Jonathan Glao Tah (; born 11 February 1996) 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 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

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 ...

and the Germany national team.

Early life

Tah was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, to an Ivorian father and a German mother. He grew up in the Hamburg-quarter of Altona.

Club career

Tah started playing football in

Altona 93 Altonaer FC von 1893, commonly known as Altona 93 and abbreviated to AFC, is a German association football club based in the Altona district of the city of Hamburg. The football team is a department of a larger sports club which also offers ha ...

. Then he joined SC Concordia before being snapped up by

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

. On 4 August 2013, Tah made his competitive debut for

in DFB Cup match against SV Schott Jena. He made his Bundesliga debut on 21 September 2013 in a 2-0 home loss against Werder Bremen. On 1 September 2014, he was loaned to

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

for one year. On 15 July 2015 he signed a five-year contract with

. On 26 February 2018,

announced the extension of Tah's contract with the club until 2023. He made his 100th Bundesliga appearance for the club on 10 March 2019.

International career

Tah received his first call up to the senior

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 ...

squad in March 2016 for friendlies against

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

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He made his debut in the former, coming on at half time for Mats Hummels in a 2–3 loss. He was called up to replace

Antonio Rüdiger Antonio Rüdiger (born 3 March 1993) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and the Germany national football team, Germany national team. Rüdiger began ...

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

. Tah was not included in

Joachim Löw Joachim Löw (born 3 February 1960) is a German football coach and former player. He was the manager of the Germany national team from 2006 until 2021. During his tenure as manager, he led Germany to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil ...

's final 23-man 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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Individual

Fritz Walter Medal The Fritz Walter Medal is a series of annual awards given by the German Football Association to youth footballers in Germany. First awarded in 2005, it is named in honour of Fritz Walter, captain of West Germany's 1954 FIFA World Cup-winning tea ...

(Under-19):

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 ...

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 ...

Squad of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

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kicker profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tah, Jonathan 1996 births Living people German people of Ivorian descent German sportspeople of African descent Association football central defenders German footballers Altonaer FC von 1893 players Hamburger SV II players Hamburger SV players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Germany youth international footballers Footballers from Hamburg Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players