Willem Davnis Louis Didier Geubbels (born 16 August 2001) is a French 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 as

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 Swiss club

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website = ...

Club career

Lyon

Geubbels started his playing career at Lyon's academy. He made his first team debut on 23 September 2017 in a 3–3 home draw against

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

in Ligue 1. He entered the field after 84 minutes, replacing Lucas Tousart. In doing so, Geubbels became the first player born in the 21st century to appear in Ligue 1, as well as the 5th youngest player ever to make a Ligue 1 debut at 16 years, one month and seven days old. On 7 December, Geubbels came on for an injured

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 ...

in the 45+1' minute of a 1–0 away loss to

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

in the

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 ...

. In doing so, Geubbels once again became the first player born in the 21st century to appear in 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. ...

as well as the youngest player ever to make a Europa League debut at 16 years and 113 days old.

Monaco

On 19 June 2018, Geubbels signed with

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

for €20 million.

Loan to Nantes

On 31 August 2021, he joined Nantes on loan for the 2021–22 season with an option to buy. He scored his first goal for the club on 2 January 2022 in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

against Vitré. He scored again three weeks later in a 4–2 league victory over

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

. He returned to Monaco after a season marked by ups and downs, as Nantes managed to win the Coupe de France.

St. Gallen

On 23 January 2023, Geubbels signed a 2.5-year contract with

in Switzerland.

Personal life

Geubbels was born in France to a Dutch father, and a mother of

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

descent. His uncles, Amos Youga and Kelly Youga, are both footballers who represented the Central African Republic national team.

Career statistics

Honours

Nantes *

: 2021–22

References

External links

Monaco profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Geubbels, Willem 2001 births French sportspeople of Central African Republic descent People from Villeurbanne Sportspeople from Lyon Metropolis Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Living people French footballers France youth international footballers Association football forwards Olympique Lyonnais players AS Monaco FC players FC Nantes players FC St. Gallen players Ligue 1 players French people of Dutch descent French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Monaco French expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Expatriate footballers in Switzerland French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland