Leonardo Jesus Loureiro Bittencourt (born 19 December 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

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. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

Personal life

Bittencourt was born in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany. He is the son of Franklin Bittencourt, a Brazilian former professional player who played in Germany, and is now active as a coach.

Club career

Bittencourt began his career with

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

. On 1 December 2011, it was announced that Bittencourt had signed a four-year contract with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, effective from 1 July 2012. He moved to

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

at the end of the 2012–13 season. On 13 July 2015, Bittencourt joined

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

on a four-year deal keeping him at the club until 2019. On 28 April 2018, he played as Köln lost 3–2 to

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

which confirmed Köln's relegation from the Bundesliga. After the team's relegation, Bittencourt was transferred to

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional association football, football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into bei ...

for a fee of €6 million. On 2 September 2019,

announced the signing of Bittencourt on a season-long loan deal. It was reported the transfer included an obligation for Werder Bremen to sign him permanently for an estimated transfer fee of €7 million. The obligation took effect in July 2020.

International career

Bittencourt has represented Germany's youth teams, under 19 and under 21. He was first called up to under 21 in 2012, for the friendly against Turkey on 14 November 2012.

Career statistics

References

1993 births Living people Footballers from Leipzig German people of Brazilian descent German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers FC Energie Cottbus players FC Energie Cottbus II players Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players Hannover 96 players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players SV Werder Bremen players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Bettencourt family 21st-century German sportsmen 1. FC Köln players {{Germany-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub