Kevin Kampl (born 9 October 1990) is a professional footballer who plays 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 ...

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

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

. Born in Germany, he has represented the Slovenia national team at international level. Besides Germany, he has played in Austria.

Early life

Kampl was born in

Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...

, Germany. His parents moved to Germany from

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

, a city near the Austrian border in northeastern Slovenia. Kampl has dual citizenship and could have played for

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 ...

, but opted for

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

early on.

Club career

Early career

Kampl began his career with 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 ...

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 ...

, where he played in the German fourth division. On 30 August 2010, Kampl signed a one-season loan contract with SpVgg Greuther Fürth. He made his first team debut on 29 October 2010 as a late substitute in a 2. Bundesliga tie with Erzgebirge Aue. After only half a season for Greuther Fürth, he returned to Bayer Leverkusen during the 2010–11 winter transfer window. Kampl made his Leverkusen 2010–11 season debut as a second-half substitute 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 ...

game against Metalist Kharkiv. In the summer of 2011, Kampl transferred to 3. Liga side VfL Osnabrück. After having played a great season for Osnabrück, he joined newly promoted 2. Bundesliga club VfR Aalen for a transfer fee of €250,000. However, he played only four matches for Aalen, scoring two goals and assisting another three. This start drew the attention of well-financed Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg and they acquired him just before the end of the transfer window by fulfilling his release clause in the amount of €3 million. Kampl was nominated for the best player of 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 ...

at the beginning of the 2013–14 season, but had to eventually concede to Philipp Hosiner.

Borussia Dortmund

On 22 December 2014, it was announced that he would join

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

on a five-year contract for a €12 million fee on 1 January 2015. He was originally going to

. He made his debut on 31 January 2015. On 28 April 2015, in the DFB-Pokal semi–final against Bayern Munich, Kampl came on in the 83rd minute for Jakub Błaszczykowski and was sent–off after receiving a second yellow card; Dortmund went through to the final via a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Bayer Leverkusen

On 28 August 2015, Kampl returned to Bayer Leverkusen on a five-year deal. He made his debut on 12 September 2015 versus SV Darmstadt 98. On 26 September, Kampl scored his first goal for Leverkusen in a 3–0 away win against Werder Bremen. Later, on 20 October, he scored his first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

goal in a 4–4 home group stage draw against Roma.

RB Leipzig

On 31 August 2017, Kampl joined RB Leipzig on a four-year contract for a transfer fee of €20 million. He made his debut for the club on 8 September 2017, setting up Timo Werner's second goal in a 2–0 win away at

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 ...

. Five days later, he was part of the club's first ever starting eleven in the

, a 1–1 draw with AS Monaco. On 20 September 2018, Kampl captained Leipzig for the first time in a

match against his former club Salzburg. Kampl was part of the Leipzig team that made four DFB-Pokal finals in five years between 2019 and 2023, lifting the trophy in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. Along with Willi Orban, Lukas Klostermann, Emil Forsberg, Konrad Laimer, Amadou Haidara and Marcel Halstenberg, he was one of seven players to have featured in all four of the club’s finals. On 19 October 2023, Kampl extended his contract with RB Leipzig until June 2026.

International career

Kampl made his senior debut for

on 12 October 2012, starting in a 2–0 away win against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He scored his first goal on 6 September 2013 against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, which Slovenia won 1–0. Kampl scored his second goal in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, the second of their 6–0 win. In October 2016, the Slovenian squad released a statement "condemning Kampl's absence from both games." In response, Kampl stated "Firstly, I always play with pride and happiness for Slovenia and I intend to do so in the future, and secondly, I have made it clear I will be available next time, I just need some rest now." Kampl retired from the national team in late 2018 for personal reasons. He earned 28 caps and scored 2 goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kampl goal.''

Honours

Red Bull Salzburg *

: 2013–14 * Austrian Cup: 2013–14 RB Leipzig * DFB-Pokal: 2021–22, 2022–23 * DFL-Supercup:

Individual * Slovenian Footballer of the Year: 2013, 2014 * ''Kicker''

Team of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links

Kevin Kampl
at kicker.de * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kampl, Kevin 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Solingen Footballers from Düsseldorf (region) German people of Slovenian descent Naturalized citizens of Slovenia Men's association football midfielders German men's footballers Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players SpVgg Greuther Fürth II players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players VfL Osnabrück players VfR Aalen players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Borussia Dortmund players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players RB Leipzig players Regionalliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Bundesliga players German expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria 21st-century German sportsmen