Karim Bellarabi (born 8 April 1990) 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 winger 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 Bayer Leverkusen and the Germany national team.

Early life

Bellarabi was born in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, to a Moroccan father and a German mother. He grew up in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, where he played youth football for local clubs FC Huchting, Werder Bremen, and

FC Oberneuland FC Oberneuland Bremen von 1948 is a German association football club from the Oberneuland quarter of Bremen, founded on 13 April 1948 in the local inn ''Zum Dorfkrug'' as ''Fußball-Club Oberneuland von 1948''. In addition to football, the club ...

Club career

In 2008, Bellarabi joined the under-19 side of

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

. He made his senior debut for them during the 2008–09 season, followed by two more appearances during the 2009–10 league campaign. He finally became a regular starter during the 2010–11 3. Liga season and attracted notice due to his performance. After the season, he left Braunschweig for

side Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Due to injury, Bellarabi missed most of the

2012–13 Bundesliga The 2012–13 Bundesliga was the 50th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 24 August 2012 with the season opening match at Westfalenstadion involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and SV Werd ...

season. In 2013, he returned from Leverkusen to Eintracht Braunschweig, by now playing in the Bundesliga as well, on a one-year loan deal. left, upBellarabi playing for Leverkusen in 2014 Bellarabi returned to Leverkusen at the start of the 2014–15 season. On 23 August 2014, he scored the fastest goal in Bundesliga history, just in 9 seconds, on the opening match of the 2014–15 season, away to

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 footb ...

, he led the way to a 0–2 win. On 17 February 2017 Bellarabi scored the 50,000th goal in

history. In July 2018 he collapsed in a pre-season friendly. On 13 August 2020, he extended his stay at the BayArena until 2023 amid interest from other clubs.

International career

Bellarabi has played youth international football for the German

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and under-21 teams. He was called up by the senior team in October 2014. He made his senior international debut for Germany on 11 October 2014 in a 2–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying defeat away to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, playing the full 90 minutes. On 13 June 2015, Bellarabi scored his first international goal in a 7–0 win against

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellarabi, Karim 1990 births Living people Footballers from Berlin German footballers Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers FC Oberneuland players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Eintracht Braunschweig players Eintracht Braunschweig II players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players German people of Moroccan descent German sportspeople of African descent Association football wingers Germany international footballers