Robin Koch

Robin Koch (German pronunciation: [ˈʁɔbɪn ˈkɔx];[2][3] born 17 July 1996) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Leeds United and the German national team.[4]

Robin Koch
Koch in 2020
Personal information
Full name Robin Koch[1]
Date of birth (1996-07-17) 17 July 1996
Place of birth Kaiserslautern, Germany
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre-back, defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Leeds United
Number 5
Youth career
2001–2003 1. FC Kaiserslautern
2003–2009 SV Dörbach
2009–2014 Eintracht Trier
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2015 Eintracht Trier II 6 (0)
2014–2015 Eintracht Trier 23 (2)
2015–2016 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 27 (1)
2016–2017 1. FC Kaiserslautern 27 (0)
2017–2020 SC Freiburg 82 (4)
2020– Leeds United 11 (0)
National team‡
2018–2019 Germany U21 5 (0)
2019– Germany 7 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:30, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:35, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

Koch has previously played for Eintracht Trier II, Eintracht Trier, 1. FC Kaiserslautern II, 1. FC Kaiserslautern and SC Freiburg, and also represented Germany at under-21 level. In August 2020, he signed for Leeds United ahead of their Premier League return.

Club career

Early career

Having played youth football with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, SV Dörbach and Eintracht Trier,[5] Koch started his senior career at Eintracht Trier, where he made his debut on 22 September 2014 in a 0–0 draw with TuS Koblenz.[4] He scored his first senior goal on 22 November 2014 in a 4–2 victory over SpVgg Neckarelz; A low shot in the 25th minute to put Eintracht Trier 1–0 up.[4][6] He appeared in 23 league matches for Eintracht Trier across the 2014–15 season, scoring two goals,[4] whilst he also appeared 6 times for their reserve side.[7]

1. FC Kaiserslautern

In 2015, Koch moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, initially joining their reserve side.[8]

Koch signed his first professional contract with the club in September 2016, with the contract lasting until the summer of 2019.[9] His debut for Kaiserslautern came on 2 October 2016, starting in a 0–0 draw against Arminia Bielefeld.[10][11]

He made 27 2. Bundesliga appearances in total for his hometown club, whilst he appeared 27 times for the reserve side of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, scoring once.[4]

SC Freiburg

On 22 August 2017, Koch moved to Bundesliga side SC Freiburg. The transfer fee paid to Kaiserslautern was reported as €3.5 million.[12]

He made his Bundesliga debut for Freiburg on 22 October 2017 against Hertha Berlin in a 1–1 draw.[4] He scored his first goal for the club on the 13 January 2018 in a 1–1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.[13]

Leeds United

On 29 August 2020, Koch joined Leeds United on a four-year deal,[14][15] for a transfer fee that was reported to be £13 million.[16] Koch made his Premier League debut for Leeds in the first match of the season against Liverpool on 12 September 2020, starting in the 3–4 defeat at Anfield to the reigning champions.[17][18] Koch was criticised for his performance, having given away the penalty resulting in Liverpool's first goal despite the fact that the ball deflected off his knee, before failing to mark Virgil van Dijk for Liverpool's second.[17][18]

International career

Youth

Having first been called up to Germany's under-21 squad in October 2018,[19] he was part of the Germany U21's squad who finished runner up at the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship after losing the final to Spain in June 2019.[20]

Senior

Koch was first called up to the Germany national football team in October 2019,[21] and he made his debut on 9 October 2019 in a friendly against Argentina in which he started the game and played the whole match.[22] His competitive debut for Germany came in his next appearance for the senior national team on 16 November 2019, starting in the 4–0 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier victory against Belarus.[23] He was called up to the Germany squad on 26 August 2020 for the UEFA Nations League fixtures against Spain and Switzerland.[24]

Style of play

Koch plays mainly as a centre-back, but can also play as a defensive midfielder or as a central midfielder.[25][26] He is described as a ball playing centre back and his style of play has been compared to that of Javi Martínez.[27]

Personal life

He is the son of former professional footballer Harry Koch.[12]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 5 December 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Eintracht Trier 2014–15[5] Regionalliga Südwest 23200—00232
Eintracht Trier II 2014–15[7] Rheinlandliga 60——0060
1. FC Kaiserslautern 2015–16[5] 2. Bundesliga 0000—0000
2016–17[5] 2. Bundesliga 24000—00240
2017–18[5] 2. Bundesliga 3010—0040
Total 270100000280
1. FC Kaiserslautern II 2015–16[5] Regionalliga Südwest 241——00241
2016–17[5] Regionalliga Südwest 30——0030
Total 271000000271
SC Freiburg 2017–18[5] Bundesliga 26220—00282
2018–19[5] Bundesliga 24110—00251
2019–20[5] Bundesliga 32121—00342
Total 824510000875
Leeds United 2020–21[28] Premier League 110000000110
Career total 17676100001828

    International
    As of 17 November 2020[4]
    Appearances and goals by national team and year
    National teamYearAppsGoals
    Germany 201920
    202050
    Total70

    Honours

    Germany U21

    References
    1. "2020/21 Premier League squads confirmed". Premier League. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
    2. Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009). Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch [German Pronunciation Dictionary] (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 675, 878. ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6.
    3. Dudenredaktion; Kleiner, Stefan; Knöbl, Ralf (2015) [First published 1962]. Das Aussprachewörterbuch [The Pronunciation Dictionary] (in German) (7th ed.). Berlin: Dudenverlag. p. 514. ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4.
    4. "Robin Koch". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
    5. "Robin Koch". kicker (in German). Retrieved 28 August 2020.
    6. "Robin Koch löst die Bremse". eintracht-trier.com (in German). SV Eintracht Trier 05. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
    7. "Robin Koch - Leeds United". FuPa (in German). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
    8. "EINTRACHT-ECKE". Volksfreund (in German). 19 May 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
    9. "2. Bundesliga: 1. FC Kaiserslautern bindet Robin Koch". Sport1.de. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
    10. Sperk, Oliver (2 October 2016). "Robin Koch in der Startelf des 1. FC Kaiserslautern – Pfalz". Die Rheinpfalz (in German). Retrieved 29 August 2020.
    11. Konzok, Horst; Sperk, Oliver (2 October 2016). "FCK scheitert wieder an sich selbst – FCK". Die Rheinpfalz (in German).
    12. "Wende: Lauterns Koch doch nach Freiburg". kicker Online (in German). 22 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
    13. "Freiburgs Robin Koch: "Das war ein ganz besonderer Moment für mich"". bundesliga.com (in German). Bundesliga. 14 January 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
    14. "Leeds United seal deal for Robin Koch". leedsunited.com. 29 August 2020.
    15. "Robin Koch joins Premier League side Leeds United". scfreiburg.com. 29 August 2020.
    16. "Leeds beat Tottenham to clinch £13m Koch signing". Goal. 30 August 2020.
    17. "Liverpool 4–3 Leeds United: 'Premier League return magnificently chaotic for Marcelo Bielsa's club'". BBC Sport. 12 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
    18. Hunter, Andy (12 September 2020). "Liverpool finally sink Leeds with Mo Salah hat-trick in thriller". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
    19. "Neu bei der U 21: Mittelstädt, Koch und Sabiri". dfb.de (in German). German Football Association. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
    20. "Spain 2 Germany 1". UEFA.Com. 28 August 2020.
    21. "Löw nominiert auch Rudy und Koch nach". kicker (in German). 7 October 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
    22. "Germany v Argentina game report". ESPN. 9 October 2019.
    23. Blahak, Mirko (16 November 2019). "Fußball: Ex-Trierer löst mit Nationalelf das EM-Ticket". Volksfreund (in German). Retrieved 31 August 2020.
    24. "Niklas Süle and Florian Neuhaus called up to Germany squad to face Spain and Switzerland". Bundesliga. 26 August 2020.
    25. "How Robin Koch compares to Ben White as Leeds United step up interest in defender". Leeds Live. 28 August 2020.
    26. "Robin Koch: Meet Freiburg's Latest National Team Player". Fussballstadt. 28 August 2020.
    27. "Robin Koch: Who is Germany's international defender starring for Freiburg?". Bundesliga. 28 August 2020.
    28. "Games played by Robin Koch in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.