Mateo Klimowicz (born 6 July 2000) is a 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club

Atlético San Luis Club Atlético de San Luis is a Mexican professional football club based in San Luis Potosí. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 2013, replacing the defunct club of the city ( San Luis FC) after its re ...

. Born in Argentina, he played for the Germany national under-21 team.

Club career

Klimowicz trained with

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 ...

's academy at a young age, while his father was playing in Germany. He later joined Instituto's ranks. He appeared professionally twice at the back end of the 2016–17 season in

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (English "National B Division"), and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 38 team ...

, participating in fixtures with Juventud Unida, aged sixteen, and Nueva Chicago as they secured sixth. Klimowicz's first senior goal arrived on 14 October 2017 during a 1–1 home draw with Aldosivi. On 10 May 2019,

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

announced the signing of Klimowicz ahead of the 2019–20 season; with the midfielder signing a five-year contract. He made his bow as a late substitute in a 2. Bundesliga match with 1. FC Heidenheim on 4 August. They won promotion in his first season, with his

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 ...

debut subsequently arriving on 19 September 2020 against

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 ...

. He then scored his first goal in German football on 26 September, netting in a 4–1 victory at the Opel Arena versus

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 1 September 2022, Klimowicz signed with 2. Bundesliga club

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

on a season long loan.

International career

Klimowicz is eligible to play for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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 ...

or with the obtainment of citizenship

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

at international level. He received call-ups to train with Argentina at the U15,

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

and

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

levels. On 15 March 2021, Klimowicz was called up for the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association ...

group stages by

; he holds a German passport due to his father's career in German football. He debuted with the German U21 team in a 3–0 win over the Hungary U21 on 25 March 2021.

Personal life

Mateo is the son of former professional footballer

Diego Klimowicz Diego Fernando Klimowicz (born 6 July 1974) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward. He started and finished his 18-year professional career with Instituto, but competed mostly in Spain and Germany, notably ...

, who played for the likes of German clubs

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

and

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

during a span of nine consecutive years. His uncle Javier also played professional football. Klimowicz is of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

descent via his great-grandfather.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Rookie of the Month: October 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klimowicz, Mateo 2000 births Living people Footballers from Córdoba, Argentina German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Argentine men's footballers Argentine emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany German people of Argentine descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent German people of Polish descent German people of Ukrainian descent Argentine people of Polish descent Argentine people of Ukrainian descent Men's association football midfielders Primera Nacional players 2. Bundesliga players Liga MX players Bundesliga players Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba footballers VfB Stuttgart players German expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico German expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico 21st-century German sportsmen 21st-century Argentine sportsmen