Dayot_Upamecano

Dayot Upamecano

Dayot Upamecano

French footballer (born 1998)

Dayotchanculle Oswald Upamecano (born 27 October 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the France national team.

Quick Facts Personal information, Full name ...

Early life and career

Dayotchanculle Oswald Upamecano[2] was born on 27 October 1998[3] in Évreux, Normandy[4] and is of Bissau-Guinean descent.[5] He was raised in La Madeleine, a neighbourhood with many African immigrants.[6][7] He was named after his great-grandfather, who was king of the village on the island of Jeta in Guinea-Bissau, where his parents are from.[8] His mother is Senegalese.[9] He is the first son after four daughters, and has one younger brother.[7] He acquired French nationality on 19 November 2002, through the collective effect of his mother's naturalization.[10] As a 15-year-old, he followed speech therapy sessions to overcome dyslexia and stuttering disorders, which caused shyness and certain difficulties in expressing himself.[8]

Upamecano began playing football with local club Évreux, alongside the likes of Ousmane Dembélé, Rafik Guitane and Samuel Grandsir.[7] He covered a variety of positions in his youth, before being fixed on the centre-back position.[7] He joined the youth academy of Valenciennes in 2013.[11] Described during the time as a youth in an adult body, Upamecano shaped his play after Sergio Ramos, and developed into a physically imposing defender.[7]

Club career

Red Bull Salzburg

Upamecano with Red Bull Salzburg in 2016

After attracting the attention of a number of major European clubs, including Manchester United, Upamecano joined Red Bull Salzburg in July 2015 for a reported fee of €2.2 million.[12] He was an unused substitute in Red Bull's UEFA Champions League game against Malmö FF on 29 July 2015.[13] He made his professional debut for Red Bull's farm team, FC Liefering, two days later, in a 2–1 league win against St. Pölten.[14] On 19 March 2016, he made his league debut with Red Bull Salzburg in a 2–1 win over SV Mattersburg.[15]

In the first half of the 2016–17 season, Upamecano earned a regular place with the first team in both league and Europa League matches.[16]

RB Leipzig

Upamecano with RB Leipzig in 2020

On 13 January 2017, Upamecano joined RB Leipzig on a 4+1⁄2-year deal, for a reported €10 million fee.[17] On 4 February 2017, he made his Bundesliga debut under coach Ralph Hasenhüttl in a 1–0 defeat against Borussia Dortmund.[11] On 13 September 2017, he made his Champions League debut in a 1–1 draw against Monaco.[18] On 9 February 2018, he scored his first goal in a 2–0 win over Augsburg.[19] On 2 July 2018, he was shortlisted for the 2018 Golden Boy award.[20]

On 31 July 2020, Upamecano signed a new deal until 2023.[21] In the 2019–20 season, he reached with RB Leipzig the Champions League semi-finals under coach Julian Nagelsmann.[22]

Bayern Munich

On 14 February 2021, Bayern Munich announced an agreement for the signing of Upamecano on a five-year deal, to be effective as of 1 July 2021.[23] The club reportedly met his release clause from Leipzig, set at €42.5 million.[24][25] Upamecano's first game as a Bayern player came in a pre-season friendly on 16 July 2021 against fellow Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln that saw Bayern lose 3–2 after fielding a side largely consisting of reserve and youth players.[26][27]

He made his competitive debut on the opening day of the 2021–22 Bundesliga season, starting at centre-back alongside Niklas Süle in a 1–1 away draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach.[28] He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 win over VfL Wolfsburg on 17 December, heading in a cross from Thomas Müller.[29]

During the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League, Bayern defeated Upamecano's France compatriot Kylian Mbappé's Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16,[30] only for them to be eliminated by a 4–1 defeat on aggregate to Manchester City in the quarter-finals, in which Upamecano's performances were heavily criticised.[31]

On 4 November 2023, he scored his first goal of the 2023–24 season in the fourth minute of a 4–0 away win over Borussia Dortmund.[32] In February 2024, Upamecano was sent off twice in the span of four days: on 14 February, he received his first straight red card in the Champions League during the round of 16 first leg away match against Lazio, which resulted in a penalty kick and a 1–0 defeat;[33] on 18 February, he received two yellow cards and again conceded a penalty in a 3–2 loss to Bochum in the Bundesliga.[34]

International career

Upamecano played for the France under-16 team that finished third in the 2014 Aegean Cup.[35] He played in three of his country's four games and was named the competition's best defender.[36][37] He subsequently moved up to the France under-17 squad, making his debut in a European Championship qualifier against Cyprus on 27 October 2014.[36] France won the 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, with Upamecano playing in all six of his country's matches and being named in the team of the tournament.[38][39] He made his debut for France under-18 in a 0–0 friendly draw with United States under-18 on 4 September 2015.[40]

Upamecano made his debut for the France national football team, on 5 September 2020, starting in a UEFA Nations League group-stage match against Sweden.[41] Three days later on 8 September, he scored his first international goal in a 4–2 win against Croatia.[42]

Upamecano played a pivotal role in France's 2022 FIFA World Cup, starting five of France's seven matches.[citation needed] This includes playing the entire 120 minutes in the final in an eventual 3–3 loss in penalties to Argentina.[43]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 20 April 2024[44]
More information Club, Season ...
  1. Includes Austrian Cup, DFB-Pokal
  2. One appearance in UEFA Champions League, four appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, six appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  5. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  6. Appearance in DFL-Supercup

International

As of match played 23 March 2024[44]
More information National team, Year ...
As of match played 23 March 2024
Scores and results list the France's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Upamecano goal.[44]
More information No., Date ...

Honours

Bayern Munich

France U17

France

Individual

References

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    "Dayot Upamecano". FC Bayern Munich. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  2. [2]
    "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: France (FRA)" (PDF). FIFA. 15 November 2022. p. 12. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
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    "Dayot Upamecano: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
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    "Dayot Upamecano". L'Équipe (in French). Paris. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
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    Udoh, Colin (9 September 2020). "Africa's If Only kids Starlets who could have played at Afcon instead of the Nations League". ESPN. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
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    "Dayot Upamecano, l'autre Français de Leipzig". leprogres.fr. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  7. [7]
    Jucha, Nicolas (2 March 2019). "Dayot Upamecano: J'ai toujours eu un corps d'adulte". SOFOOT.com (in French).
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    Crépin, Timothé (15 May 2020). "Dayot Upamecano (RB Leipzig), la douce puissance". France Football (in French). Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  9. [9]
    Camara, Mouhamed (15 August 2022). "Upamecano, défenseur Bayern : "J'ai beaucoup parlé du Sénégal avec Sadio Mané"". Senenews - Actualité au Sénégal, Politique, Économie, Sport (in French). Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  10. [10]
    "JORF n° 0270 du 20 novembre 2002 - Légifrance" (PDF). legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). p. 19203. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
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    "Dayot Upamecano: The RB Leipzig defender with the world at his assured feet". Bundesliga. 2018.
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    "Manchester United target Dayot Upamecano signs for FC Red Bull Salzburg". International Business Times. 11 July 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
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    "Salzburg 2–1 Mattersburg". Soccerway. 19 March 2016.
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    "'Best in the world' – Dayot Upamecano will take inspiration from win over Kylian Mbappe when facing Erling Haaland as Bayern Munich and Man City clash in Champions League". talkSPORT. 10 April 2023.
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    "Starke Bayern triumphieren im Klassiker beim BVB". FC Bayern Munich (in German). 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  33. [33]
    "Dayot Upamecano: Bayern Munich defender condemns racist abuse after Lazio defeat". BBC Sport. 16 February 2024.
  34. [34]
    "VfL Bochum 1848 3–2 Bayern Munich". BBC Sport. 18 February 2024.
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    "Dayot Upamecano: Who is the Man Utd, Man City and Arsenal target?". Sky Sports. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
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  37. [37]
    "USA win 2014 Mercedes-Benz Aegean Cup". Turkish Football Federation. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  38. [38]
    "Dayot Upamecano". UEFA. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  39. [39]
    "Team of the Tournament". UEFA. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  40. [40]
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  46. [46]
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