Tan-Kenneth Jerico Leka-Schmidt (born 3 June 2002), known as Kenneth Schmidt, is a German

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

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 2. Bundesliga club

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 ...

, on loan from

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 ...

Club career

A native of

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, Schmidt joined the city's giant

from

Emmendingen Emmendingen (; ) is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the Emmendingen (district), district Emmendingen of Germany. It is located at the Elz (Rhine), Elz River, north of Freiburg im Breisgau. The town contains more than 26,000 residents, ...

in 2017. He was promoted to the senior team in 2023 after spending three years with the reserves team. He made his professional debut on 17 March 2023 in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 game against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. On 1 January 2025, Schmidt was loaned out to

on an 18-month deal.

International career

Schmidt has represented Germany at youth international level.

Personal life

He was born to a German father and a mother of Malagasy and Vietnamese descent.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 2002 births Living people German people of Vietnamese descent German people of Malagasy descent Sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Sportspeople of Malagasy descent Footballers from Freiburg im Breisgau German men's footballers Men's association football defenders FC Emmendingen players SC Freiburg players SC Freiburg II players Hannover 96 players Regionalliga players 3. Liga players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century German sportsmen {{Germany-footy-defender-stub