Alexander Esswein (born 25 March 1990; ) 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 winger or

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) ** Smal ...

for

VfR Mannheim VfR Mannheim is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg formed in 1911 out of the fusion of Mannheimer FG 1896, Mannheimer FG 1897 Union, and FC Viktoria 1897 Mannheim. The club captured the n ...

Club career

Esswein made his debut in the 2007–08 season. He appeared in a league match during the season. He came on in the 63rd minute in a 2–1 loss to

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 17 December 2007. He then transferred to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

and split time between the first and second teams. He made four league appearances during the 2008–09 season and four league appearances and a

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, 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 Bundes ...

appearance in the 2009–10 season. He substantially made more appearances for the reserve team. During the 2008–09 season, he made 21 appearances, and during the 2009–10 season, he scored four goals in 20 appearances. Esswein moved to

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

for the 2010–11 season. During the season, he scored 17 goals in 31 league appearances. This includes two goals against Bayern's reserve team, in a 3–1 win on 11 November 2010; Wehen Wiesbaden, in a 3–0 win, on 5 March 2011; and against

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

, in a 4–0 win, on 23 April 2011. He also made two appearances in the promotion playoff. This proved to be Esswein's only season at the club. He transferred to 1. FC Nürnberg for the 2011–12 season. During the 2011–12 season, he scored four goals in 26 league appearances and a goal in three

appearances. His four league goals came against

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

, in a 1–0 win, on 27 August 2011;

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

, in a 2–0 win, on 21 January 2012; Köln, in a 2–1 win, on 18 February 2012; and

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 ...

, in a 1–0 win, on 25 February 2012. His German Cup goal came in the second round against

Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

in a 2–1 win on 26 October 2011. His goal scoring rate would drop in the subsequent seasons with Nürnberg. He dropped down to three goals in 28 appearances in the 2012–13 season and no goals in five appearances during the 2013–14 season. He also made an appearance in the

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern () is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tier of the German football league system, b ...

for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

during the 2013–14 season. He moved to Augsburg during the January transfer window and made 13 appearances for Augsburg during the 2013–14 season. He scored a goal in 19 appearances during the 2014–15 season. The goal came against Köln on 6 December 2014 in a 2–1 win. Esswein played in the opening match of the 2015–16 season, in a

match against

SV Elversberg SpVgg 07 Elversberg is a Football in Germany, German association football club, located in Spiesen-Elversberg, Saarland. The club plays in the 2. Bundesliga from the 2023–24 2. Bundesliga, 2023–24 season following promotion from the 3. Liga ...

, a 3–1 extra time win. He then opened his Bundesliga campaign by playing in the first three matchdays, including the 1–0 loss to Hertha BSC in the league opener on 15 August 2015.

Later years

On 26 August 2016, Esswein signed for Hertha BSC on a four-year deal. On 24 September, he scored his first goal for Hertha in a 3–3 draw against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

. In January 2019

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

signed Esswein on loan with a contract option for a permanent deal. On 9 October 2020, Esswein joined

SV Sandhausen Sportverein Sandhausen 1916 e.V., commonly known as simply SV Sandhausen or Sandhausen, is a Football in Germany, German association football club that plays in Sandhausen, immediately to the south of Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. It is Ger ...

on a free transfer. On 15 August 2023, Esswein signed a two-year contract with

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

. After the 2023–24 season, he moved to

International career

Esswein played for the German U-21 national team. Previously he had already played for the U-17, U-18, U-18, U-19 and U-20 national team. He was part of the German U-17 team that finished in third place in the 2007 U-17 World Cup in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. In this tournament, Esswein scored two goals against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

in the group-stage and scored the winning goal in the third place playoff against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

two minutes into stoppage time.

Career statistics

Honours

VfL Wolfsburg *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

: 2008–09

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esswein, Alexander 1990 births Living people Footballers from Worms, Germany German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players VfL Wolfsburg players VfL Wolfsburg II players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Dynamo Dresden players FC Augsburg players 1. FC Nürnberg players 1. FC Nürnberg II players Hertha BSC players Hertha BSC II players VfB Stuttgart players SV Sandhausen players VfR Frankenthal players MSV Duisburg players VfR Mannheim players 21st-century German sportsmen