Alessandro André Schöpf (; born 7 February 1994) is an Austrian 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

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 ...

for

Major League Soccer 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 ...

club

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

and the Austria national team.

Club career

Bayern Munich

Schöpf joined

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in 2009 and spent three years in the junior team before being promoted to the reserve squad in 2012. He made his debut on the opening day of the 2012–13 season in a 1–1 draw with Augsburg II, and would go on to make another 28 appearances as Bayern II finished in second place in the

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern, ( en, Regional league Bavaria), is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tie ...

. His eleven goals that season made him the team's top scorer, behind Marius Duhnke with fourteen. The following season, Schöpf made 34 appearances, again scoring 11 goals, as Bayern II won the Regionalliga Bayern title, but missed out on promotion after losing on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

in a playoff against

SC Fortuna Köln SC Fortuna Köln is a German association football club based in the city of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club was formed as on 21 February 1948 through the merger of three local sides: Victoria Köln 1911 (one of two clubs to ...

. In November 2013, Schöpf along with teammate

Julian Green Julian Wesley Green (born June 6, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for 2. Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth. He holds both American and German citizenships. He began his professio ...

was given a first-team contract, although he made no appearances during the 2013–14 season as Bayern went on to win 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 ...

and

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 ...

1. FC Nürnberg

In July 2014, Schöpf signed for

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 ...

club

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

, and was one of six new players to make their debut for the club on the opening day of the 2014–15 season, a 1–0 win over

Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. ...

Schalke 04

On 7 January 2016, it was announced that Schöpf moved to

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

and signed a contract until 2019. Despite suffering a cruciate knee injury, he impressed Schalke manager

Domenico Tedesco Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian archit ...

enough to earn a contract extension to 2021, being praised by Tedesco as "Almost a complete player. He is very diligent and runs many, many kilometres in each game. He is versatile and always wants to play, no matter which position it is. In addition, he is technically savvy, is brave and a great person. We're delighted to be able to continue working with him."

Arminia Bielefeld

On 19 July 2021, Schöpf joined

club

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

after signing a two-year-contract. He left Arminia as it was relegated from Bundesliga at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Vancouver Whitecaps

On 3 August 2022, Schöpf joined the

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 ...

club

signing through the 2024 season with a club option for 2025.

International career

Schöpf has represented Austria at under-16, under-18, under-19 and under-21 level. On 27 March 2016, Schöpf made his senior debut for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, coming on as 87th-minute substitute in a friendly against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. He was selected for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

, scoring his first goal in a pre-tournament friendly against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

on 31 May. He scored Austria's only goal of the tournament, equalising against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

as they finished bottom of the group with only one point.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Schöpf goal''.

Honours

Bayern Munich II *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schopf, Alessandro 1994 births Living people People from Imst District Footballers from Tyrol (state) Men's association football midfielders Austrian men's footballers Austria men's youth international footballers Austria men's under-21 international footballers Austria men's international footballers FC Bayern Munich II players 1. FC Nürnberg players FC Schalke 04 players FC Schalke 04 II players Arminia Bielefeld players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Oberliga (football) players UEFA Euro 2016 players UEFA Euro 2020 players Austrian expatriate men's footballers Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Major League Soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Canada