László Kleinheisler (; born 8 April 1994) is a Hungarian 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 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 Greek football club Panathinaikos .

Club career

Videoton

Having joined Hungarian club

Videoton FC Videoton may refer to: * Videoton (company), Hungarian electronics company *Fehérvár FC, formerly known as Videoton FC, Hungarian football club See also *Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable ...

in 2013, he made his debut in the Hungarian first division on 28 July 2013 against Haladás, while also scoring his first league goal in an eventual 2–0 home win. On 28 July 2013, he scored his first goal in the 2013–2014 season against

Szombathelyi Haladás Szombathelyi Haladás (), is a Hungarian football club based in Szombathely. ''Haladás'' is the Hungarian word for ''progress''. The club, which was founded in 1919, plays its home games at Rohonci úti Stadion which has a capacity of 9,500 ( ...

at the Sóstói Stadion, Székesfehérvár. The match ended with a 2–0 victory for

. In the rest of the season he scored another three goals, one against

Újpest FC Újpest Football Club () is a Hungarian professional football club, based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in 1905 and has been relegat ...

at the Sóstói Stadion on 6 October 2013, one against Mezőkövesd-Zsóry SE in a 1–0 victory at the Sóstói Stadion on 8 November 2013, and the last goal against

Diósgyőri VTK Diósgyőr-Vasgyári Testgyakorlók Köre, more commonly Diósgyőri VTK () is a Hungarian sports club from Diósgyőr district of Miskolc best known for its football team. Founded in 1910 by the local working class youth, the team plays in the ...

at the DVTK Stadion in a 2–2 draw match on 24 November 2013. In the 2014–2015 season, he played only 370 minutes in 11 appearances for

and 911 minutes in 12 appearances for

Puskás Akadémia FC Puskás Akadémia Football Club, commonly known as Puskás Akadémia, is a football club based in Felcsút, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hungarian football. Puskás Akadémia have spent five seasons in t ...

. In July 2015, Kleinheisler refused to sign the extension of his contract with Videoton, therefore he was ousted to the reserves for the 2015–2016 season. Videoton refused to sell him to the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

club

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish f ...

in August.

Werder Bremen

On 20 January 2016, Kleinheisler joined

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

on a 3.5-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut in 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 ...

on 30 January 2016 against Hertha BSC in the

Weserstadion Weserstadion () is a multi-purpose stadium in Bremen, Germany. The Weserstadion is scenically situated on the north bank of the Weser River and is surrounded by lush green parks (the name 'Werder' is a regional German word for "river peninsula" ...

. He was brought onto the pitch in the 62nd minute at 2–0 to Berlin and helped Bremen come back from 2–0 and 3–1 deficits to earn a 3–3 draw.

SV Darmstadt 98 (loan)

On 13 August 2016, Kleinheisler joined German club SV Darmstadt 98 for a season-long loan deal. On 22 October 2016, he scored his first goal in the Bundesliga on the 8th match day of the 2016–17 Bundesliga in a 3–1 victory over

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...

. He was selected for the team of week 8 of the 2016–17 Bundesliga season after this goal.

Ferencváros (loan)

On 20 January 2017, Kleinheisler's loan at Darmstadt was cut short and he joined

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

on loan for the second half of the season.

Astana (loan)

On 20 June 2017, Kleinheisler joined

FC Astana Astana Football Club ( kk, Astana Futbol Kluby) is a professional football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,254-seat Astana Arena stadium. ...

on a year-long loan deal.

NK Osijek

On 16 January 2019,

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek ( en, Osijek Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Osijek or simply Osijek (), is a Croatian professional football club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav ...

announced that Kleinheisler had cancelled his contract with

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

, and had signed a 3.5-year contract with NK Osijek.

Panathinaikos

In January 2023 he signed for Panathinaikos.

International career

On 6 November 2015,

Bernd Storck Bernd Storck, HOM (born 25 January 1963) is a German professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of Belgian club Kortrijk. A defender in his player days, he played for VfL Bochum and Borussia Dortmund. Club career Storc ...

announced the Hungarian national team squad for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying play-off match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Kleinheisler because he had not played a single match in the

2015–16 Nemzeti Bajnokság I The 2015–16 Nemzeti Bajnokság I, also known as NB I, is the 117th season of top-tier football in Hungary. The league is officially named '' OTP Bank Liga'' for sponsorship reasons. The season began 17 July 2015 and will conclude on 8 May 2016 ...

season. Six days later, he scored on his debut against

at the

Ullevaal Stadion Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of FK ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

in the first leg of the

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying play-offs The play-offs of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament decided the final four teams which qualified for the UEFA Euro 2016 final tournament. Eight teams, each of which finished third in their qualifying group were paired and contested in four ti ...

. He was selected for Hungary's

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 ...

squad. He played the full 90 minutes in each of Hungary's first two matches in the

group phase A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

. In the first match, a 2–0 win against

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 ...

, he assisted Ádám Szalai for the first goal and was voted "Man of the Match". Having received a yellow card in the second match 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 ...

and with Hungary already qualified for the round of sixteen, Kleinheisler was rested in the third match. On 1 June 2021, Kleinheisler was included in the final 26-man squad to represent Hungary at the rescheduled

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament.

Personal life

His nickname is "Scholes", after

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...

, because they are both red-haired and short-sized.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Videoton *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

: 2014-15 Ferencvárosi TC *

Hungarian Cup The Hungarian Cup ( hu, Magyar Kupa) is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association, the ''Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség,'' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of the Hungarian ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

Vidi.hu Profile

Profile at magyarfutball.hu
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleinheisler, Laszlo 1994 births Living people People from Kazincbarcika Hungarian footballers Hungary youth international footballers Hungary under-21 international footballers Hungary international footballers Hungarian people of German descent Association football midfielders Puskás Akadémia FC players Fehérvár FC players SV Werder Bremen players SV Darmstadt 98 players Ferencvárosi TC footballers FC Astana players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players NK Osijek players Croatian Football League players Bundesliga players Kazakhstan Premier League players UEFA Euro 2016 players UEFA Euro 2020 players Hungarian expatriate footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Sportspeople from Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County