rodelin began his youth and senior career at Rodez. During the 2007–08 season, he scored ...

, and immediately contributed with an assist in the same minute to a goal scored by Rodelin. Oberlin made ten appearances in his first six months at the club, all as a substitute.

Loan to Thun

On 31 August 2022, Oberlin moved on a season-long loan to

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

club

International career

Oberlin received his first call to the

Switzerland national football team The Switzerland national football team (german: Schweizer Fussballnationalmannschaft, it, Nazionale di calcio della Svizzera, french: Équipe nationale suisse de football, rm, Squadra naziunala da ballape da la Svizra) represents Switzerland ...

for friendlies against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

in March 2018. Born in Cameroon, Oberlin moved to Switzerland at the age of 9, and has participated in their youth ranks from the age of 14. He made his debut on 23 March 2018 in a game against Greece.

Career statistics

Honours

;Salzburg *

: 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 2015–16, 2016–17 ;Basel *

: 2018–19

Individual

Young Footballer of the Year: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oberlin, Dimitri 1997 births Living people Footballers from Yaoundé Swiss people of Cameroonian descent Men's association football forwards Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Cameroonian men's footballers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss Super League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Serie A players 3. Liga players Swiss Challenge League players FC Zürich players FC Liefering players FC Red Bull Salzburg players SC Rheindorf Altach players FC Basel players Empoli FC players S.V. Zulte Waregem players FC Bayern Munich II players Servette FC players FC Thun players Adanaspor footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Turkey