Julian Weigl (born 8 September 1995) 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

defensive 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 ...

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

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 ...

, on loan from Benfica. He also represents the Germany national team.

Club career

1860 Munich

Weigl is a youth export from

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members of ...

. He made his 2. Bundesliga debut at 14 February 2014 against Ingolstadt 04. He replaced Yannick Stark after 66 minutes in a 2–0 away defeat. He managed to play 14 league games in his first season with TSV's first team. In the first match of the 2014–15 season against

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

. Weigl, being only 18 years old, was named captain. He is therefore the youngest captain in the history of 1860 Munich. After the second match of the season Weigl was fined and suspended to the second squad along with his teammates

Vitus Eicher Vitus Eicher (born 5 November 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for 1. FC Heidenheim in the 2. Bundesliga. Career On 23 April 2013, Eicher scored his first goal of his career in a Regionalliga Bayern game agai ...

Daniel Adlung Daniel Adlung (born 1 October 1987) is a German footballer who plays as a midfielder for Greuther Fürth II. Club career Greuther Fürth Born in Fürth, West Germany, Adlung began his football career at SV Hiltpoltstein, joining the club when ...

and Yannick Stark. The four players had been out drinking late at night and were overheard talking negatively about the club. Weigl was relieved of the captaincy and succeeded by

Christopher Schindler Christopher Wolfgang Georg August Schindler (; born 29 April 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for 2. Bundesliga club 1. FC Nürnberg. After beginning his career with 1860 Munich, he moved to English club Hudd ...

Borussia Dortmund

After the 2014–15 season, Weigl transferred to Borussia Dortmund, where he signed a contract until 2019. Julian Weigl made his official Dortmund debut on Saturday 15 August 2015 in a 4–0 home victory against

. He made his

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 ...

debut a month after, when he came on in the 60th minute as a substitute against

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

. Weigl's remarkable play earned him a starting place in Dortmund and helped them finish 2nd in the Bundesliga and also played regularly as Dortmund went deep into the Europa league, before being knocked out by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. He scored his first goal for Dortmund which was also his first professional goal against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

in the

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 ...

, scoring the winner from outside the box in the 2–1 win. Weigl signed a new contract with Borussia on 21 December, keeping him at the club until 2021. On 13 May 2017, he suffered a fractured ankle in BVB's 1–1 away draw against

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...

. On 18 May 2017, Weigl underwent a successful surgery on his injury, but would be out for three to four months. He returned to Dortmund's XI on 24 September 2017 in BVB's 6–1 home victory against

Benfica

On 31 December 2019, Benfica announced an agreement with Dortmund to sign Weigl for €20 million. On 2 January 2020, Weigl arrived in Lisbon, where he completed the required physical examination before getting to know his new stadium, signing a contract through 30 June 2024 and being officially introduced to the supporters of his new club.

Loan to Borussia Mönchengladbach

On 1 September 2022,

announced an agreement to sign Weigl on loan from Benfica.

International career

Weigl started to represent Germany at youth levels during the qualification for the 2014 European Under-19 Championship, which was eventually won by Germany. Since August 2014 he is part of the U-20 squad. On 13 October 2014, Weigl scored his first international goal in a 1–1 tie against the Netherlands U20. Weigl made his debut for the German U-21 team on 3 September 2015, in a friendly match against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Rewarded for a fine debut Bundesliga with a place in Germany's provisional squad for

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 ...

, Weigl became a full international when he came off the bench against Slovakia. The game ended in a disappointing 3–1 defeat, but two days later, Weigl received confirmation that he had made the final cut for the Euros, although he did not play any games.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Borussia Dortmund *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: 2016–17 * DFL-Supercup:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual * Facebook FA Bundesliga Newcomer of the Year: 2016 * VDV Newcomer of the Season: 2015–16

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weigl, Julian 1995 births Living people People from Bad Aibling Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria Footballers from Bavaria German footballers Association football midfielders TSV 1860 Munich players TSV 1860 Munich II players Borussia Dortmund players S.L. Benfica footballers Borussia Mönchengladbach players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Primeira Liga players Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal German expatriate sportspeople in Portugal