Kerim Çalhanoğlu (born 26 August 2002) 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

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 ...

for 2. Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth.

Club career

Çalhanoğlu began his youth career at SC Pfingstberg-Hochstätt and

VfL Neckarau VfL Neckarau is a German association football club from the district of Neckarau in the city of Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. __TOC__ History Foundation and early years The current day club came out of a long string of mergers of predecessor ...

, before joining

Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of ove ...

in 2015. A year later, he moved to the youth academy of

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

. In mid-2020, he joined the under-19 team of

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

, before signing a professional contract with the club in September 2020, lasting until 2024. He made his professional debut for Schalke in the

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 ...

on 5 March 2021, starting in the home match against

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

. On 10 December 2022, he joined on loan 2. Bundesliga club

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 ...

for the second half of the season. On 13 June 2023, he agreed to join Greuther Fürth.

International career

Çalhanoğlu began his youth international career with Turkey, appearing in three matches for the under-16 team in 2017. He switched to represent Germany the following year, appearing for the under-16 and under-17 teams. In 2019, he was included in Germany's squad for the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association fo ...

in the Republic of Ireland. He played in all three of Germany's matches at the tournament, in which the team was eliminated in the group stage. In 2020, Çalhanoğlu debuted for the Germany under-19 team, appearing in two matches.

Personal life

Çalhanoğlu was born in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, and is of Turkish descent. His younger brother, Turan Çalhanoğlu, is also a footballer, having played for the Germany youth national teams, as well as alongside Kerim at the youth teams of SC Pfingstberg-Hochstätt,

and

. Their cousins,

Hakan Çalhanoğlu Hakan Çalhanoğlu (, born 8 February 1994) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Inter Milan and captains the Turkey national team. Çalhanoğlu began his career at German second division club Karlsruher ...

and

Muhammed Çalhanoğlu Muhammed Çalhanoğlu (born 19 April 1995) is a Turkish-German footballer who plays as a midfielder. Personal life He is the younger brother of fellow footballer Hakan Çalhanoğlu, and the cousin of Kerim Çalhanoğlu Kerim Çalhanoğlu (b ...

, are also footballers, with the former having appeared for the Turkey national team and Italian club

FC Internazionale Milano Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

Career statistics

Honours

Schalke 04 * 2. Bundesliga: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calhanoglu, Kerim 2002 births Living people Footballers from Mannheim German men's footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers German sportspeople of Turkish descent Men's association football midfielders FC Schalke 04 players FC Schalke 04 II players SV Sandhausen players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players 21st-century German sportsmen 21st-century Turkish sportsmen