Tim Leibold (born 30 November 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 ...

who plays

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Sporting Kansas City. He began his career with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

before joining 1. FC Nürnberg in 2015, where he experienced his breakthrough.

Club career

Early years

Leibold played for

until he was 12 years old. During his youth career, he played for

TSF Ditzingen The TSF Ditzingen is an association football club in Germany. It is located in the city of Ditzingen, in Baden-Wurttemberg. History The club was formed on 2 July 1893 under the name of TV Ditzingen. However, it did not have a football departm ...

and

SGV Freiberg SGV Freiberg is a German association football club from the city of Freiberg am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg. History The club was formed out of the 1973 union of ''SGV Heutingsheim'' and ''TSV Beihingen''. The roots of the Heutingsheim club go ...

where he also played for the adult team in the

Oberliga Baden-Württemberg The Oberliga Baden-Württemberg is the highest association football league in the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Baden-Württemberg football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German foot ...

. In the 2012–13 season he played 33 matches and scored 5 goals. One year later he changed teams again and went back to

VfB Stuttgart II VfB Stuttgart II is a German football team located in Stuttgart, currently playing in the Regionalliga Südwest. From 2008 to 2016 the team played in the 3. Liga. They are the reserve team of VfB Stuttgart. Until 2005 the team played under the n ...

, where he played for the second team in the 3.Liga. On 20 July 2013, Leibold played his first match for

as a professional in 2013–14 season against Borussia Dortmund II.

1. FC Nürnberg

For the 2015–16 season Leibold moved to 1. FC Nürnberg in the

2.Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. On 6 May 2018 he scored as Nurnberg won 2–0 against SV Sandhausen to clinch promotion to the

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 ...

Hamburger SV

For the 2019–20 season Leibold moved to

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 ...

, where he signed a four-year contract. Under head coach

Dieter Hecking Dieter-Klaus Hecking (; born 12 September 1964) is a German football manager for 1. FC Nürnberg and former professional player. He played for Hannover 96 and Eintracht Braunschweig. He returned to manage Hannover despite the long-standing and bi ...

, Leibold was an undisputed starter and did not miss a single minute of the playing time during the season. In addition to scoring one goal, he made the most assists of the season with 16 assists. In particular, he convinced with good performances in the first half of the season, after which he was rated by the German sports magazine ''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

'' behind

Moritz Heyer Moritz Heyer (born 4 April 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for 2. Bundesliga club Hamburger SV. He had previously played for Sportfreunde Lotte, Hallescher FC and VfL Osnabrück. Career Early car ...

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section. History Foundation to WW2 The c ...

as the second best defender in the league. In the second half of the season, Leibold's performance and that of the entire team, which had been on pace for a direct promotion place after the first half of the season, decreased. At the end of the season, HSV missed promotion to the Bundesliga in 4th place for a second season in a row. Leibold made it into the ''kicker'' team of the season. The player himself took on responsibility with the words "We screwed it up ourselves, that's why we don't complain that we didn't get promoted" and named several late draws and defeats as a reason for the failure. According to Leibold, the team was "simply too immature in the end," the "knockouts" meant that by the end of the season "their heads were empty, their legs too heavy". For the 2020–21 season, Leibold was appointed

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

by the new head coach

Daniel Thioune Daniel Moustapha Thioune (born 21 July 1974) is a German professional football manager and former player who currently manages Fortuna Düsseldorf. Thioune spent most of his playing career at VfL Osnabrück, where he established himself as a pr ...

, thereby succeeding

Aaron Hunt Aaron Hunt (born 4 September 1986) is a German former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He spent most of his career at Werder Bremen, making his first-team debut at the age of 18. In the Bundesliga, he also repres ...

. He would be relegated to

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the r ...

Tim Walter Tim Laszlo Walter (born 8 November 1975) is a German football coach, who coaches Hamburger SV. Coaching career In June 2019, Walter became the new head coach of VfB Stuttgart. He was sacked on 23 December 2019. He was named the new head coach o ...

after Sebastian Schonlau would be appointed

right after leaving

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

Sporting Kansas City

On 12 January 2023, it was announced Leibold had signed with

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side Sporting Kansas City on a three-year deal. Leibold made his debut on 28 February 2023 in a match against Portland Timbers where he was substituted on for the last 17 minutes of the match. Sporting KC lost the match 1–0. Leibold made his first start on 12 March 2023 in a goalless draw at home to LA Galaxy.

International career

On 10 October 2013, Leibold celebrated his first match for the Germany U20 national team at the Tournament of 4 nations versus

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

. During this tournament, he played four more matches while Germany won the tournament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leibold, Tim 1993 births Living people German men's footballers VfB Stuttgart II players VfB Stuttgart players 1. FC Nürnberg players Hamburger SV players Sporting Kansas City players Men's association football defenders 3. Liga players Germany men's youth international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players People from Böblingen Footballers from Stuttgart (region) German expatriate sportspeople in the United States German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players