Sébastien Romain Teddy Haller (born 22 June 1994) is a 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 striker 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 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 ...

and the Ivory Coast national team. Haller began his career in France with

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

, and moved on loan to Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

in 2015, before signing on a permanent basis. Two years later, he moved to the German club

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 ...

, winning the

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 ...

in 2018. English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

signed him a year later for a club-record transfer worth €49.8 million (£45 million). Haller returned to the Netherlands in 2021, signing with

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

, for a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million). In his first six months, he won the Eredivisie and the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

. He became the first player to score across seven consecutive UEFA Champions League matches during the 2021–22 season, and then transferred to

for an initial €31 million. Born in France to a French father and an Ivorian mother, Haller represented France at youth level, before switching his allegiance in 2020 to the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. He scored his first international goal against

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, and represented the national team at the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

Early life

Haller was born in

Ris-Orangis Ris-Orangis () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Inhabitants of Ris-Orangis are known as ''Rissois''. History The commune of Ris-Orangis was creat ...

, Essonne, Paris to a French father and an Ivorian mother.

Club career

Auxerre

During the

2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the eleventh played since the change in age limits from under 16s to Under 17s in 1991. It was held in Mexico with games being played amongst various venues ...

, on 26 June 2011, Haller signed his first professional contract with

, agreeing to a three-year deal. Ahead of the 2012–13 season, Haller was promoted to the senior team by

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Jean-Guy Wallemme Jean-Guy Wallemme (born 10 August 1967) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of club Paris 13 Atletico. Playing career Wallemme was a mainstay of the Lens team which won the French championship in ...

. His professional debut came on 27 July 2012, in the team's opening

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

match of the 2012–13 campaign against

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

Utrecht

On 24 December 2014, it was announced that Haller was sent on loan to Dutch

club

until the end of the season. At the end of the season, it was announced that FC Utrecht had signed Haller. The supporters voted for Haller as the winner of the Di Tommaso Trophy 2015, Utrecht's player of the year award.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 15 May 2017, Haller signed with

on a four-year deal for a reported fee of €7 million. In the

2017–18 DFB-Pokal The 2017–18 DFB-Pokal was the 75th season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 1 ...

, he scored four goals for Frankfurt, as the club won the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, marking the first trophy of Haller's career. In the

2018–19 Bundesliga The 2018–19 Bundesliga was the 56th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 24 August 2018 and concluded on 18 May 2019. It also marked the first season without Hamburger SV, previously the only team to hav ...

season, he scored 15 league goals in 29 appearances as the club finished seventh. In addition to his goals scored, he also made nine

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

s, meaning he was involved in 24 goals, a figure only beaten in the 2018–19 season by

Robert Lewandowski Robert Lewandowski (; born 21 August 1988) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Barcelona and captains the Poland national team. Recognised for his positioning, technique and finishing, Lewandowski is co ...

with 29.

West Ham United

On 17 July 2019, Haller signed with

on a five-year deal for a club record fee, that could rise to £45 million. He made his debut on 10 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 5–0

loss against reigning

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Two weeks later, he scored his first goals in a 3–1 away win against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in which the latter was an acrobatic

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

. Haller struggled at West Ham, attributing it to

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

replacing

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Lúis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed teams in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China and Ecuador. ...

as manager and then preferring

Michail Antonio Michail Gregory Antonio (born 28 March 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for club West Ham United. Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national team. Antonio began his career at non-League club Tooting & Mit ...

up front, as well as the ill health of his wife and newborn son. In July 2020, Frankfurt reported West Ham to

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

after they had failed to pay an instalment in May 2020 of £5.4 million as part of the £45 million transfer. West Ham claimed that they had withheld the payment, following a contractual dispute between the two clubs. On 16 December, Haller scored an overhead kick in a 1–1 draw against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

that was voted as the

Premier League Goal of the Month The Premier League Goal of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player who is deemed to have scored the best Premier League goal each month of the season from August to April. The winner is chosen by a combination of ...

Ajax

On 8 January 2021, Haller signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Dutch club

for a club record fee of €22.5 million (£18.8 million), reuniting with his former Utrecht manager

Erik ten Hag Erik ten Hag (, born 2 February 1970) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Premier League club Manchester United. As a player, Ten Hag played as a centre-back in the Dutch league for 13 years ...

. He made his debut two days later as a second-half substitute against De Topper rivals PSV, assisting Antony for the equaliser in a 2–2 draw. On 14 January, he scored his first goal, and provided an assist, in a 3–1 away win over

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germ ...

. On 3 February, Haller was mistakenly omitted from the club's list for the knockout stages of the

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 ...

and therefore would be unable to play for the club in the competition. In a 5–1 away victory over

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 ...

on 15 September 2021, Haller scored twice in each half to become the first player to score four on his Champions League debut since

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and retired professional player, who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pl ...

for

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

in 1992; the Dutchman had however already played in the competition under its former name of the European Cup. In the following fixture 13 days later, he recorded a goal against

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

, becoming the first player in the history of the competition to score five goals in his first two matches appearances; against the same team on 24 November, Haller scored twice in a 2–1 win to become the first player to score nine goals in five consecutive matches of the competition. On 7 December, Haller scored in his team's Champions League group stage match, becoming only the second player to register in all six group games after

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

in 2017–18 and became the fastest player to 10 goals in competition history. On 23 February 2022, he made amends for an earlier own goal, and helped Ajax to a 2–2 away draw against Benfica in the last, becoming the first player to score in seven consecutive matches in the competition; his side lost 3–2 aggregate. With 21 league goals in 31 games, he finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

as Eredivisie top scorer.

Borussia Dortmund

On 6 July 2022, Haller signed a contract with

until 30 June 2026. The transfer fee paid was €31 million, which could be increased to as much as €34.5 million after undisclosed bonuses. On 18 July, Haller withdrew from the club's pre-season training camp in Switzerland after a tumour was found in his testicle. On 3 January 2023, Haller tweeted that he had returned to training after undergoing surgeries and chemotherapy to treat the tumour.

International career

Youth

Haller was a France youth international, having represented his country of birth at every youth level and totalling 51

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and 27 goals. He played with the under-17 team at the

in Mexico, scoring in a 3–0 win over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the opening group game. On 14 November 2013, Haller made his under-21 debut, coming on for

Anthony Martial Anthony Jordan Martial (; born 5 December 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and the France national team. After playing youth football for Les Ulis, Martial began his pr ...

in the 57th minute against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

in a European qualifier in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

and scoring to conclude a 6–0 win. He scored a hat-trick on 25 March 2015 in a friendly win of the same score against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, and he did the same on 10 November 2016 in a 5–1 win over the

at the

Stade Pierre Brisson Stade Pierre Brisson is a multi-use stadium in Beauvais, France. It is used mostly for football matches and serves as the home stadium for AS Beauvais Oise Association Sportive Beauvais Oise (; commonly referred to as AS Beauvais, ASBO, or si ...

Senior

In November 2020, Haller was called up to the Ivory Coast national team. He debuted in a 2–1

2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the 33rd edition of the international men's football champions ...

win over

on 12 November, scoring his side's game-winning goal in the 55th minute. He was called up for the finals in Cameroon, where he scored in a 2–2 group stage draw with

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

; in the last 16 against Egypt national football team, Egypt, he was substituted at half time in extra time for

Maxwel Cornet Gnaly Albert Maxwel Cornet (born 27 September 1996) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a winger and full-back for Premier League club West Ham United and the Ivory Coast national team. He has previously played in France for Me ...

as the side lost on penalties.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Ivory Coast score listed first, score column indicates score after each Haller goal''

Honours

Eintracht Frankfurt *

: 2017–18 Ajax *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 *

Individual *David Di Tommaso Trophy: 2015 *Bundesliga Rookie of the Month: October 2017 *

: December 2020 * Eredivisie top scorer: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the West Ham United F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haller, Sebastien 1994 births Living people People from Ris-Orangis Footballers from Essonne Ivorian footballers French footballers Association football forwards AJ Auxerre players FC Utrecht players Eintracht Frankfurt players West Ham United F.C. players AFC Ajax players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Ligue 2 players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Premier League players France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers Ivory Coast international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players French expatriate footballers Ivorian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in England Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Ivorian descent Ivorian people of French descent Citizens of Ivory Coast through descent