Niklas Stark (born 14 April 1995) 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

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 ...

defensive 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

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

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

and the Germany national team.

Club career

1. FC Nürnberg

Stark made his Bundesliga debut on 27 April 2013 in a 2–1 loss to 1899 Hoffenheim. He made two more appearances for 1. FC Nürnberg in the 2012–13 season. In the 2013–14 season, Stark made appearances for both the first team and second team. He made 21 appearances for the first team and two appearances. He did not score for either team. Again, during the 2014–15 season, Stark made appearances for both the first and second teams. He scored two goals in 26 appearances for the first team. He failed to score in one appearance for the second team. His final match in a Nürnberg jersey proved to be a 2–1 loss to

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 ...

on 23 August 2015 as he transferred to

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

the following day. He had scored a goal in four league appearances for Nürnberg in the 2015–16 season. He had also made a German Cup appearance prior to the transfer.

Hertha BSC

Stark signed a four-year contract for Hertha BSC on 24 August 2015. He made his debut on 12 September in a 2–1 win over

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 ...

, when he came off the bench for Salomon Kalou in the 73rd minute. He was able to quickly establish himself as a starter, but suffered a setback in October 2015 due to injury, only returning to the starting eleven in February 2016. He scored his first Bundesliga goal for Hertha on 11 March 2016 in a 2–0 victory against

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 ...

. In the following seasons he was also part of the regular team and also made his first European appearances, as Hertha were able to qualify twice for 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 ...

, but both times eliminated from the competition early. At Hertha, he mostly appeared as a

but also as a

. On 31 March 2022, it was announced that Stark's expiring contract would not be renewed, and that he would leave Hertha as a free agent after the 2021–22 season.

Werder Bremen

On 28 May 2022,

, newly promoted to the

, announced the signing of Stark for the 2022–23 season. He reportedly signed a four-year contract.

International career

On 15 March 2019, Stark was called up for the Germany national team for the first time in his career by national team coach

Joachim Löw Joachim "Jogi" Löw (; born 3 February 1960) is a German football coach and former player. He was the manager of the Germany national team from 2006 until 2021. During his tenure as manager, he led Germany to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup i ...

. He made his debut on 19 November 2019 in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Northern Ireland. He substituted Lukas Klostermann in the 65th minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Germany *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 *

Fritz Walter Medal The Fritz Walter Medal is a series of annual awards given by the German Football Association to youth footballers in Germany. First awarded in 2005, it is named in honour of Fritz Walter, captain of West Germany's 1954 FIFA World Cup-winning team ...

U19 Gold:

2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship since its reclassification from an under-18 event in 2002, and the 63rd since the tournament was created in 1948. Hungary was chosen to ho ...

: Team of the Tournament *

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Niklas 1995 births Living people People from Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim Footballers from Middle Franconia German men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players 1. FC Nürnberg players 1. FC Nürnberg II players Hertha BSC players SV Werder Bremen players 21st-century German sportsmen