Joshua Walter Kimmich born 8 February 1995 is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or right-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team.

Joshua Kimmich

Kimmich with Germany in 2018

Personal information

Full name

Joshua Walter Kimmich

Date of birth

8 February 1995 (age 26)

Place of birth

Rottweil Germany

Height

1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)

Position(s)

Midfielder, Right-back

Club information

Current team

Bayern Munich

Number

6

Youth career

2006–2007

VfB Bösingen

2007–2013

VfB Stuttgart

Senior career*

Years

Team

Apps

(Gls)

2013–2015

RB Leipzig

53

(3)

2015–

Bayern Munich

161

(15)

National team‡

2011

Germany U17

2

(0)

2013

Germany U18

5

(0)

2013–2014

Germany U19

9

(1)

2014–2015

Germany U21

14

(2)

2016–

Germany

50

(3)

Honours

Representing Germany

FIFA Confederations Cup

Winner 2017 Russia

UEFA European Under-19 Championship

Winner 2014 Hungary

Known for his versatility, passing, shooting, tackling and aggression, Kimmich is considered as the best midfielder in the world and one of the best right backs in the world.He is often compared with former Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm and is considered his successor.

Kimmich joined Bayern Munich from RB Leipzig in 2015 for contract lasting until 2020.[13] In the 2019–20 season, after winning the continental treble with Bayern Munich, Kimmich was included in the UEFA Team of the Year, the FIFA FIFPro Men's World11 and was recognized as the UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season.

Club career

Early career

Kimmich played youth football for VfB Stuttgart.

He then went on to join RB Leipzig in July 2013. Stuttgart secured an option to rebuy.[16] He made his 3. Liga debut for the club on 28 September of that year, as a substitute for Thiago Rockenbach in a 2–2 draw with SpVgg Unterhaching. He scored his first professional goal in a 3–2 victory over 1. FC Saarbrücken on 30 November 2013.He finished the 2013–14 season with one goal in 26 appearances.

Kimmich scored his first goal of the season in a 3–2 victory against Union Berlin on 1 March 2015.[19] He finished the 2014–15 season with two goals in 29 appearances.

Kimmich left the club with a tally of three goals in fifty three league appearances for the club.

Bayern Munich

2015–17

On 2 January 2015, Kimmich agreed to join Bayern Munich on a five-year contract lasting until 30 June 2020, for a reported fee of €7 million, most of which went to VfB Stuttgart.[22] He made his debut for the club on 9 August, starting in the first round of the DFB-Pokal against FC Nöttingen.Pep Guardiola gave him his Bundesliga debut the following month on 12 September when he entered play as a late substitute at home against FC Augsburg.Four days later, Kimmich made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League in Bayern's tournament opener away at Olympiakos and he started in the Bundesliga for the first time three days thereafter, playing 90 minutes against SV Darmstadt 98 in a 3–0 victory.

Kimmich ended his first season at Bayern having made 23 league appearances of which 15 were starts.He also played the full 120 minutes in Bayern's 2016 DFB-Pokal Final defeat of Borussia Dortmund at the Berlin Olympiastadion on 21 May.

Kimmich during training with Bayern Munich, 2017

Kimmich started the 2016–17 season by coming on as a substitute in a 2–0 win against Borussia Dortmund in the 2016 DFL-Supercup.[30] On 9 September, he scored his first goal for FC Bayern in a 2–0 Bundesliga, away win at FC Schalke 04.Four days later, he scored his first two Champions League goals in a 5–0 home win against FC Rostov.[32] Kimmich scored a late winning goal in the 88th minute in a 1–0 away victory over Hamburger SV.He finished the 2016–17 season with nine goals in forty appearances.

2017–20

Kimmich played in the 2017 DFL-Supercup and won the title as Bayern defeated their arch-rival Borussia Dortmund on 5–4 penalties after the extra time ended 2–2.[35] On 16 September, he provided overall three assists to Thomas Müller, Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski's goals to defeat 1. FSV Mainz 05 with a 4–0 victory.[36] On 9 March 2018, Kimmich signed a three-year contract extension which lasts until 30 June 2023.He managed to score each goal in both the first and second leg in the Champions League semi-final tie against Real Madrid, but his side were knocked out from the competition on 4–3 aggregate.[38][39] Kimmich finished the 2017–18 season with six goals and seventeen assists in 47 appearances.

On 12 August, Kimmich started the 2018–19 season by playing in the German Super Cup and also won the title as his side defeated Eintracht Frankfurt with a 5–0 victory.[41] The following week, on 18 August 2018, Kimmich played in the 1–0 win against SV Drochtersen/Assel in the first round of the German Cup.Kimmich played in the opening match of the Bundesliga season against 1899 Hoffenheim on 24 August 2018.Bayern won the match 3–1.Kimmich's first goal of the season came against Hannover 96 on 15 December 2018.[44] He made his 100th league appearance for the club on 9 February 2019 during a 3–1 win over rivals, Schalke.

Kimmich played every single minute in all 34 matches in the Bundesliga. In those 34 matches, Kimmich scored two goals and finished second in the league with 13 assists.[46] On 14 August 2020, Kimmich scored one goal and provided an assist in an 8–2 win over Barcelona in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League quarter-final.[47] On 23 August 2020, Kimmich made an important assist for the winning goal against Paris Saint-Germain by Kingsley Coman in the final,[48] to be his first Champions League title along with his teammate Serge Gnabry, another VfB Stuttgart academy product.

2020–21 season

Kimmich started the 2020–21 season by acquiring the number 6 shirt, after Thiago Alcântara who had worn it for seven years departed for Liverpool.[50] On 30 September 2020, he scored the winning goal in a 3–2 win over Borussia Dortmund in the 2020 DFL-Supercup.[51] On 27 October, Kimmich scored the winning goal in a 2–1 away victory over Lokomotiv Moscow in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.

Personal life

Kimmich has two children, a son, born in 2019,[66] and a daughter, born in October 2020, with his girlfriend Lina Meyer.[67] He launched an online initiative "We Kick Corona" with his Bayern Munich teammate Leon Goretzka, to help charitable, social or medical institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Career statistics

Honours

Bayern Munich

Bundesliga: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20

DFB-Pokal: 2015–16, 2018–19, 2019–20

DFL-Supercup: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020

UEFA Champions League: 2019–20[76]

UEFA Super Cup: 2020

FIFA Club World Cup: 2020

Germany U19

UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2014

Germany

FIFA Confederations Cup: 2017

Individual

UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2016

UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI: 2016

German national Player of the Year: 2017

UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2017–18,[82] 2019–20

UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season: 2019–20[84]

UEFA Team of the Year: 2020[85]

FIFA FIFPro World11: 2020[86][87]

FIFA FIFPro World11 3rd team: 2018[88]

FIFA FIFPro World11 nominee: 2019 (14th defender)[89]

FIFA Club World Cup Bronze Ball: 2020[90]

ESM Team of the Year: 2018–19[91]

Bundesliga Team of the Year: 2017–18,[92] 2018–19,[93] 2019–20[94]

Bundesliga Goal of the Month: May 2020, September 2020[95]

IFFHS Men's World Team: 2020

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