Jamal Musiala (born 26 February 2003) 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or winger for club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. Nicknamed "

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten ...

", Musiala is known for his world-class dribbling ability and is often considered one of the best young attackers in the world. Born in Germany to a Nigerian father and German mother, he was raised from the age of seven in England. Musiala represented both Germany and England at youth level, and eventually pledged his allegiance to the Germany national team for future games in February 2021, representing the side at

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 ...

and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Early life

Musiala was born in Stuttgart, Germany to a British-Nigerian

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

father and German mother of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

roots. He lived in Fulda until the age of seven, before moving to England with his family, where he remained for the rest of his childhood. He went to primary school at the Corpus Christi School in

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...

. For secondary school he went to the

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. He was in the Chelsea academy for the last years of his childhood.

Club career

2019–20: Move to Bayern Munich and debut

In July 2019, aged 16, Musiala left

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 ...

to join

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. On 3 June 2020, Musiala made his professional debut, coming on as a substitute for

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the reserve team of German association football club FC Bayern Munich, they currently play in the Regionalliga Bayern. In 2010–11 they played in the 3. Liga, having qualified ...

in their 3–2 win over

Preußen Münster Preußen or Preussen is the German word for Prussia. It also refers to: Ships * ''Preußen'' (ship), windjammer built in 1902 * SMS ''Preußen'' (1873), armored frigate * SMS ''Preußen'' (1903), pre-dreadnought Battleship * , vorpostenboot ...

in the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

. On 20 June 2020, he made his Bundesliga debut against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

, and he became the youngest player to play a match for Bayern in the Bundesliga, aged 17 years and 115 days. Musiala was a part of the squad that won the

2019–20 UEFA Champions League The 2019–20 UEFA Champions League was the 65th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 28th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Bayern Munich d ...

, although he did not make any appearances in the tournament.

2020–21: First-team breakthrough

On 18 September 2020, Musiala scored his first Bundesliga goal in an 8–0 win over Schalke, to become Bayern's youngest goalscorer, aged 17 years 205 days, breaking the previous record of

Roque Santa Cruz Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (; born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan club Club Libertad. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay national team, ...

, aged 18 years 12 days. On 3 November, Musiala made his Champions League debut as a substitute to

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 mi ...

in a 6–2 away win over Red Bull Salzburg. On 1 December, he started his first Champions League match in a 1–1 away draw against Atlético Madrid. On 23 February 2021, Musiala scored his first Champions League goal in a 4–1 away win over

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in the first leg of the round of 16 tie, becoming the competition's youngest goalscorer of both English and German nationalities. On 5 March, he signed his first professional contract at Bayern Munich until 2026.

2021–22

On 25 August 2021, Musiala scored his first two goals of the season in a 12–0 DFB Pokal away win over

Bremer SV Bremer SV is a German association football club, based in the city of Bremen, which was founded in 1906. The club play their home games at the Panzenberg Stadium and currently participate in the 4th tier Regionalliga Nord. History Bremer SV w ...

. Three days later, he then scored his first Bundesliga goal of the season in a 5–0 win over Hertha BSC. On 8 December 2021, Musiala scored his first Champions League goal of the season in a 3–0 win over

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. On 23 April 2022, Musiala's strike sealed the title in a 3–1 victory over

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 fo ...

in Der Klassiker, giving Bayern their tenth straight Bundesliga title.

2022–23

On 27 May 2023, Musiala scored the winning goal in the 89th minute in a 2–1 away victory over

FC Köln FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

, to clinch the 11th consecutive league title for his club ahead of rivals Borussia Dortmund on goal difference. Moreover, he finished the season as Bayern's second top scorer in the league with 12 goals, behind

Serge Gnabry Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...

International career

Musiala, who was also eligible to play for

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

via his father, represented both

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

at youth international level.

Youth

In November 2020, Musiala was called up to the England under-21 squad for the first time for their

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 footballtournament that determined the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Hungary and Slovenia in the 2021 UEFA European Und ...

matches. He made his U21 debut as a substitute during a 3–1 victory over Andorra under-21s at Molineux Stadium on 13 November 2020. He scored his first under-21 goal during a 5–0 win over

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

at Molineux Stadium on 17 November 2020. After choosing to represent England's under-21s, the German football association indicated that they had stopped pursuing Musiala, with youth team coach Meikel Schonweitz stating: "He has clearly signalled to us that he currently sees his future with the English national teams. We accept his decision and wish him all the best for his sporting career." Musiala had previously indicated that he felt more comfortable playing for England at youth level than for Germany, as he grew up as a footballer at Chelsea with other English players, whereas for Germany he did not know any of the other players.

Senior

On 24 February 2021, Musiala announced he had decided to represent his birth nation, Germany, for full international matches. He subsequently received his first call up to the senior team for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in March 2021, making his debut on 25 March 2021 as a 79th minute substitute in a 3–0 win against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Euro 2020

On 19 May 2021, Musiala was selected to the squad for the

. On 23 June 2021, he became the youngest German player to feature in a major tournament in a 2–2 draw with

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

in Euro 2020, aged 18 years and 117 days. During the match, Musiala set up

Leon Goretzka Leon Christoph Goretzka (born 6 February 1995) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich and the Germany national football team, Germany national team. Starting o ...

's late equalizer which sent Germany through to the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. In doing so, he received praise from pundits and fans worldwide.

2022 World Cup qualification

On 11 October 2021, Musiala scored his first goal in a 4–0 win over

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

during the 2022 World Cup qualification, becoming the second-youngest player to score for Germany, aged 18 years and 227 days, only behind Marius Hiller, aged 17 years and 241 days, in 1910.

2022 World Cup

On 10 November 2022, Musiala received a call-up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. On 23 November, he made his World Cup debut by starting against Japan, to become the first German teenager to feature in the competition since 1958, and the fourth youngest German player, aged 19 years and 270 days, in all World Cup participations, only behind:

Karl-Heinz Schnellinger Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (born 31 March 1939) is a German former footballer who played as a defender. An athletic and hard-tackling player, with a strong physique, he was nicknamed the "Volkswagen" for his continuity of performance, both in qu ...

, Leopold Neumer and Edmund Conen. In the same match,

Youssoufa Moukoko Youssoufa Moukoko (born 20 November 2004) is a German professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Germany national team. He is known for his scoring ability at younger age levels. Club career E ...

was subbed on in the 90th minute, to be the youngest ever, and Musiala became the fifth. On 1 December, he completed 13 dribbles, two shy of Jay-Jay Okocha's record of 15 in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, in a 4–2 win over Costa Rica, yet Germany was eliminated from the group stage as they finished third in their group.

Style of play

As a versatile player, Musiala plays both on the wings and at all positions of the midfield. According to

Hansi Flick Hans-Dieter "Hansi" Flick (born 24 February 1965) is a German professional football coach and former player who is the manager of the Germany national team. From August 2006 to July 2014, he was the assistant coach of Germany under manager Joac ...

, who gave Musiala his debut at FC Bayern Munich, "He has a great eye and feeling for choosing the right spaces. He is very confident on the ball and can play well between the lines."

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Germany score listed first, score column indicates score after each Musiala goal''

Honours

Bayern Munich *

: 2019–20,

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 ...

, 2021–22,

2022–23 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 ...

* DFL-Supercup:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

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

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

* FIFA Club World Cup:

Individual * IFFHS Men's Youth (U20) World Team: 2021 *

Rookie of the Month: April 2021 *

Team of the Season:

* ''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

'' Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2021–22 * Germany national Player of the Year: 2022

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Bayern Munich website
Profile
at the German Football Association website {{DEFAULTSORT:Musiala, Jamal 2003 births Living people Footballers from Stuttgart English footballers German footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players 3. Liga players Bundesliga players England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players English people of German descent English sportspeople of Nigerian descent English people of Yoruba descent English people of Polish descent German sportspeople of Nigerian descent German people of Yoruba descent German people of Polish descent German emigrants to England