Christian Klem (born 21 April 1991) is an Austrian former 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 played 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 ...

Career

Early career and Sturm Graz

Born in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Klem started his career at

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

, having previously played for their youth academy. He made his debut for Sturm Graz in 2009, making 7 appearances in the

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

over the course of the 2009–10 season, whilst he made 10 Bundesliga appearances in the 2010–11 season, in which Sturm Graz became Bundesliga champions for the third time in their history. He was a regular player for Sturm Graz over the following few seasons, making 25 Bundesliga appearances during the 2011–12 season before making 34, 32 and 34 appearances in the Bundesliga across the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons respectively, whilst also playing in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

during the 2011–12 season. In August 2015, he suffered a muscle tear in his left thigh, meaning he was injured for much of the 2015–16 season. Following his return from injury, he made 17 appearances for Sturm Graz before leaving the club in the summer.

Wolfsberger AC

He joined

Wolfsberger AC Wolfsberger AC, commonly referred to as Wolfsberg or simply WAC, is an Austrian association football club from Wolfsberg, Carinthia, who currently play in the Austrian Bundesliga. Between the 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons, Wolfsberger AC enter ...

in the summer of 2016 on a two-year contract. He made 32 appearances during the 2016–17 season for Wolfsberger AC, scoring 3 goals, but failed to make a single appearance for the club during the 2017–18 season, and left the club at the end of the season.

SV Lafnitz and Wacker Innsbruck

In the summer of 2018, he joined Austrian 2. Liga club

SV Lafnitz Sportverein Lafnitz (commonly known as SV Licht-Loidl Lafnitz for sponsorship purposes) is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club from Lafnitz. They currently play in the Austrian Regionalliga Central after their relegation fro ...

. He made 9 appearances in the 2. Liga for Lafnitz before joining

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 ...

club Wacker Innsbruck in January 2019. He made 14 Bundesliga appearances for the club as they were relegated to the 2. Liga.

TSV Hartberg

In the summer of 2019, he joined newly promoted Austrian Bundesliga club

TSV Hartberg TSV Hartberg, currently known as TSV Egger Glas Hartberg for sponsorship reasons, is an association football club based in Hartberg, Styria, Austria. Founded in 1946, the club competes in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top tier of the Aust ...

on a two-year contract. In June 2021, his Hartberg contract was extended to summer 2023. He was released at the end of his contract in summer 2023, and subsequently retired.

International career

Klem has represented his native Austria between Under-16 and Under-21 levels.

References

External links

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Christian Klem
at ÖFB {{DEFAULTSORT:Klem, Christian 1991 births Living people Austrian men's footballers Austria men's youth international footballers Austria men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders SK Sturm Graz players Wolfsberger AC players SV Lafnitz players FC Wacker Innsbruck (2002) players TSV Hartberg players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players Footballers from Graz 21st-century Austrian sportsmen