Nico Schlotterbeck

Age: 24 (born 1 December 1999)
Club: Borussia Dortmund
Position: Centre-back
Country: Germany (14 caps)

Key stats

Schlotterbeck was born in Waiblingen, just outside of Stuttgart, but never actually played for local giants VfB. Instead he came through the youth academy of former Bundesliga club Stuttgarter Kickers up to U15 level. He slowly moved further from home, spending a year in the academy at VfR Aalen before joining Karlsruhe in 2015. He was three months shy of his 16th birthday when handed his debut in the U17 Bundesliga, and not even 17 when he stepped up to the U19 division in 2016/17. It was during that season that the emerging centre-back earned his first international call-up for Meikel Schönweitz's U18s in a 3-0 win over Austria.

A summer 2017 move to Freiburg followed, where he lifted the U19 DFB Cup in his debut campaign. The 6'2" defender was immediately promoted to the reserves in the fourth tier after that, but would also make his Bundesliga debut in the same 2018/19 season as a half-time substitute for Philipp Lienhart on Matchday 25 against Hertha Berlin. He'd be handed his first senior start only four games later away at Werder Bremen and would again play 90 minutes two weeks on against RB Leipzig. He was promoted to the first team full time in 2019/20 but was sent out on loan to Union Berlin in 2020/21 to gain senior match practice. He scored on his Bundesliga debut for the club, and would go on to become one of Die Eisernen’s first-choice centre-backs as they ultimately qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League in seventh place.

Highlights

Who is Nico Schlotterbeck?

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Brandt fires Dortmund to runners-up finish in Fürth