Jude Bellingham and the Bundesliga's top 5 tacklers in 2022/23
Jude Bellingham won the most challenges of any player in the Bundesliga in 2022/23, helping him go on to earn the Player of the Season award. bundesliga.com looks at the other players that make up the top five tacklers in the division...
1) Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund, 482 challenges won)
Bellingham's performances were so majestic across the campaign that the 19-year-old was named 2022/23 Bundesliga Player of the Season for his efforts. Despite still only being a teenager, he emerged as a talismanic figure for Dortmund, playing more minutes than any other player in the team and captaining the side on a number of occasions. Bellingham scored eight times and laid on four assists for his teammates, all while winning the most challenges in the league (482) and competing for 849 in total - the fourth-highest in the division. He is the complete midfielder.
Watch: Jude Bellingham always wins the ball
2) Jonas Hector (Cologne, 473 challenges won)
Hector reverted to left-back under Steffen Baumgart this term, moving him away from the heated battleground of central midfield. That didn't stop the former Germany international from winning a bucket load of challenges, though, as he comes in just behind Bellingham with 473 tackles won. The Billy Goats' very own Fußballgott hung up his boots at the end of the campaign and both his competitive instinct and leadership will be missed on and off the pitch.
Watch: Cologne bid goodbye to Timo Horn and Jonas Hector
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3) Philipp Hofmann (Bochum, 463 challenges won)
Bochum stayed up by the skin of their teeth on a dramatic final day of the campaign, beating Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 to ensure their survival. And the fact they will resume Bundesliga action in 2023/24 owes a great deal to Hofmann's contributions. He was the club's top scorer with eight goals, the only outfield player to feature in all 34 of Bochum's top-flight fixtures and won 463 of 910 challenges. The latter is the second-highest figure in the league and he is the only striker on this list.
4) Wataru Endo (VfB Stuttgart, 439 challenges won)
Following Stuttgart's promotion in 2020, Endo has been a near ever-present figure, featuring in 99 of 102 Bundesliga matches since. The VfB captain wrote his name in the club's history books by ensuring they stayed up in the most dramatic fashions last season and is now slugging it out in the promotion/relegation playoff in a bid to keep the club in the top-tier of German football once more. He won 55 percent of challenges in 2022/23 and places fourth on this list, having top the pile in each of the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns.
Watch: Endo helps VfB to first leg promotion/relegation playoff win - highlights
5) Manu Kone (Borussia Mönchengladbach, 430 challenges won)
The Frenchman was full of fight in the Foals' midfield this term, emerging with the ball from 56 percent of his challenges. That saw him win a total of 430 challenges in 30 league appearances and, such is the life of combative midfielder, Kone's full-hearted approach saw him commit the most fouls (51) at the club and he topped the Bundesliga charts for most bookings (12). With that said, though, Kone was also fouled 73 times, with only Hector being unlawfully felled more by opponents league-wide.
Top 5s 2022/23
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