Jonathan Glao Tah (; born 11 February 1996) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

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

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

and the Germany national team.

Early life

Tah was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, to an Ivorian father and a German mother. He grew up in the Hamburg district of Altona.

Club career

Hamburger SV

Tah started playing football at local clubs

Altona 93 Altonaer FC von 1893, commonly known as Altona 93 and abbreviated to AFC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the Altona, Hamburg, Altona district of the city of Hamburg. The football team is a department of a lar ...

and SC Concordia before being snapped up by

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

. On 4 August 2013, Tah made his competitive debut for Hamburg in a

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

match against SV Schott Jena. He made his Bundesliga debut on 21 September 2013 in a 2-0 home loss against Werder Bremen. On 1 September 2014, Tah was loaned to

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

for a year.

Bayer Leverkusen

On 15 July 2015, Tah signed a five-year contract with

club

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

for a fee of €7.5 million. On 28 January 2017, he scored his first senior career goal in a 3–2 defeat against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

. On 26 February 2018, Bayer Leverkusen announced the extension of his contract with the club until 2023. Tah made his 100th Bundesliga appearance for the club on 10 March 2019. In September 2021, he signed a contract extension with the club until 2025. Tah was part of the Leverkusen side that won their first Bundesliga title ever during the 2023–24 season, clinching the league with a win against

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 ...

on 14 April 2024. On 3 May 2024, he was included in the Bundesliga team of the season along with five of his Leverkusen teammates. In September 2024, Tah announced that he would not renew his contract. He left Leverkusen as a free agent when his contract expired following the conclusion of the 2024–25 season.

Bayern Munich

On 29 May 2025, Tah joined

, signing a deal until 30 June 2029. It was reported that Bayern paid a fixed fee of €800,000, not including bonuses, to have him available for the

2025 FIFA Club World Cup The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, also marketed as FIFA Club World Cup 25) is the 21st edition and the first of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, an international club soccer competition organized ...

prior to the expiration of his contract with Bayer Leverkusen.

International career

After playing for the Germany youth sides from U16 to U21, Tah received his first call up to the senior

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

squad in March 2016 for friendlies against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He made his debut in the former, coming on at half-time for

Mats Hummels Mats Julian Hummels (; born 16 December 1988) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Known for his well-timed tackles, accurate long passes from the back, aerial ability and strength, he is r ...

in a 2–3 loss. He was called up to replace

Antonio Rüdiger Antonio Rüdiger (; born 3 March 1993) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and the Germany national football team, Germany national team. He is known for his aggressive playi ...

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 ...

, but didn't play in the tournament. Tah was not included in the Germany squads for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

or the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Tah was named in Germany's squad for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Bayer Leverkusen *

: 2023–24 *

DFL-Supercup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off association football, football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (E ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual *

Fritz Walter Medal The Fritz Walter Medal is a series of annual awards given by the German Football Association to youth footballers in Germany. First awarded in 2005, it is named in honour of Fritz Walter, captain of West Germany's 1954 FIFA World Cup-winning team ...

U19 Gold:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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 ...

Team of the Season: 2019–20,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 *

Team of the Season: 2023–24, 2024–25 * VDV Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2023–24, 2024–25 * ''The Athletic'' Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2023–24

References

External links

Profile
at the Bayer 04 Leverkusen website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tah, Jonathan 1996 births Living people Footballers from Hamburg German men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Altonaer FC von 1893 players Hamburger SV II players Hamburger SV players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players FC Bayern Munich footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players UEFA Euro 2024 players German people of Ivorian descent 21st-century German sportsmen