Joel Untersee (born 11 February 1994) is a Swiss

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 defender.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa, of

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

descent, Untersee moved to Switzerland at a very young age and opted to represent

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

at various youth levels internationally. Following his move, Untersee joined the youth academy of

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 ...

, where he would eventually remain until 2010, before transferring to Italian giants,

Juventus Football Club )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

during the 2010–11 season.

Juventus

On 28 October 2010, Untersee officially left FC Zürich to join Juventus, where he was assigned to the youth team. After a successful debut season in Italy, Untersee was called up to the first team training camp in the summer 2011 by new head coach

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later b ...

. Following the summer ''ritiro,'' however, the young fullback returned to the youth sector for the 2011–12 season and remained during the 2012–13 campaign as well. On 1 January 2014,

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

confirmed that Untersee had left them for FC Vaduz on a six-month loan deal that would expire on 30 June 2014. Instantly making an impact with his new team, Untersee made his first appearance against FC Lugano in a 2–0 home victory on 3 February 2014. He went on to make 15 league appearances. Additionally, he scored his first goal for his new club in an 8–0 victory over FC Ruggell in the Liechtenstein Football Cup. On 3 July 2014, Juventus and Vaduz reached an agreement to prolong the loan deal for another season.

Brescia

On 31 August 2016, Untersee completed a move to Italian club

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

on a loan deal from Juventus for the full season. He made his debut in a 2–0

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

win over

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

, playing the full 90 minutes

Empoli

After one year contract, in January 2019, he was loaned to Zürich until the end of the season.

HJK

On 19 January 2021, Untersee signed a one-year contract with HJK. Untersee left HJK on 23 July 2021 by mutual consent, having made four appearances for the club in the Finnish Cup.

International career

Untersee had represented Switzerland at youth levels. On 6 March 2018, the South African National Team Coach

Stuart Baxter Stuart William Baxter (born 16 August 1953) is a British football manager and former player who most recently managed South African Premier Soccer League side Kaizer Chiefs. Born in England of Scottish parentage, and brought up in both countr ...

announced that Untersee has agreed to represent Bafana Bafana at international level. He explained his absence from the Bafana Bafana in the spring 2018 friendlies was due to Empoli's fixtures and the importance of achieving promotion. In May 2019 he was added to South Africa's provisional 30-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, although he still had not obtained a South African passport by that time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Untersee, Joel Living people 1994 births Soccer players from Johannesburg Men's association football defenders Swiss men's footballers Juventus FC players FC Vaduz players Frosinone Calcio players Brescia Calcio players Empoli FC players FC Zürich players Swiss Super League players Serie A players Serie B players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Liechtenstein Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Liechtenstein South African people of Swiss descent South African emigrants to Switzerland Swiss people of South African descent