Vitaly Janelt (born 10 May 1998) 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

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 club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. Janelt is a product of the

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 ...

and

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 ...

academies An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and made his professional breakthrough at

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 ...

in 2017, before moving to England to join Brentford in 2020. He was capped by Germany at youth level and was a part of the 2021 European U21 Championship-winning squad.

Club career

RB Leipzig

After beginning his career with spells in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

s at Bargfelder SV, SSC Hagen Ahrensburg and

, Janelt joined the academy at

in 2014, for a fee reported to be €150,000. He signed a five-year professional contract in July 2016 and progressed to 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 ...

, for which he made six

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

appearances during the 2016–17 season. Prior to Janelt's departure from the Red Bull Arena at the end of the 2017–18 season, disciplinary issues led to him spending 18 months away on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

. He failed to win a call into a first team matchday squad during his time with RB Leipzig.

VfL Bochum

On 9 January 2017, Janelt joined 2. Bundesliga club

on loan until 30 June 2018, with an option to buy. He made 20 appearances during an injury-affected spell and signed a three-year contract with the club on 30 May 2018, for an undisclosed fee. Janelt looked set to make a breakthrough late in the 2018–19 season, before a torn adductor ruled him out of the final eight matches of the campaign. He broke into the first team in 2019–20, making 24 appearances during a season which was ended prematurely by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Then in the final season of his contract, Janelt departed VfL Bochum in October 2020 and ended his years at the

Ruhrstadion Ruhrstadion () is a football stadium in Bochum, Germany. It is the home ground for the VfL Bochum and has a capacity of 27,599. It was known as rewirpowerSTADION (or, rarely, ) from 2006 to 2016, also for sponsorship reasons. History In 1911 th ...

with 54 appearances. In December 2021, Janelt stated that he "struggled to find consistency" during his spell with the club, exacerbated by playing under six different

managers Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...

. He was frequently deployed as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

, filling in as a

left winger 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. ...

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 ...

central defender 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 ...

and on one occasion, as a stand-in

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

late in a match.

Brentford

2020–21

On 3 October 2020, Janelt moved to England to sign a four-year contract with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

for an undisclosed fee of "around" £500,000. Despite being earmarked by co-

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

Rasmus Ankersen as an overseas player who would "need time to adapt to

English football Football is the most popular sport in England. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern football, the first official rules of the game were established in England in 1863. The country is home to the world's first football league, the oldest ...

", an injury suffered by first-choice defensive midfielder

Christian Nørgaard Christian Thers Nørgaard (; born 10 March 1994) is a Danish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Brentford F.C., Brentford and the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team. Be ...

in the days following the transfer allowed Janelt to break into the matchday squad. By late October, he had assumed Nørgaard's starting role. Janelt retained his place throughout the campaign and finished Brentford's 2021 EFL Championship play-off final-winning

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season with 47 appearances and four goals.

2021–22

Janelt began the 2021–22 season as an ever-present starter in

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

matches and he scored his first goal of the season in a 3–3 draw with

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 25 September 2021. Aside from missing one month due to a thigh injury suffered in October 2021, Janelt continued in his virtual ever-present role and signed a new four-year contract on 1 April 2022. The following day, he scored his third and fourth goals of the season in a 4–1 win over Chelsea and finished the campaign with 35 appearances.

2022–23

Janelt began the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season primarily in a substitute role and he captained the club for the first time during a 2–0

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

second round win over

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

on 23 August 2022. Despite airing some concerns about his playing time, Janelt finished the season with 37 appearances (predominantly as a starter) and three goals.

2023–24

Janelt was an ever-present in all competitions during 2023–24 season and ended the campaign with 42 appearances and one goal, scored in a 4–2 defeat to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

on the final day of the season. Following the loss of first-choice wing backs Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey due to injury, he deputised at left wing back on an ad-hoc basis. Janelt's performances during the 2023–24 season were recognised with the Brentford Players' Player of the Year award. As a testament to his durability, during the season, Janelt became the first Brentford player to make 100 Premier League appearances.

2024–25

Despite playing with a heel complaint, Janelt was again a virtual ever-present during the 2024–25 season. He started in all but six of his 35 appearances in all competitions and missed the final five matches of the season to undergo surgery on his heel issue.

International career

Janelt was capped by Germany at U15, U17, U19,

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 ...

and U21 levels. He was a part of the Germany squads at the 2015 UEFA European U17 Championship and the 2015 U17 World Cup. Janelt made four appearances during the U21 team's successful 2021 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifying campaign. He made four substitute appearances during the team's successful

finals 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 ...

campaign. On 25 September 2021, it was reported that German senior head coach

Hansi Flick Hans-Dieter "Hansi" Flick (; born 24 February 1965) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Flick played for SV Sandhausen, Bayern Munich, and 1. FC Köln during his career as a fo ...

was present at one of Janelt's club matches. In a bid to represent

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

at senior international level, Janelt was granted Bosnian citizenship on 17 March 2025.

Style of play

or "number eight", Janelt is "strong, versatile, commanding, composed in possession, possesses great awareness, is a good passer and an aggressive winner of the ball". He had also been deployed at centre back and left back. In 2024, Brentford head coach

Thomas Frank Thomas Carr Frank (born March 21, 1965) is an American political analyst, historian, and journalist. He co-founded and edited '' The Baffler'' magazine. Frank is the author of the books '' What's the Matter with Kansas?'' (2004) and '' Listen, L ...

described Janelt as "the go-to guy in so many ways. He is a very intelligent footballer, a fantastic character with leadership potential and he makes our team better".

Personal life

Janelt's brothers Vincent and Victor are footballers in the German lower leagues. He became a Bosnian citizen in March 2025 and has a Bosnian wife.

Career statistics

Honours

Brentford *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Germany U21 * UEFA European U21 Championship:

Individual * Brentford Players' Player of the Year: 2023–24

References

External links

* * *
Vitaly Janelt
at

Brentford F.C. Brentford Football Club is a professional association football club based in Brentford, England. The team competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Nicknamed "The Bees", the club was founded in 1889 and played home matc ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Janelt, Vitaly 1998 births Living people Footballers from Hamburg German men's footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders RB Leipzig II players RB Leipzig players VfL Bochum players Brentford F.C. players Regionalliga players 2. Bundesliga players English Football League players German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in England Premier League players 21st-century German sportsmen