Leonardo Bittencourt

Leonardo Bittencourt
at Werder Bremen 2019
Personnel
Surname	Leonardo Jesus Loureiro Bittencourt
birthday	December 19, 1993
place of birth	Leipzig ,  Germany
size	171 cm
position	Midfield , hanging tip
Juniors
Years	station
1999-2011	Energy Cottbus
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2010-2011	Energy Cottbus II	4 0(2)
2011–2012	Energy Cottbus	29 0(2)
2012-2013	Borussia Dortmund	5 0(1)
2012-2013	Borussia Dortmund II	12 0(1)
2013-2015	Hannover 96	57 0(5)
2015-2018	1. FC Cologne	67 (11)
2018–	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	22 0(1)
2019–	→  Werder Bremen  (loan)	28 0(4)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2009-2010	Germany U17	7 0(1)
2010-2011	Germany U18	8 0(0)
2011	Germany U19	2 0(0)
2012-2013	Germany U20	5 0(2)
2012-2015	Germany U21	20 0(3)
1 Only league games are given. Status: end of season 2019/20

Leonardo "Leo" Jesus Loureiro Bittencourt (born December 19, 1993 in Leipzig ) is a German - Brazilian soccer player . He is under contract with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and is loaned to Werder Bremen .

Career

Club career

youth

Leonardo Bittencourt was founded in 1993 in Leipzig , the son of Brazilian born parents. His father, the soccer player Franklin Bittencourt , was active for VfB Leipzig at the time . Leonardo joined the youth department of Energie Cottbus in July 1999 . From then on he went through all of Cottbus's youth teams and signed a contract that ran until 2014 as an A-youth in 2010. Only a year later he made his debut in March 2011 in the 2-0 defeat against ZFC Meuselwitz in the second team.

After only two more appearances in the second team, his first professional appearance in the second division game against MSV Duisburg followed on April 16, 2011 . In front of a home crowd he came on for Velimir Jovanović in the 60th minute , and Cottbus won 3-1 in the end.

Energy Cottbus

After the departure of Shao Jiayi and Jules Reimerink , Bittencourt was a regular at the Cottbus team from the beginning of the 2011/12 season. On the 2nd matchday he scored his first goal in the second division in the game against MSV Duisburg . As a result, he found a permanent position in the system of coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz in the central offensive of the Cottbus midfield after initially changing positions . After only a few games, he was often substituted on or off due to injuries.

Shortly before the winter break, on December 1, 2011, it was finally announced that Bittencourt would switch to the then reigning German champions Borussia Dortmund for the 2012/13 season . One week after the announcement of the change, coach Wollitz left the club and was replaced at short notice by Markus Feldhoff before Rudi Bommer became coach. Under his direction, Bittencourt played increasingly on the right side in the offensive three-man row of FC Energie and played eleven of the remaining 14 games of the season. Energie Cottbus finished the season in 14th place in the table and narrowly avoided relegation.

Change to Borussia Dortmund

In Dortmund, Leo Bittencourt had signed a contract until June 30, 2016 and was one of four external newcomers alongside Marco Reus , Julian Schieber and Oliver Kirch . Although he was part of the professional squad , he was mainly used in the third division in the second team of coach David Wagner .

He made his Bundesliga debut in the derby defeat against FC Schalke 04 and in the Champions League when he was substituted on against Manchester City on the last day of the group stage . On his debut in the DFB-Pokal, which he made on his 19th birthday in the round of 16 against Hannover 96, he was substituted on in the 86th minute and prepared the 5-1 final score by Robert Lewandowski . In the 5-1 home win against SC Freiburg on March 16, 2013, he scored his first Bundesliga goal after preliminary work by Lewandowski.

Hannover 96

For the 2013/14 season , Bittencourt moved to Hannover 96 . He signed a contract valid until June 30, 2017, in which BVB secured a buyback option. He played his first game on August 10, 2013 (1st matchday) in a 2-0 home win against VfL Wolfsburg . After two seasons in which he played 57 Bundesliga games (five goals, eight assists) for the club, he asked in July 2015 to terminate the current contract.

1. FC Cologne

For the 2015/16 season he switched to league competitor 1. FC Köln , with whom he signed a contract that was valid until June 30, 2019, which meant that Borussia Dortmund's buy-back option expired. His contract with 1. FC Köln was prematurely extended to 2021 at the beginning of the 2016/2017 season. In the 2016/17 season, Bittencourt qualified for the UEFA Europa League with 1. FC Köln . In the 2017/18 season , however, they were relegated from the Bundesliga.

TSG Hoffenheim, loan to Werder Bremen

After relegation with 1. FC Köln, Bittencourt switched to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for the 2018/19 season with an exit clause . He signed a contract running until June 30, 2023 with last year's third and Champions League participant . In the 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen on December 19, 2018, the 16th matchday, he scored his first competitive goal for Hoffenheim.

After the 3rd matchday of the 2019/20 season , he was awarded to league rivals Werder Bremen .

National team

Bittencourt, who has both German and Brazilian citizenship , went through various youth national teams. With the U-17 national team , he narrowly missed qualifying for the U-17 European Championship in Liechtenstein in 2010 . Within two years, he went through three more years and was most recently even nominated for the U-21 national team due to personnel shortages . In Bochum , where the U21s drew against Turkey , Bittencourt was substituted on for Tolgay Arslan in the 59th minute . For the 2016 Olympic Games , Bittencourt was one of four players on call for the German selection .

Private

Bittencourt married his long-time partner Saskia on December 28, 2016 in Cottbus and officially on June 10, 2017 in Cologne. On May 3, 2018, the two parents had a daughter.

Web links

Commons : Leonardo Bittencourt  - Collection of Images

• Leonardo Bittencourt in the database of kicker.de
• Leonardo Bittencourt in the database of the German Football Association
• Leonardo Bittencourt in the database of weltfussball.de
• Leonardo Bittencourt in the database of fussballdaten.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ lr-online.de: [1] , February 6, 2012, accessed on January 12, 2016
2. ↑ bild.de : Leo speaks about EVERYTHING , July 3, 2013
3. ↑ Leonardo Bittencourt ( Memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), www.fcenergie.de
4. ↑ focus.de: Cottbus binds U17 player Bittencourt , April 29, 2010, accessed on December 5, 2012
5. ↑ kicker.de: ZFC Meuselwitz - Energie Cottbus II 2: 0 , March 2, 2011, accessed on December 5, 2012
6. ↑ kicker.de: Petersen scores double and prepares , April 16, 2011, accessed on December 5, 2012
7. ↑ kicker.de: Bittencourt's goal secures the white vest , July 22, 2011, accessed on December 5, 2012
8. ↑ ^{a b} kicker.de: See tactical lineups that are included in the match reports , accessed on December 5, 2012
9. ↑ kicker.de: Contract until 2016: BVB gets Bittencourt , December 1, 2011, accessed on December 5, 2012
10. ↑ kicker.de: Höger refines the dream combination , October 20, 2012, accessed on December 5, 2012
11. ↑ kicker.de: Schieber crowns a furious group stage , December 4, 2012, accessed on December 5, 2012
12. ↑ Hannover 96 obliges Leonardo Bittencourt - the fan magazine - the critical page about Hannover 96. In: das-fanmagazin.de. June 18, 2013, accessed March 13, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Leonardo Bittencourt switches to Hanover 96 Message on Borussia Dortmund's homepage, June 18, 2013, accessed on June 18, 2013
14. ↑ Leo Bittencourt changes to 1. FC Köln , Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , July 14, 2015, accessed on July 15, 2015
15. ↑ Offensive player comes from Hannover 96 - FC VERDICHTET BITTENCOURT ( Memento from July 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), fc-koeln.de, from July 14, 2015
16. ↑ Kölner Stadt Anzeiger: Portrait of the newcomer Leo Bittencourt
17. ^ Announcement from 1. FC Köln, accessed on August 18, 2016
18. ↑ Bittencourt changes to TSG Hoffenheim , achtzehn99.de, May 14, 2018, accessed on May 14, 2018.
19. ↑ Rashica and Werder miss the win - and escape the bankruptcy , match report on kicker.de, accessed on December 22, 2018.
20. ↑ Report on the Werder Bremen website, accessed on September 2, 2019
21. ↑ kicker.de: Trapp is ill, Giefer is coming after , November 14, 2012, accessed on December 5, 2012
22. ↑ kicker.de: Kayaoglu's late Wembley goal ensures a 1: 1 , November 14, 2012, accessed on December 5, 2012
23. ↑ Blitz-Wedding in Cottbus: Leo Bittencourt married his childhood sweetheart Saskia . Express , December 29, 2016.
24. ↑ And it's a ...: FC star Leo Bittencourt has become a dad . In: Express.de . ( express.de [accessed on May 5, 2018]).