Nadiem Amiri (; born 27 October 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 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 club

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 ...

and the Germany national team.

Early life

Amiri was born in

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig's Port upon the Rhine"; Palatine German dialects, Palatine German: ''Ludwichshafe''), is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the German state of Rh ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

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 ...

to Afghan parents.

Club career

TSG Hoffenheim

Amiri joined

TSG 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 fo ...

in 2012 from

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 ...

. He made his Bundesliga debut on 7 February 2015 against

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 ...

in a 3–0 away defeat. Amiri recorded his first goal of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

and for his club in a 3–3 draw to

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 28 November. On 30 April 2016, he scored the winning goal in the 84th minute to defeat

FC Ingolstadt 04 Fußballclub Ingolstadt 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Ingolstadt 04 or FC Ingolstadt, is a German football club based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The club was founded in 2004 out of the merger of the football sides of two other clubs: ESV Ingolsta ...

with a 2–1 victory. On 12 June 2017, he signed a contract extension which lasts until 2020. On 20 October, Amiri scored a goal in a 3–1

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 ...

victory over

İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. İstanbul Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü (), commonly referred to as Başakşehir or, due to sponsorship reasons, Rams Başakşehir, is a professional football club based in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul, Turkey. Known for its vibrant ora ...

and sealed their club's first ever victory in Europe.

Bayer Leverkusen

Amiri signed a five-year contract with

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 ...

in July 2019.

Loan to Genoa

On 29 January 2022, he joined

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in Italy on loan. Genoa would have held an obligation to buy his rights at the end of the loan if certain conditions were met. He played 13 matches without scoring any goal, as Genoa finished 19th that season to be relegated to Serie B.

Return to Bayer Leverkusen

In the 2022–23 season, Amiri played 36 matches in all competitions, in which he scored 4 goals in the league. In August 2023, he traveled to Leeds ahead of a supposed transfer to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

; however, the transaction collapsed.

Mainz

On 31 January 2024, Amiri signed a 2.5-year contract with

International career

Youth

Amiri made his debut for Germany under-21 in March 2016, coming on as a late substitute in a European U21 Championship qualifier against Russia under-21. He was the part of the Germany under-21 team that won the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by UEFA for ...

by defeating Spain under-21 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Amiri was selected as one of three overage players for the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

, where he scored in each of

's first two games, a defeat to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and a victory over

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Senior

Amiri made his Germany national team debut on 9 October 2019 in a friendly against

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 ...

. He replaced Julian Brandt as a substitute in the 66th minute. Amiri played the first and second legs vs Italy national team in the

2025 UEFA Nations League Finals The 2025 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League, 2024–25 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the fourth season of the international Association football, football competition involving the men ...

Outside football

Personal life

Amiri was born in

to an

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

family. His cousin Zubayr Amiri and brother Nauwid Amiri also play football.

Sponsorship

Amiri is outfitted by American sportswear supplier

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Germany U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Individual *

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 ...

Goal of the Month: January 2021 * VDV Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2024–25 * ''The Athletic'' Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2024–25

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amiri, Nadiem 1996 births Living people Footballers from Ludwigshafen Men's association football midfielders German men's footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Germany Germany men's international footballers German people of Afghan descent Sportspeople of Afghan descent TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Genoa CFC players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Serie A players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy German expatriate sportspeople in Italy 21st-century German sportsmen