Leonardo Jesus Loureiro Bittencourt (born 19 December 1993) 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 for

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

as a

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 ...

Personal life

Bittencourt was born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany. He is the son of

Franklin Bittencourt Franklin Spencer Miguel Bittencourt (born 24 February 1969) is a Brazilian former professional football striker who works as a scout and youth coach with Energie Cottbus. Personal life Bittencourt was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After en ...

, a Brazilian former professional player who played in Germany, and is now active as a coach.

Club career

He began his career with

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

. On 1 December 2011, it was announced that Bittencourt had signed a four-year contract with

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 ...

, effective from 1 July 2012. He moved to

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

at the end of the 2012–13 season. On 13 July 2015, Bittencourt joined 1. FC Köln on a four-year deal keeping him at the club until 2019. On 28 April 2018, he played as Köln lost 3–2 to

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 ...

which confirmed Köln's relegation from the Bundesliga. After the team's relegation, Bittencourt was transferred to

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1899 ...

for a fee of €6 million. On 2 September 2019,

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

announced the signing of Bittencourt on a season-long loan deal. It was reported the transfer included an obligation for Werder Bremen to sign him permanently for an estimated transfer fee of €7 million. The obligation took effect in July 2020.

International career

Bittencourt has represented Germany's youth teams, under 19 and

under 21 Under may refer to: * "Under" (Alex Hepburn song), 2013 * "Under" (Pleasure P song), 2009 *Bülent Ünder (born 1949), Turkish footballer *Cengiz Ünder (born 1997), Turkish footballer *Marie Under (1883–1980), Estonian poet * Under (restaurant) ...

Career statistics

References

1993 births Living people Footballers from Leipzig German people of Brazilian descent German footballers Association football midfielders Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers FC Energie Cottbus players FC Energie Cottbus II players Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players Hannover 96 players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players SV Werder Bremen players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players {{Germany-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub