Gian Luca Waldschmidt (born 19 May 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

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

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

and the Germany national team. He developed through the academy of

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

and has represented Germany at various levels.

Club career

Eintracht Frankfurt

, Waldschmidt began his youth career in 2001 with SSV Oranien Frohnhausen and had youth spells at SSC Juno Burg and TSG Wieseck before joining the

academy in 2010. On 25 April 2014, Waldschmidt signed his first professional contract, a three-year deal. This saw him promoted to the first team, although he would still appear for the under-19 team. Exactly one year later, on 25 April 2015, Waldschmidt made his

debut, as a 73rd-minute substitute for Sonny Kittel in a 0–2 home loss 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 scored his first goal for Eintracht Frankfurt on 8 August in a 3–0 win over

Bremer SV Bremer SV is a German association football club, based in the city of Bremen, which was founded in 1906. The club play their home games at the Panzenberg Stadium and currently participate in the 4th tier Regionalliga Nord. History Bremer SV w ...

in the

first round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

of the

German cup 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 considered ...

Hamburger SV

On 30 June 2016, Waldschmidt signed for

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 a four-year contract. He made his first appearance for the

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

club in the Bundesliga in a 0–4 home loss to

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

on 17 September, coming on as a substitute in the 83rd minute, replacing

Bobby Wood Bobby Shou Wood (born November 15, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. Youth and early career Wood was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a mother with partial ...

. He scored his first goal for the club a few seconds after coming on, in a 4–0 win over

Hallescher FC Hallescher FC, sometimes still called by its former popular name Chemie Halle, is a German association football club based in Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third highest level in the German footb ...

on 24 October, in a second-round

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

fixture. On 20 May 2017, the last round of the

2016–17 Bundesliga The 2016–17 Bundesliga was the 54th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 26 August 2016 and ended on 20 May 2017. Bayern Munich were the defending champions. Fixtures for the 2016–17 season were announ ...

season, Waldschmidt scored his first Bundesliga-goal, the decisive goal in a 2–1 win over relegation rivals

, in the 88th minute - two minutes after being substituted in. The goal meant that Hamburger SV avoided Bundesliga relegation play-offs for the first time in four years. In the following season, Waldschmidt made 21 league appearances in which he scored one goal. At the end of the season, Hamburger SV were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in the Bundesliga's 55-year history.

SC Freiburg

In May 2018,

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 ...

announced they had signed Waldschmidt for the 2018–19 season from

, newly relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. The club reportedly triggered a €5 million release clause. He finished his first campaign for the club with 30 appearances and nine goals.

Benfica

On 14 August 2020, Benfica announced the signing of Waldschmidt on a five-year deal for 15 million euros. Waldschmidt scored twice on his Benfica debut, a 5–1

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

win over Famalicão on 18 September 2020.

VfL Wolfsburg

On 22 August 2021, Waldschmidt returned to Germany, signing a four-year contract with

International career

Waldschmidt has represented the

Germany national youth football team This article includes current squads of Germany U-19, U-18, U-17, U-16 and U-15 national football teams. Main coaches Germany national under-19 squad * The following players were called up for the friendly matches. * Match dates: 23, 26 and ...

at U16, U17, U18, U19 and U21 level. He finished as the top scorer of the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

, where he scored seven goals, breaking the previous record of his compatriot,

Pierre Littbarski Pierre Michael Littbarski (; born 16 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player of 1. FC Köln and the West Germany national team. Known for his dribbling abilities, he was mainly used as an attacking midfielder o ...

, who scored six goals in the

1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 '' Ab ...

. A few months later, on 29 August, he was called up to Joachim Löw's senior squad for UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. He made his

Germany national football team The Germany national football team (german: link=no, Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deutsch ...

debut on 9 October 2019 in a friendly against Argentina. He started the game and played the whole match. He scored his first goal on 7 October 2020, against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in a friendly game.

Personal life

Luca Waldschmidt is the son of Wolfgang Waldschmidt, who made 14 appearances for

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Spo ...

in the

1983–84 2. Bundesliga The 1983–84 2. Bundesliga season was the tenth season of the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system. Karlsruher SC and FC Schalke 04 were promoted to the Bundesliga while Rot-Weiss Essen, SC Charlottenburg, VfL Os ...

season.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 11 November 2020. Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first.''

Honours

Germany U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

runner-up:

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 * UEFA European Under-21 Championship Golden Boot:

* UEFA European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2019

References

External links

Profile
at the VfL Wolfsburg website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldschmidt, Gianluca 1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Siegen German footballers Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia Germany youth international footballers Association football forwards Eintracht Frankfurt players Eintracht Frankfurt II players Hamburger SV players SC Freiburg players S.L. Benfica footballers VfL Wolfsburg players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Primeira Liga players Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal